McDowell outs himself to reveal Red trinity

THE mystery surrounding the identity of the Dáil’s legendary third socialist appeared to be solved yesterday as Tánaiste Michael McDowell outed himself as the protector of the weak and the vulnerable.

Though he stopped short of using the “S word”, Mr McDowell attempted to rebrand himself as the Minister for Social Justice as he urged Labour supporters to switch to the PDs at the looming general election.

Mr McDowell’s “subversive” declaration that he is the champion of the poor drew even more gasps in political circles than Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s claim for socialist credibility in 2004.

That startling admission prompted former PD finance minister and self-confessed Margaret Thatcher admirer Charlie McCreevy to declare the Dáil was home to a socialist trio, comprising the Taoiseach, Joe Higgins and an unnamed third.

Until now, it seemed Mr McDowell had gone out of his way to avoid suspicion falling upon him with comments stating that inequality “provides incentives” in the economy.

“A dynamic liberal economy demands flexibility and inequality, in some respects, to function,” he said.

However, the Tánaiste now claims to be the real guardian of the poor, compared to Labourite compassion merchants who fail to deliver the goods when in government.

“The weak and the vulnerable in our society are better off with the PDs in Government than with Labour in Government. Labour supporters may protest ‘the PDs are just good at looking after their supporters, a vote for the PDs is a vote for selfishness, the PDs disregard the poor’ — I disagree with those protests,” the Tánaiste said, admitting it was a “subversive” proposition.

Mr McDowell insisted that when in power the PDs outperformed Labour in terms of jobs growth and welfare payments and had introduced the minimum wage.

Perhaps to the annoyance of self-confessed socialist Mr Ahern, the Tánaiste again stated it was the PDs who were the ideological driving force of the Coalition.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte ridiculed the Tánaiste’s attempt to reposition the PDs as the defender of the underdog.

“It is entirely hypocritical for the leader of a small niche party that has shameless promoted the interests of the well off to now try and portray himself as the champion of the poor.

“This is, after all, the same Michael McDowell who has promoted and defended the idea that inequality was necessary to drive our economy.

“If Minister McDowell wants to find out something about the reality of life for the poor in this country after almost 10 years of Fianna Fáil/PD rule then he should talk to the St Vincent de Paul, who earlier this week said that they had spent e1 million assisting families who had their gas and electricity supplies disconnected.

“This speech is another exercise in self promotion by Michael McDowell and a crude attempt to rewrite our recent political history.

“Nobody will be taken in by the party of the super-wealthy, led by the self-proclaimed champion of inequality trying to now pass itself off as the friend of the poor.” Mr Rabbitte said.