Parties set out stalls on first day of Election campaign
The leaders of the main political parties have taken to the roads for the first full day of campaigning in Election 2011.
Fine Gael launched its five-point plan for economic recovery while Labour called for a mandate to renegotiate the EU/IMF bailout.
New Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin attempted to highlight divisions between the other two parties suggesting a coalition between them would be "tug-of-war government".
“The fundamental problem with the plans that Fine Gael spoke of yesterday is that the Labour Party, their prospective partner, is opposed to so many of them,” he said. “Ireland cannot afford a tug-of-war government.”
Mr Martin said he would not “sugarcoat” the extent of the crisis the country was in but claimed Fianna Fáil could lead Ireland to a better future.
The former Minister said it was time for a new approach as it had become clear in recent years “that the old way of doing political business simply doesn’t work”.
Fianna Fáil is to unveil its manifesto next Monday as well as what it calls an economic blueprint to create jobs and inspire hope for the future.
“People are suffering – but the only way to a better future is to honestly address the challenge and not make things worse with conflicting policies and empty promises,” Mr Martin said.
Meanwhile, Gerry Adams has lashed out at claims that Sinn Féin would threaten the economy.
Micheal Martin said Sinn Fein policies would wreak devastation on the country, but Mr Adams hit back at the former Minister for his role in the downturn.
“This is rich coming from the leader of Fianna Fáil and a man who was part of all the major decisions which have bankrupted the state and imposed a terrible crippling burden on citizens,” he said.
Mr Adams said his party was focused on "fixing the mess Fianna Fáil had made of the economy".
Also on the campaign trail, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny claimed his party in power would create jobs, fix the health service and rescue the country from financial crisis.
Mr Kenny also pledged to cut the size of Government and make politicians shoulder the burden of pain before everyone else.
At the launch of his party’s election plan to “get Ireland working”, Mr Kenny again flagged up a number of proposals published during last year.
These include:
:: A promise to create 20,000 jobs every year up to 2014 through spending cuts rather than income tax increases;
:: A €7bn investment in green technology;
:: The abolition of 145 state bodies and companies, axing 30,000 public sector jobs over four years;
:: Scrapping the Seanad and cutting the number of TDs by 20;
:: Dismantling the Health Service Executive and replacing it with the Dutch universal health insurance (UHI) system;
“Once UHI is fully introduced the unfair and inefficient two-tier health system will be eliminated,” said Mr Kenny.
For his part, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore today claimed his potential coalition partners Fine Gael were not bothered by crippling cutbacks and tax hikes.
Launching his party’s general election campaign, Mr Gilmore also branded his chief rivals politicians of the past, in an attempt to put clear water between the pair.
“This election is a three-way contest between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour,” he said.
“Fianna Fáil, who have failed our country; Fine Gael, who have learned nothing from those mistakes, whose politics is the politics of the past, who talk about renegotiating the IMF package but who are, in reality, comfortable with the austerity it demands.”
“This is not the time for division, for divided parties, or a divided country,” he said. “This is the moment we must come together and move forward together.”
The Labour leader said his party would outline different policies almost every day between now and the election based on three key themes – jobs, reform and fairness.
