Noonan: Election choice is us or the hard left

The electorate will have a clear choice at the next election between the present government and the hard left headed by Sinn Féin, Finance Michael Noonan has said.

Speaking at a joint press conference last evening with the French minister for finance, Michael Sapin, he said that the battle lines had been drawn for the next election, “as a consequence of the [water protests] campaign on the streets”. “It is not true to say it is tweedle dee versus tweedle dum…it is not about civil war politics,” he added.

Mr Noonan said the Government’s strategy was to reduce taxes and grow the economy compared with the alternative, which is a rump of hard left parties headed by Sinn Féin, that advocate a tax and spend approach to managing the economy. “Fianna Fáil haven’t decided yet what column they are in.”