Quinn refuses to mortgage Labour ahead of election

The Labour party leader tonight said he would not mortgage the party to either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael ahead of a general election.

Mr Ruairi Quinn addresses the Labour conference last night

Mr Ruairí Quinn, said Labour would fight this election on its own policies. Mr Quinn identified five key policies which Labour in government would implement:

• A universal health service with free GP care and an end to the two-tiered health system
  
• A properly funded education system with the necessary equipment and staff
  
• A national childcare scheme will be implemented with free pre-schooling
  
• Those earning a minimum wage will be taken out of the tax net
  
• Support for employment and development in all regions.

Taken the stand alone at the Labour Party conference in Cork City Hall at 8 p.m. this evening Mr Quinn made good the resolution agreed this morning that Labour would stand free of coalition plans in the next election.

He was sharply critical of the Taoiseach Mr Ahern, "who doesn’t know if he is a politician or a pop star," said Mr Quinn. The Taoiseach’s only vision was for a stadium, added the Labour leader.

Neutrality was never meant to be a shield behind which we would hide from the world and our responsibilities Mr Ruairi Quinn

He was also critical of the Government’s "destruction of the commercial semi-states and said tenure of the Minister for Public Enterprise has been a "nightmare".

In Government, Labour would hold a referendum so that rights of people with disabilities are safeguarded, the conference was told. Mr Quinn said three times in recent years the Supreme Court has decided that the Constitution denies basic rights to people with disabilities.

Labour would also ban all corporate donations. "For years the Taoiseach has hidden behind legal advice . . . a secret veto from the Attorney General [Mr Michael McDowell]," said Mr Quinn.

Sinn Féin too, came in for censure for their failure to comply with what Mr Quinn described as a "direct order from the Irish people to put arms beyond use".

"To be republican is to believe in the sovereignty of the people. These people [Sinn Fein] are not true republicans. For three years these people have refused to comply with the mandate explicitly voted for by the people of the whole island, north and south," he said.

Speaking on the recent terrorist attacks in the US, Mr Quinn said any response should be careful not pit the western tradition against the Muslim tradition, added Mr Quinn.

He added that the term neutrality was causing some difficulty in this incidence.

"Who could be neutral about what happened in New York and Washington, or even Bosnia. As a people we need to open our mind to new and more complex global arrangements. Neutrality was never meant to be a shield behind which we would hide from the world and our responsibilities."