FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin accused his Opposition counterparts of dishonesty for claiming they could make a better deal than the bailout package agreed by the Government with the EU and the IMF during yesterday’s TG4 leaders’ debate.
The issue was one of a number that generated sharp exchanges between Mr Martin, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore in the first-ever leaders’ debate in Irish to be broadcast on television during a general election campaign.
The hour-long programme, which was broadcast from TG4’s studios in the Connemara Gaeltacht, was also the first three-way debate of the campaign.
On the EU-IMF bailout, the Fine Gael leader said (in translation): “This deal, this bad deal, should be changed.” Mr Martin said the other leaders had to be honest with the people: “Labour and Fine Gael can’t change the deal fundamentally on their own”. Mr Kenny interjected: “We’re not saying that . . . no one is saying that”.
In a strong attack on the Government’s banking policy, Mr Gilmore said: “The country is ruined, the economy is ruined and Fianna Fáil has ruined it. And the worst decision this Government took was to bail out Anglo Irish Bank and their like.”
Echoing this, Mr Kenny said: “Because of the stupid mistakes Fianna Fáil made over the years over €100 billion will be put into the banks . . . €35 billion into Anglo Irish Bank. The money could have been used to create jobs and stop emigration.”
Defending the Government, Mr Martin said: “The main reason of the bank guarantee was to protect the 1.8 million people still working. If Eamon Gilmore’s plan was implemented then the situation would be 10 times worse.
“A lot more people would be unemployed, there would be nothing in the ATMs and the banks would have shut.”
There was disagreement between the Opposition leaders on public service job cuts. Mr Kenny said a figure of 30,000 could be achieved on a voluntary basis but Mr Gilmore insisted this was not possible.
They also differed on financial subsidies to services between Dublin and regional airports which are due to be cut from July. Mr Gilmore said Labour in government would retain these subsidies but Mr Kenny refused to give such a guarantee.
Mr Martin and Mr Gilmore both clashed with Mr Kenny over Fine Gael’s proposal to remove Irish as a compulsory subject for Leaving Certificate students.
The Fianna Fáil leader claimed the gradual death of the Irish language would result if the Fine Gael policy were implemented but Mr Kenny dismissed this as “rubbish” and said no decision would be taken until a review was carried out.
Mr Gilmore said that to ensure implementation of the 20-year strategy for the language, which seeks to increase the number of Irish speakers to 250,000, the taoiseach of the day should be put in charge of it.
Mr Kenny reiterated his shared commitment with Labour to restore the minimum wage to €8.65 from €7.65 and said this would be accompanied by incentives for employers such as a reduction in their PRSI contributions.
The programme, which was presented by TG4 newscaster Eimear Ní Chonaola, was recorded at the Connemara studios yesterday morning so as to allow time for English subtitles to be added prior to transmission last night.
