Speech by An Tánaiste, Simon Coveney, on the election

Good morning everybody,

We are 96 hours away from the General Election when people will decide the shape of the next Government.

Politicians from different political parties continue to compete for your vote and are making lots of promises.

But before voting, I want to make a direct appeal to everyone to consider this: Our country has built something hugely valuable in the last nine years, from a place of despair.

Our economy is now strong and sustainable if we take care of it. And it’s that economy that will be the engine room for everything we need to do next.

In Fine Gael we know we have problems still to overcome, and we know that more needs to be done, particularly on housing and healthcare.

We hear peoples’ anxiety and frustration and we are responding.

I would appeal to those casting their votes on Saturday to think of how far we have travelled since the days of hundreds of thousands of job losses, a property crash, an international bailout and mass emigration of our young people – breaking many businesses and families.

When I look at the last nine-years, I see change – real change – driven by the Irish people themselves and Fine Gael in government doing what was right for the country.

Here’s our change record:

• Marriage Equality.
• The Irish people having their say on the 8th amendment.
• Reforming the constitution on divorce.
• Introducing a plan for real action on Climate.
• Bridging the urban rural divide on broadband.
• Unemployment falling from 16% to 4%.
• The creation of 450,000 jobs.

Ireland has 2.3 million people at work. The most ever. This is real, meaningful change.

When I look at the campaign that has unfolded over the last three weeks I see something different.

The word “change” is being ambushed and abused – voters are being promised levels of spending and policies that would cripple the Irish economy again.

It is change with no regard to the consequences or fallout. It is based on a falsehood – Populism in the short term with a disregard for the future.

Some parties are promising you everything – to go wild on the State’s credit card, ignore the bill, with interest, that will come in the post. Their attitude is that someone else will pay for it.

I am an optimist by nature. But I have rarely in my political life been as concerned about the direction the country is potentially being taken for the future.

The brand of politics practiced by Sinn Fein is built on discontent and division – feeding and encouraging undercurrents of anger.

There is always a “them” and “us” in Sinn Fein politics.

They line up Irish people against other Irish people.

Ask yourself this, has Sinn Fein ever put the country before party interests? Has Sinn Fein ever had to make a hard decision on economic choices?

Will Sinn Fein be there to pay the bill and pick up the pieces after they wreck the economy and drive jobs and capital out of Ireland?

Throughout this campaign I have tried to highlight the risks and danger in the year ahead with the Brexit trade talks.

Yesterday Boris Johnson put the UK on a collision course with the EU and, mark my words, the weeks ahead are going to be extremely turbulent for Ireland.

So when you come to vote, ask yourself this question – who do you trust with keeping Ireland safe and protecting our strong economy as we face very real risks at home and abroad?

Do you trust the party who crashed our economy but now claims to be reborn?

Do you trust the parties who make blatantly irresponsible spending promises on the back of massive tax hikes to win votes, but will wreck the economy again?

Or do you trust the party that has protected Ireland through Brexit, returned us to full employment and has worked with the Irish people to bring about real change, with a commitment to listen and do so much more?

You can trust Fine Gael, Vote FG.