Parties trade blows on economy

The rift between Fine Gael and Labour deepened today with tit-for-tat attacks on each other’s economic plans for the country.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore compared his potential coalition partners to British Tories in an attempt to put clear blue water between the two parties.

Depicting Fine Gael as the “stealth tax party”, he said leader Enda Kenny’s plans to slash child benefits would badly hit families who were already struggling to survive.

“Fine Gael are proposing to cut child benefit by €252 (for families with two children),” he said.

“Child benefit has already been cut, many families are already stretched with reduction in incomes.

“What Fine Gael is offering is largely the same type of measures the Conservative Party proposed in Britain which has now resulted in Britain going back into recession again.”

For a second day in a row, Labour ran Tesco-style national newspaper adverts mocking Fine Gael’s economic policies, with the slogan “Fine Gael – Every Little Hurts”.

Mr Gilmore denied they were a sign of desperation as latest opinion poll findings showed Fine Gael stretching its lead on its main electoral competitor.

But Mr Kenny was adamant that Labour was resorting to panic-stricken tactics with just a week to go until polling day.

The Fine Gael leader admitted his party would reduce spending on child benefit but dismissed the figures being quoted in the adverts as “complete rubbish”.

“What we will do is have a universal payment which will apply to everybody,” he said.

“In other words, whether they are rich or not, they are going to get some element of child benefit but then you make a cut for those who are on higher incomes.”

Fine Gael’s Finance Spokesman Michael Noonan weighed into the row, claiming Labour’s economic policies would cost every family an extra €1,300 a year in taxes and charges.

Launching his party’s mortgage proposals, Mr Noonan also pledged to give struggling borrowers a break if handed power after next Friday’s ballot.

Fine Gael would force state-backed banks to slash costs, including salaries, rather than hike interest rates, he added.

Furthermore, Mr Noonan vowed to force lenders to renegotiate mortgage terms with householders facing repossession.

“Fine Gael will expect every family and every business to do everything they can to service their debts,” he said.

“However, where families and businesses have made best efforts and still are unable to repay their debts, we’ll support them through the recession and help them back to a point where they can manage their debt.”

Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin claimed he would protect special needs education and create more jobs in schools.

Unveiling his party’s education proposals, Mr Martin said they made up the central plank of their manifesto.

If returned to power, Fianna Fáil would recruit 2,500 more people into schools and would not cut any more special needs teachers, he promised.

Sinn Féin vowed to cut the voting age to 16, replace the Seanad with a directly elected upper house and reduce the number of TDs, with a third of the Dáil drawn from a list system.

Unveiling their political reform plan, party leader Gerry Adams said they also want to increase Dáil sitting days, boost investigative powers for committees and introduce new impeachment laws to remove a TD involved in corruption or deliberate misuse of public money.

The Green Party said it would shelter society’s most vulnerable from draconian Budget cuts.

John Gormley, party leader, said if returned to power they would not reduce basic social welfare rates or the state pension and would extend childcare schemes.