The deputy leader of the Sinn Féin party Mary Lou McDonald has yet again launched another scathing attack on the collation Government by accusing them of “throwing out election promises like confetti”.
Ms McDonalds comments cone after she heavily questioned and criticised the Tánaiste Joan Burton during Leaders’ Questions recently, Ms McDonald told the Dáil that the coalition promised to “oppose water charges, property tax and not cut social welfare” but completely went back on its word and did the exact opposite. Ms McDonald told Ms Burton: “You voted through five budgets that hit working families hardest” and went on to accuse the Tánaiste of letting Taoiseach Enda Kenny set the agenda.”
She also openly criticised the Labour party saying they had “failed to stand up to Frankfurt” during the financial crisis, before asking Ms Burton “how can you expect anyone to believe you?”
However Ms McDonalds comments were quickly rebuffed by the Tánaiste who pointed out that Sinn Féin voted for the bank guarantee and stated that voters “know Ireland is in a dynamic recovery mode” which “starts with people going back to work”. Ms Burton also noted that “of the 330,000 jobs lost after Fianna Fáil’s disastrous bank guarantee – with Sinn Féin voting for it – we have restored the Irish economy”. Before stating that “we (the government) have managed to restore a social economy as well”.
The much heated debate seemingly became a slagging match between the two as Deputy McDonald quickly outlined a number of cuts that Labour presided over while “on top of that they slapped on a water charge”. Ms McDonald then proceeded to ask the Tánaiste if she recognised the Tesco advert from the last election – “every little helps”. Before adding that “people have wised up. You are quite happy to let Fine Gael set the agenda, run down public services and ignore any promise you might make”.