Varadkar says election will be 'one of the most important for generations'
The election will be "one of the most important for generations", Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said as he warned voters not to back populist promises and “amadain economics” when they vote on Saturday.
Hosting Fine Gael's final campaign press conference in Carlow this afternoon, while flanked by ministers, he also cautioned against people writing the “obituary just yet” for his party.
Fine Gael have set out what they would achieve in the first 100 days of re-elected to government.
Mr Varadkar played down reports his ministers and TDs are at risk of losing seats in several constituencies and said he and the party would be fighting for votes right up until polls close on Saturday night.
He said that students at Carlow in IT, when Fianna Fáil were in power, would have been preparing to emigrate to Canada and the US. Mr Varadkar then added:
“It is going to be a very tight election, with the three major parties competing.”
He admitted there was an “appetite for change” but warned voters about their decisions.
He asked whether they wanted to bring the country forward or “backwards, risking everythng” and not just the economy but democratic institutions of the state.
“That's what makes it so critical.”
Mr Varadkar outlined how other countries had seen a rise in populism and extremism, such as the election of US president Donald Trump.
He added that he felt more worried about the country more than “anytime since the crash.”
The Fianna Fáil manifesto had contained typos and the party had flip-flopped on rent freezes, he said, while Sinn Féin was offering voters the "biggest con job" since the Fianna Fáil 1977 manifesto with promised tax cuts.
And that was “amadain economics”, he insisted.
Sinn Féin's new taxes would in fact hit businesses and this had not worked in East Germany or Venezuela, he added.
Amid questions from reporters about his TDs and ministers potentially losing their seats, Mr Varadkar told people to not “write the obituary just yet” about Fine Gael.
Mr Varadkar also rejected Fianna Fáil's criticism about Fine Gael EU Affairs Minister Helen McEntee and her ability in office and said this was "bang out of order."
