Rabbitte’s hypocritical attack on Green Party

DURING last week’s Dáil budget debate the Irish people got a true sense of Labour’s contribution from Deputy Pat Rabbitte’s bizarre and hypocritical attack on the Green Party.

Bizarre because as someone who once served as a junior minister in the Department of Enterprise, he showed a shocking underestimation of the importance of Ireland’s agricultural export sector.

By mocking Minister Trevor Sargent’s work in the Department of Agriculture, he is undermining the huge potential that exists for Ireland to become a leading exporter of organic and niche foods. In these difficult times, this sector has the potential to create thousands of jobs in rural Ireland.

Perhaps if they were union jobs we might see a different attitude from Deputy Rabbitte? Hypocritical because when the Fine Gael/Labour government increased the number of junior ministries in 1995 it was specifically to accommodate Deputy Rabbitte, who since then has been drawing a hefty ministerial pension until that arrangement was ended in this weeks budget.

While Dáil theatrics may amuse the press gallery, we are in difficult economic times. Any government proposals that will create real jobs in Ireland’s hardest hit areas should be welcomed, and not used for political fodder by an uninformed opposition deputy.

Andrew Murphy

Salthill

Galway