TAOISEACH Brian Cowen “is a very able man” but he should consider resigning from office in the best interests of the country, the leader of the Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore, has said.
“I know Brian Cowen does the rally-the-troops things very well, he is a very able man and I have no doubt he will make a very good speech to the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis,” said Mr Gilmore.
“But I think he has to ask himself some very heart-searching questions, whether at this time his best service to the country would be standing aside and letting the country breathe again politically,” he added.
Mr Gilmore made his comments during a visit to Limerick yesterday on the eve of tonight’s keynote address by the Taoiseach at the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis,which is taking place this weekend.
Commenting on the most recent opinion polls which reveal continued dissatisfaction with the Government, Mr Gilmore said this showed “a deeper loss of support, authority and credibility” for those in power.
“Over 80 per cent of people have no confidence in this Government.
“A clear majority of people want a general election to be held, and I think that the question Brian Cowen has to reflect on is whether he and his Government have the authority to govern the country,” he said.
“Just as a citizen of the country, I have to ask, do I want this country to be led by somebody who was minister for finance for four or five years and walked us into this crisis?
“Do I want somebody in a senior economic portfolio who didn’t read the report on the banks before coming in with the proposal to nationalise the banks?”
According to Mr Gilmore, the increased levels of support for the Labour Party in recent opinion polls reflected the change of mood in the country.
“I think that what we are saying about the economy and about how to get out of it is resonating with people who want a fresh start in politics, banking and the economy.
“I believe there are a lot of people in this country who are neither Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael and want a third choice. The Labour Party is that third choice, and I think that the evidence of the polls is that increasing numbers of people are moving in that direction . . . I think at the moment if there was a general election right now, there would be a three-horse race for leadership of a government.” .
Mr Gilmore also called yesterday for those involved in economic crime to be punished by the courts. “There is a law to one level where people are in and out of the District and Circuit Courts for various crimes, and then you have this high end, designer crime that has been going on and has landed the country in the serious economic situation it is in.
“That crime is being paid for by people losing their jobs and having their incomes cut and the day of reckoning has to come.
“This country has to make a fresh start, and as part of this start those who are culpable of economic crime in this country are brought to book, brought into a court, prosecuted and punished by the courts.”