Opposition brands Tánaiste ‘a disgrace’

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan was branded “a disgrace” by the opposition who accused her of being “unknowledgeable” and not knowing “very basic information” about the economY.

Labour Party spokesperson on finance Joan Burton told Ms Coughlan in the Dáil that she was an example of “how incompetent the Government is”.

Ms Burton launched her stinging attack during a Dáil debate on cuts of €2 billion in public spending, the majority of which will come from a pension levy on public service workers.

In light of the announcement earlier that more than 36,000 people joined the dole queue in January, Ms Burton told the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment: “You are a disgrace, Minister!

“You couldn’t even discuss the exchequer figures yesterday, you were so unknowledgeable about what the state of the public finances is.”

Referring to a question she had asked Ms Coughlan on Tuesday about an €875m drop in revenue this month, Ms Burton said: “You didn’t know the answer to a very basic and very reasonable question.”

Ms Coughlan responded that she would deal with the attacks in the next election: “I’m not going to rise to the derisory comments which are personal in attack,” she said.

Ms Burton compared the slow pace of action by the Government with the decisiveness of the new US administration: “President Obama is in office 16 days, Mr Cowen and the Minister for Finance have been in office for 273 days or 39 weeks. We have had 273 days of indecision, prevarication and 273 days of steady economic decline.”

Fine Gael spokesperson on finance Richard Bruton told the Dáil that “there will be a backlash” against the plans to introduce a pension levy on public service workers.

He said the structure of the levy is “riddled with unfairness”.

Fine Gael’s deputy finance spokesperson, Kieran O’Donnell, said: “You are disguising it as a levy when in fact it is just a pay cut. It is the same as the medical card, it’s being brought in without thinking it through, clearly being rushed.”

Labour spokesperson on social and family affairs Roisín Shortall said even the lower paid workers who qualify for social welfare will have to pay the pension levy.

“The Government cannot give with one hand on the basis of low income and take away with another on the basis that everyone should pay regardless of means,” she said.