REACTION:FIANNA FÁIL accused the Government of a complete change in attitude towards the EU-IMF bailout deal.
Party finance spokesman Brian Lenihan also urged the Government to explain how it would pay for a proposed reduction in employer PRSI. The party claimed that this initiative will cost €400 million.
There had been a “remarkable transformation” of Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, Mr Lenihan said.
In opposition they had been two of “the most vocal critics” of the €85 billion deal when announced by the Fianna Fáil-led government last year. They “now talk about their satisfaction with its progress”, he said.
The people were reminded of the “shrillness and negativity” of Fine Gael and Labour in opposition in contrast with their “adoption of the same policies and priorities as the last government when faced with the same choices”, he said.
An additional cost of €400 million to fund a reduction in PRSI was the only difference between this deal and the original one, he said. Under the new deal, the restoration of the minimum wage rate is to be accompanied by a 50 per cent reduction in employer PRSI on the tranche of income up to the minimum wage.
Mr Lenihan called on Mr Noonan and Mr Howlin to explain how they would pay for the reduction in PRSI.
He also asked the Government to outline the tax-raising or service-cutting measures agreed with the EU and IMF to fund a jobs initiative.
Party leader Micheál Martin criticised the “absence of detail” in the jobs initiative. He said this had been discussed with the EU-IMF, but was not published, “which is a lack of transparency”.
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty called for a fundamental renegotiation of the bailout deal, which was “hurting our people, our services and our economy”.
A “tweaking” of conditions on a quarterly basis was “not the way forward”, he said. “This programme is a package of austerity measures that simply are not working,” he said. It was “a far cry” from the calls of Fine Gael and Labour before the election “that they would not be bound by the terms of this agreement”.
“It is a sad day when our economic future is being decided by unelected figures outside of the State,” he added.
Independent TD Shane Ross said that Ireland should be pursuing a “completely different policy”.
It was “disappointing” to have to go through the procedure every three months of “having the IMF and EU coming and giving us a pat on the back, saying you have done very well, you are paying up, you are crucifying your taxpayers on behalf of the bankers in Europe,” he told RTÉ News.
