Micheál Martin fails to outline a single substantive policy, leaving people guessing what – if anything – FF stand for – Heydon

Micheál Martin has once again failed to outline a single substantive policy to enlighten the public to what – if anything – his party stands for, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Chair of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party, Deputy Martin Heydon, said: “Last night Micheál Martin addressed a Fianna Fáil event with a speech peppered with petty jibes but lacking even a single policy idea.

“What we got instead was more of the same: commentary without solutions, and a reminder that Fianna Fáil has no ideas and no team capable of delivering them even if they had.

“Instead of spelling out what Fianna Fáil could actually bring to the table Micheál Martin opted to engage in speculation about the timing of an election – a helpful distraction from the fact that Fianna Fáil stands for nothing but promises everything.

“The irony of Micheál Martin commenting on General Election speculation is that such uncertainty is a direct result of his failure to agree with Leo Varadkar’s offer of a year and a half ago to set a date for the next General Election to be in early summer 2020. Instead Micheál Martin insisted on linking the next Irish General Election directly to the developments and progress of Brexit.

“Despite their pretence of prudence and of having learned from their catastrophic mistakes we have seen reckless Fianna Fáil make wild, uncosted spending calls that would cost the taxpayer €4.5bn – with no explanation as to how the taxpayer would meet the cost of their daily pledges.

“More than a month after my colleague Deputy Peter Burke compiled a report exposing their reckless and cynical spending calls Fianna Fáil have yet to outline how they would make the country pay for their lavish ways – would they increase borrowing or raise taxes? The public deserve to know.

“But in typical Fianna Fáil fashion they continue to dance around the issue, hoping nobody will notice that they have learned nothing since their time in Government and from the hardship they caused families up and down the country.

“Last night again we saw Micheál Martin leaving people guessing what Fianna Fáil stand for – is this because they stand for nothing other than their own interests and returning to power at any cost?”