O'Keeffe: Forget early election
Thursday August 13 2009
OUTSPOKEN Fianna Fail TD Ned O'Keeffe has rubbished talk of an early general election, saying he believes the current government will remain in power for at least another two years.
The Cork East TD has also attacked opposition parties, saying they do not have either "the experience or ability" to guide Ireland out of the current financial crisis.
"The bottom line here is that despite all of their bluster and promises, the opposition parties have yet to come up with any concrete proposals on how to turn the economy around," said Deputy O'Keeffe.
"The only real alternative to the current government would be a Fine Gael/Labour coalition which would, in my view, only create extra hardship by imposing even more stifling budgetary measures," he added.
The veteran deputy said that the public must hold faith with the current administration because they are the only people with their "fingers on the pulse".
"We have the IMF, OECD and McCarthy reports on the table, with the Commission on Taxation report due to be issued shortly. Once the government has all four reports it will be in a better position to fully evaluate the situation and put in place a workable formula to manage the economy," said Deputy O'Keeffe.
"To put in place a new government before these reports have been digested by the current one would be a very shortsighted move," he added.
While he was bullish in his criticism of the opposition, Deputy O'Keeffe did admit that the current government was not above criticism when it came to pointing the finger of blame for the current financial crisis.
"I have to put my hand up and admit that we did mismanage certain parts of the economy, in particular the construction sector. As a backbencher I was quick to point this out at the time, unfortunately my warnings fell on deaf ears," he said.
"The bottom line however is that the government does have its finger on the pulse, the opposition parties clearly do not. I do not believe they have either the experience or ability to guide the country through the current situation," he added.
- BILL BROWNE
