Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has reacted to comments made by the Tánaiste Michael McDowell that the poor and vulnerable are better off with the PDs in Government.
Speaking in Limerick, Mr Rabbitte said the PDs were a wealthy, small, niche party who know nothing of the poor and vulnerable in our community.
He said they were a party who represented the wealthy professionals and believed in inequality.
Mr Rabbitte said the PDs should consider the people who are looking for a hospital bed, or who are educationally disadvantaged or looking for affordable housing.
He quipped that the only thing the PDs know about the poor and vulnerable is that they employ them as gardeners or butlers.
In a speech in Dublin this afternoon, Mr McDowell said that the choice at the next election is as much between the PDs and Labour as it is between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Mr McDowell said that jobs growth was better under the PDs, which was a massive contribution to the fight against poverty, and that the PDs brought in the minimum wage.
He also said that welfare payments had increased more under the current Government than under the Rainbow Coalition.
He said it was not just those who can look after themselves who are better off under this Government, it is also the weak and the vulnerable.
