FINE GAEL would not support the Government if it faced difficulty passing next month’s budget, the party’s leader Enda Kenny has said.
His party was ready for a general election if the Government were to fall over the budget, but he refused to say how major differences between his party and Labour could be bridged if they faced coalition talks.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Kenny said he agreed with the Government that cuts of €15 billion were necessary over the next four years. He also broadly agreed there should be cuts of €6 billion in the forthcoming budget.
However, when asked whether he was “sufficiently on-side” to vote in favour of the budget if some of the Independent TDs chose to vote against, he said: “No I’m not, and I’ll tell you why. I have no faith in this Government. Everything they’ve said from Nama, to turning corners, to having come out of this recession has proven to be false.
“The really big thing that’s lacking here is the international recognition, international credibility. This Government has no credibility left, and it needs a new mandate.”
He said his party was “ready for an election tomorrow”.
Interviewer Richard Crowley put it to him his policies were “hugely at odds” with those of the Labour Party.
The Labour Party has called for cuts to be limited to €4.5 billion in the budget, and said they should be split evenly between higher taxes and spending cuts. Fine Gael agrees with the €6 billion figure, and says three-quarters should come in spending cuts, with just one-quarter in higher taxes.
Mr Kenny first answered saying: “Fine Gael has never stood back from the country or from dealing with the crisis we are left with.”
Asked again about how to bridge the divide, he said: “Let me finish this point. Fine Gael will stand by the country and stand by the people.”
The interviewer cut in saying, “That’s all rhetoric. How would you bridge the difference between you and the Labour Party?”
Mr Kenny answered that the Labour Party had taken a particular view, and so had Fine Gael.
Asked again about the divergences, he said: “Look, people all over this country are saying, ‘sort this out’.”
Mr Crowley said: “It doesn’t sound like the working basis of a coalition, though.”
“I’ll put it this way to you,” said Mr Kenny. “Fine Gael and the Labour Party on three previous occasions in the last 30 years were called to stand up to the mark and to rescue this country after Fianna Fáil’s profligacy, and the same is probably going to apply again.”
