Fianna Fáil’s 2007 manifesto was the most fiscally conservative

Fergus Finlay (Irish Examiner, Opinion, July 7) argues that Fianna Fail tried to buy elections in the last decade and said that cautious advice was dismissed as being “the views of ‘left wing pinkos’”.

But Mr Finlay, and his Labour Party, did not offer cautious advice on spending and tax cutting during the last decade.

Labour’s 2007 manifesto opened with the lines: “Economic growth and prosperity have changed the face of our country. The prosperity dreamt of by the founders of the Irish state has been achieved. Ireland now is a far more open and tolerant society”. It went on to promise all forms of new spending, while the party leader, Pat Rabbitte, had given a commitment to cut the standard rate of tax to 18%. It is of little consolation now, but the Fianna Fail manifesto for that election was the most fiscally conservative of all the parties.