Govt faces pressure over 'broken promises'

The Labour Party and Fine Gael are expected to pressure the Government over its pre-election promises when the Dáil resumes later today.

The opposition parties have said last Friday's opinion poll showing a sizeable drop in support for the Government and the Taoiseach has rattled the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats coalition.

Party leaders Enda Kenny and Pat Rabbitte said the Government was reaping what it had sown by breaking promises made in the run-up to last year's general election and by lying to the electorate.

However, both Government parties have denied misleading voters, saying all their promises were conditional on favourable economic circumstances.

Yesterday, Fine Gael piled more pressure on the coalition by accusing former Education Minister Michael Woods of manipulating the school building programme by making pre-election promises which could never be delivered on due to the lack of resources.

The party said documents it uncovered under the Freedom of Information Act showed the minister had ordered his officials to put a "good news" spin on information released by his department's Primary Building Unit and had approved more projects than could be afforded.

The Government has since published an amended list of school projects, promising refurbishment of a further 110 schools, but a Department of Education spokesman said the timing of the publication was coincidental.