Thurles Information

Speaking today following the Green Party’s announcement that it is pulling its support for Government, Deputy Noel Coonan said an Taoiseach must dissolve this hopeless Government with immediate affect and “let the fate of our country be decided by the people of the country.”

The local Fine Gael TD said: “It is the people of the country who should now decide who formulates the four year fiscal plan and the forthcoming Budget. It is not about Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, the Greens or Independents. It is simply about the people and what is in the best interests of this country. And I believe that a General Election and a mandate from the people is what is needed right now and what is in the best interests of our State.”

Today, the local Fine Gael TD also expressed deep and utter disappointment at this Government who, having brought this country to its knee’s, has now surrendered control of our finances, by a formal request for a multi-billion euro loan.

“This Government has finally admitted it is incapable of lifting our country out of a recessionary hole after weeks of misleading information and denial. An Taoiseach has conceded that Ireland needs financial help from other countries and I’m appalled that the Taoiseach is still refusing to accept responsibility for this disaster. His mandate is no longer credible.
The public has lost confidence in this present Government and its backers. The Government is still refusing to shoulder the blame for this colossal mess and people have no reason to vote for them in the next election,” continued the Fine Gael TD.

This is the first time that such a bail-out has been sought in the State’s 88 year history. Deputy Coonan said that if Fine Gael could turn back the clock, it would have engineered a very different functioning and stable fiscal plan. Fine Gael would have used the period of stability provided by the Bank Guarantee to restructure the banks and impose losses on the banks’ investors.

Right from the start, Fine Gael was the first party to recognise that Anglo Irish Bank could never survive as a commercial entity and needed to be wound down. We were also the first party to argue that it was completely unfair for the Irish people to shoulder all of the losses of our dreadful banks, and that it was only fair that the people who had lent recklessly to the banks should also share in the pain. It’s a basic rule of capitalism that if you lend recklessly to failed institutions you must take the consequences.

Deputy Coonan said this bail-out “must not destroy more jobs and central to that is protecting the 12.5% rate of corporation tax.”  This week Fine Gael will put a Private Members’ Motion to the Dáil seeking cross-party support for the protection of the tax as a vital instrument for future growth and job creation.

Local Fianna Fail Deputy Maire Hoctor was not contactable in Tipperary today, she is believed to be still “grasping at straws” canvassing for her party in the forthcoming Donegal South West by-election.

Minister of State Dr.Martin Mansergh continues to stand by Brian Cowan,  giving the Fianna Fail leader his full backing, while the “Deer Hunter” Deputy Mattie McGrath is in no doubt that Brian Cowen should go, if he himself has any hope of re-election. Mattie is keeping in tune with the quote of St.Francis of Assisi : “If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”

Meanwhile, North Tipperary TD Michael Lowry told RTÉ radio this afternoon it was “highly unlikely” that he would support the upcoming budget. Mr Lowry has suddenly realised that the people of Ireland are “demoralised and bewildered” by recent events and that responsibility was now shifting to the opposition to decide the way this country is run.