FF interest in equality dishonest, says Rabbitte

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte yesterday accused the Government of being profoundly dishonest by feigning an interest in social inequalities.

Speaking at Labour’s annual parliamentary party meeting in Wicklow yesterday, Mr Rabbitte said a return of the Government to office would be unhealthy for democracy.

“For those who are marginalised, for the poorest in society, it would be unhealthy to return a Fianna Fáil party on whom the major influence is a party that believes that a measure of inequality is a necessary factor for the success of the economy.

“It is profoundly politically dishonest for the Taoiseach and Government to feign an interest in the agenda of Fr Sean Healy at the same time as pledging to implement the existing Programme for Government,” he said.

Mr Rabbitte went on to accuse FF of using Fr Healy as a pawn to refurbish the party’s caring face.

“When the budget is introduced we can be fairly sure, that following the recent elections, an effort will be made to redress the imbalance raised by Labour and others.

“That effort won’t be caused by the Government suddenly realising that it has a responsibility to be fair to lower and middle income earning taxpayers. It will be caused by the fact that they have been found out,” said Mr Rabbitte.

Mr Rabbitte indicated he would like to see a Labour candidate contest the Presidential election but cautioned that his main priority was to focus on ousting the current Government.

The party will scheduled to debate the issue this afternoon.

Mr Rabbitte will then take a recommendation to a meeting of Labour’s national executive tomorrow before a final decision on whether to run a candidate is made.

Although he admitted that the estimated 500,000 cost of contesting the election was a factor, he ruled it out as a determining one.

“But anybody that tells you that they embark on a major electoral contest without regard to cost can only do that if they are not concerned about where the money is coming from. But that’s not a determining factor,” he said.

However Mr Rabbitte conceded President Mary McAleese would be difficult to beat.

“I’ve never made any secret about that. There are however reasons in a democracy to have an electoral contest other than merely the prospect of you being assured of winning before the start.

“You’re confronted with an electoral contest and if you are a significant player in the parliamentary system you have to take on those electoral contests unless there are very good reasons for not doing so,” he said.