Renua’s representative for Roscommon-Galway Anne Farrell has said “If Fine Gael and Labour are allowed to get into power again, no matter who else is with them, then we will never have a right to complain again.”
Speaking following reports in recent days that the Labour Party had been offered ministerial positions by Fine Gael if they considered returning to Government Anne Farrell said “So soon after a general election, and a government not even formed yet, we can blatantly see that the opinion and welfare of the Irish people is being ignored and was never considered important. How much more loudly did it need to be said that the people did not want Fine Gael running things, with a resounding shout of definitely not Labour. And now we have talks around possibly having Labour back in government with Fine Gael.”
“Are we really allowing this to happen? This smacks of the Lisbon treaty all over again. What part of “No” don’t you get?, Push and push till they get what they want?”
She added “This can not happen with our government. People suffered too much and finally spoke up, and this time the powers that be must not be allowed to ignore what the people want. Overwhelmingly they do not want Fine Gael and Labour running this country again.”
“It appears that after all the really hard work that the Independents did over the last 50 odd days to try to facilitate a stable Government, the rug has been pulled out from under them. Fine Gael are getting the people they can manipulate, to come on board. They covertly and systematically set up proposal after proposal of coalitions and partnerships under their terms, which they knew parties and Independents would have to reject because of pre-election positions taken, then blamed everyone else for not being cooperative. If we were ever in doubt as to who Fine Gael serve, it is totally clear now that it is purely themselves.”
“After the last election, people were rightly outraged at all of the promises made and then broken. This time around, parties and TD’s refusing to break the promises which got them elected, are being hailed as the villains thwarting the process. Saying people are abdicating their responsibility by not engaging is spin to cover the fact that they they’d never share power with them in the first place.”
“And in the meantime the homeless remain homeless, the hospital crisis increases and the scandal of the “modular housing débâcle” with costs more than doubled, just sails by lost in the fiasco that is the current Dáil, while Labours Alan Kelly defends his role in the housing crisis” she concluded.