Fine Gael/Labour Party meeting: Fine Gael and Labour will seek to increase the pressure on the Government over public spending blunders in the coming months, following the success of RTÉ's Rip-Off Republic.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte yesterday held an hour of talks, along with their respective deputy leaders, Richard Bruton and Liz McManus, in Belvedere House outside Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
The meeting was held to mark the anniversary of the so-called "Mullingar Accord" which copperfastened an FG/Labour Alliance on the local council a year ago but which has since become a sobriquet for the efforts of both parties to create an alternative government.
Clearly buoyant after a difficult summer for the Government, Mr Kenny and Mr Rabbitte were insistent that the political winds are now in their favour.
Fianna Fáil had tried "its conversion to socialism", and subsequently a reshuffling of the Cabinet "with the same old faces around the table", said Mr Kenny.
"So much has remained the same, however. We have a successful economy but a Government that is patently not working. The public is tired of a Government that will be in office for 10 years shortly, tired of the broken promises, tired of the failed health service, tired of being ripped-off," he said.
However, the Labour leader refused to rise to Fianna Fáil's taunts that Fine Gael and Labour have failed to bring forward any detailed policies even though they have been in close co-operation for over a year.
They would publish their "common policy positions" to ensure "optimal impact", and not to respond to the jibes of "political giants such as Micheál Martin", Mr Rabbitte told The Irish Times.
Questioned about the impact of Rip-off Republic, and its presenter Eddie Hobbs, Mr Kenny said the Government "had been absolutely reeling" before the summer break over its "mishandling of the nursing home payments issue, the McBrearty affair, and the failures to deliver in areas like health and crime.
"The challenge for Fine Gael and Labour over the coming months is to put together an alternative. There is a lot of work to be done. It cannot be done overnight," he said.
Mr Kenny and Mr Rabbitte emphasised repeatedly that they had focused on flaws in the Government's public spending record ever before Hobbs brought the issue to the attention of nearly 800,000 viewers in his programmes.
Mr Bruton and Ms McManus will produce a report on the Government's spending record within four months, which will lay down the lessons to be drawn in office by the two parties.
Mr Kenny said: "We are not jumping on any bandwagon at all. We have been at this for over 2½ years. I suppose it tells you about the importance of the medium of television in that the Hobbs programme in four hours did really enter into the public consciousness in ways that are really more powerful than a lot of efforts of politicians have been," said Mr Kenny. Fine Gael's own website "Rip-Off Ireland" had attracted "thousands of visits" from the public over the last two years and most of the issues raised on it featured in the programme, he said.
Mr Rabbitte agreed: "It is a commentary on the power of television. May I modestly say to you that if I got four hours' television over four weeks to present my case that it would make an impact. The arguments in the programme are rehashes of arguments that are there from reports of the Public Accounts Committee, the Competition Authority, and Opposition political parties."
