FF leader accuses Government of defeatism over national agreement

THE Fianna Fail leader, Mr Ahern, has criticised the Government for its "defeatist attitudes" towards a new national understanding.

Speaking in Tipperary last night, he accused the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, of breaking faith with workers by not fulfilling the taxation elements, of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, and said it was "totally unacceptable" that the Government should "throw in the towel now and allow the carefully constructed national consensus, source of such positive economic benefits over the past 10 years, to unravel."

He said the three national programmes had created "some 130,000 net new jobs" and had provided the stability which allowed this State to meet "the stringent Maastricht criteria".

"While the negative attitudes demonstrated by the Taoiseach in describing such national understandings as the `triumph of bureaucracy over enterprise', as `a programme designed to let economic sleeping dogs lie' and a programme which says Ireland plc is not to be managed,' are clearly no grounds for confidence," he continued: "One would have thought the Labour Party would put a national consensus for all at work, as a top Government priority."

The trade union movement had been "greatly angered", by "derisory tax reductions this year", he said, "and by the "vilification" of the Civil Service by "the Taoiseach and Minister Lowry."

This, he felt, should have been a spur to Mr Quinn "to redouble efforts to retrieve the situation", rather than his adopting "the defeatist attitude he expressed".

Mr Ahern also said that Fianna Fail had "repeatedly" raised "the good sense and equity" of including the unemployed and small businesses in negotiations for any new programme. He pledged that they would be included in any such negotiations "when Fianna Fail returns to government."

Mr Ahern concluded by saying the Government should think again before throwing away "the past achievements, of Fianna Fail led governments."