People will use the upcoming local and European elections to pass “severe judgment” on the parties in Government, according to Labour Party deputy leader Joan Burton.
Ms Burton was speaking at the launch of her party’s local election campaign in Dublin this afternoon.
She said the elections on June 5th are of particular importance because they will be the first time people have had the opportunity to pass judgement on the Fianna Fáil-led Government since the general election of 2007.
“Many people are extremely angry at what Fianna Fáil has done to this country. Those who have lost their jobs and those who fear they will lose theirs; families whose businesses have closed because they cannot get the credit necessary to keep going; those who are concerned that they cannot keep up mortgage repayments and who may lose their homes; taxpayers who are terrified at the blank cheque this Government has given to the banks,” she said.
She urged people to use their vote in a positive way by channelling their anger into votes for the Labour Party.
“Our team of candidates represent a valuable mix of youth and experience, with a considerable number of first time candidates running alongside experienced councillors with a solid record of representation at local level,” she said.
She said she expected to see the “most energetic and professional campaign ever” by the party.
“In these elections we will have more candidates than ever before in more areas of the country than ever before. For the first time ever, we will have candidates in all the electoral areas in counties Donegal, Limerick and Laois. On the last occasion Labour won two seats in 14 electoral areas. On this occasion we will have two or more candidates in 54 electoral areas,” she said.
Labour has so far selected 206 candidates for city and county councils to date and more will be selected next week. Over half of the candidates,111 of the 206, are not sitting county councillors and 68 are first time candidates.
The party says candidates will spend between €4000 and €7000 on their campaigns. They will put up 80,000 posters and will deliver in excess of two million leaflets.
Labour will publish its local election manifesto next week which Ms Burton said will set a “series of innovative proposals” to deal with the problems facing local government.