Rabbitte rules out tax-cutting ‘auction’

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte yesterday dismissed his party’s poll slump and insisted he would not engage in a tax-cutting “auction” with the Government.

Speaking at the close of a two-day gathering of the party’s TDs and Senators in Cork, Mr Rabbitte said he was not disturbed by an Irish Examiner/Lansdowne survey showing Labour dropping two points to 10%, insisting he would wait to see if it was the beginning of a trend.

The snapshot of voting intentions cast a shadow over the meeting as it showed the Coalition on course to retain power with Labour even less popular than they were at the 2002 election.

Mr Rabbitte made it clear he planned to fight the looming Dáil campaign on the key issues of crime, health and the economy.

However, he refused to pledge that a Fine Gael/Labour Government would not introduce stealth taxes — despite attacking the Coalition for imposing such charges.

Responding to PD moves to make tax cuts an election issue, Mr Rabbitte insisted he would not try to bribe voters.

“I have no intention of getting into an auction. Taxes are down and will stay down,” he said.

The Labour gathering was dominated by calls for reform of An Garda Síochána.

“We need a police authority to put distance between the Garda Commissioner and Minister of Justice,” Mr Rabbitte said.

He admitted Labour would fight Fine Gael for first preference votes in the coming election.

“We want a centre left reforming Government and we can only do that if Labour has sufficient clout in that alternative Government,” he said.

The Cork gathering was addressed by FG leader Enda Kenny who said Fine Gael and Labour would aim to build a better Ireland, for the next election, and the next generation.

Labour insisted they were on course to take 30 seats at the election with a 15% share of the popular vote.