Fianna Fáil Leader Michéal Martin has stepped up his attacks on the Government parties with his most trenchant charges of the General Election campaign directed at Fine Gael and Labour.
In a speech in Castlebar tonight, in the Taoiseach’s constituency of Mayo, Mr Martin delivered a response to Fine Gael and Labour’s appeal for voters to keep the recovery going by returning the Coalition partners to Government.
Mr Martin said the country couldn't risk returning the Coalition partners to power.
He said it cannot risk more chaos in public services.
He said it cannot risk more of the failure to invest and cannot risk continuing an approach which always puts politics before people.
Mr Martin said Fine Gael and the Labour Party had been out of touch and arrogant for the past five years, and he predicted what he called their "Operation Scare the Public" would go into overdrive in the final week of the General Election campaign.
Mr Martin said Fine Gael and Labour had failed to shape the election as a choice between stability and chaos.
He said the choice now was between the Government's growing chaos and a change which delivered a fairer future under Fianna Fáil.
Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil in Opposition had been constructive and had offered alternatives.
He said, in Government, Fianna Fáil would link economic and social progress.
Mr Martin accused Fine Gael and Labour of delivering 45 increases in taxes and charges in the lifetime of the current Government.
He questioned what sort of an economy the country would have if the housing emergency is left in the hands of the Government that created it.
Mr Martin said the housing emergency was 100% linked to the neglect and bad policies of the current Government.
Micheál Martin: Scrap water charges for five years https://t.co/gHnfYN1aMC #GE16 pic.twitter.com/qxgiLRlMur
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 19, 2016
Turning to Labour, Mr Martin said the party had gone into Government and had surrendered.
He said Labour hadn’t just gone Frankfurt's way, it had gone Fine Gael's way, and the party once committed to bringing hope was reduced to pedalling fear.
In an appeal, perhaps, to those voters who deserted Fianna Fáil at the last General Election, or who had "loaned" their vote to Fine Gael, Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil had worked hard to show that a fairer way was possible and he asked those who he said felt betrayed by the Government to support his party instead in this election.
He said no party owns people's votes and every time there was an election, politicians had to earn them.
