McDowell has a selective view of the Rainbow

DURING the recent Dáil debate on a motion calling for an early general election, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell gave a remarkably selective appraisal of the economic record of Fine Gael and Labour when they were last in government from 1994 to 1997.

True to form, Mr McDowell sought to make sweeping assumptions about the opinions of the electorate, saying that “the people know that if they put the Labour Party and Fine Gael into office... the unemployment queues will grow and (economic) growth will stop”.

He declared that “anybody with any memory knows that Fine Gael and the Labour party together form a slump coalition. When the rainbow coalition left office in 1997, unemployment stood at a figure of 10.9%”.