Kenny puts clear water between FG and Labour

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has sought to make a clear distinction between the language his party and Labour are using about the EU/IMF bailout.

When details of the bailout were announced over the weekend, Labour deputy leader Joan Burton claimed Ireland was now “banjaxed”.

Realising that was too bleak a message, her own party leader, Eamon Gilmore, sought to portray a different message on Monday.

“No, the country has a great future, but the [bailout] deal was a banjaxed deal,” he explained.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen rounded on the opposition for use of such language during statements on the bailout in the Dáil yesterday.

However, Mr Kenny responded by making it clear his party had in no way been so negative about the country’s chances of recovery.

Fine Gael had not used terms like “banjaxed” or “economic corpse” as Labour had, he said.

“I did speak the truth and said that the decision has foisted on the shoulders of every single person in the country a debt that will not be paid off for a generation or more,” Mr Kenny said.

He said the public no longer had faith in the Government.

“The people don’t believe the Government. They don’t believe you. And the reason they don’t believe you is based on sound history.”

He pointed to previous claims by Mr Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan that the economy had “turned the corner”, or that the bank guarantee scheme would be cheap, as reasons why public trust in the Government had eroded.

Labour leader Mr Gilmore, meanwhile, said the bailout was a deal done by “a broken government with no friends left in Europe”.

“It is a deal that hangs the Irish people out to dry,” he added.

“Let’s be clear what this deal amounts to. It is an agreement by the Irish Government to accept a loan from the IMF and the EU to bail out the European banking system, and to ensure that the Irish taxpayer picks up the tab.”

Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the Government “couldn’t negotiate snow off a rope”.

“Thanks to the European Commission, the ECB, the IMF and — above all — a craven Fianna Fáil/Green Government — the people are being sold into economic bondage,” he said.

“This deal protects bond-holders while being linked to a four-year plan that punishes low to middle income earners in Ireland and which will devastate public services.”