Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has called for a general election saying he is prepared to lead the country out of the current economic crisis.
Speaking at the Annual Conference of Young Fine Gael in Athlone today, Mr Kenny said there was no coherence, no competence and no confidence emerging from the Government “as they lurched from one ill informed and incorrect decision to another.”
“The economic crisis we are facing today was created not because Fianna Fail policies failed, but because they succeeded,” he said.
"We have moved away from the agile, innovative, export driven economic model that gave birth to the Celtic Tiger and have grown lazy and complacent as Fianna Fail invested all our futures in a property and developer led boom that was clearly not sustainable."
He added: "The response of the Government to the crisis has only made things worse. Denial, delay and indecision have been the hallmarks of the response to date and when action is finally taken it appears to favour the vested interests over the hard hit taxpayer."
Mr Kenny said Fine Gael would offer the "tough, but fair and caring, leadership that is required at this point in our history."
"That is why I believe we need an election to give the country a new Government with a fresh mandate to lead us away from the failures of the recent past. Fianna Fail have walked us in to a political and economic cul de sac. There is now a vacuum of leadership at the top of Government. I am prepared to lead the country out of this vacuum with a new mandate in a new direction," he said.
Mr Kenny said a Fine Gael government would focus on four key areas: energy, education, enterprise and the environment.