Adams: Government should have let Anglo collapse

The Government mishandled the bank bailout and should have let Anglo Irish collapse, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said today.

The republican leader said it was correct to take action to protect the economy and the banking system, but claimed the Government had forced unnecessary debt on the public purse.

Mr Adams suggested that critics who branded his party "economically illiterate" had promoted policies that caused the current crisis.

He again defended his decision to bid for election in Louth but denied his move into Dáil politics overturned the party policy of giving a platform to younger Sinn Féin members already based in the Republic.

The Sinn Féin president focused his comments an attack on the Government's handling of the economy.

"We would burn the bonds now," he said.

"When we were briefed by the Department of Finance, we said we would go along, that the banks have to be stabilised, the banks are a very, very spinal part of any economy.

"We said we would support the Government's position if - and we gave conditions - if they were going to give credit to medium and small businesses, and do all sorts of things, and when it came to the vote, the Government said they weren't going to do that, we voted against it."

He said the Government pursued a faulty policy of supporting banks such as Anglo Irish which he said could never have been saved.

"The banks wouldn't crash, some banks would," he said.

Mr Adams added: "There is between €35bn-€50bn still has to be found to continue to bail out Nama and Anglo Irish and all the rest.

"We were accused many times, because of the television performance by me, of being economically illiterate.

"People can make their own judgment on all of that. The things that we were saying at that time we are still saying.

"We were saying we need a State bank, we were saying you need to reform the tax system, we were saying you need to invest money in infrastructure, in schools, in hospitals, we were saying all those things.

"And we said the bubble is going to burst - not that we were geniuses - the bubble was not sustainable. It was a false economy."

He said the result had devastated the prospects of many citizens.

"This is real die in the ditch for families," he said.

Mr Adams said the most vulnerable sectors of society, plus talented individuals recently hit by unemployment and emigration, would suffer most.

On his decision to stand for election in Louth and defend the seat to be vacated by party colleague Arthur Morgan, he denied it is a safe seat.

Mr Adams also claimed that while senior party members had discussed the option of him contesting a Dáil seat, it was the Sinn Féin membership in Louth who proposed he stand there.

"The idea for me to stand in Louth came from Louth," he said.

The Sinn Féin president said he hopes to see his party grow in the Republic, but said he did not see his intervention as a "silver bullet".

He denied his move goes against the apparent party strategy of recent years of giving a platform to younger, southern-based Sinn Féin members to counter the claim it is a "northern party".

Rejecting a shift in emphasis, he said: "Not at all. Watch Pearse Doherty in Donegal South West. Just watch him. Watch Mary Lou McDonald. Mary Lou is still in there."

Meanwhile he repeated his denial of being interested in the post of President of Ireland.

He accused the media of fuelling the claims and said: "The more I protest I have no interest in it, the more they speculate."