Martin’s barefaced lies are a desperate attempt to hoodwink electorate – Doherty

Fine Gael Meath East Deputy and the Party’s Deputy Director of Elections for the Seanad abolition campaign, Regina Doherty, has said Micheál Martin’s comments on RTÉ’s Six One this evening (Tuesday) in relation to the Government’s renegotiation of the bailout deal demonstrate that Party’s determination to rewrite history and its willingness to unashamedly lie to the Irish people in its attempts to do so.

“Micheál Martin’s smug and arrogant barefaced lies this evening, under questioning from Brian Dobson on RTÉ’s Six One, were jaw-dropping to say the least. Aside from the merry dance the Fianna Fáil leader tried to engage in in terms of the 180 degree turn his Party has done in respect of the relevance of the Seanad, his comments where the Government’s renegotiation of the bailout deal are concerned cannot possible be believed, even by him.

“When asked if he would give any credit to the Government for getting us to the point where the end line is in sight and we can finally wave goodbye to the Troika, Martin said that getting out of the deal was always going to happen and that the interest rate on the bailout, as agreed by Fianna Fáil, was 3.5%. He went on to say that this Government had not renegotiated the deal, as promised.

“The simple fact of the matter is that, despite the fact that Micheál Martin claimed that the bailout deal could not be renegotiated, one of the first acts of the Fine Gael/Labour Government on coming to office was to do just that. Fianna Fáil agreed a bailout deal interest rate of around 6%. After this Government engaged with the Troika, a reduction was secured to bring that figure down to 3.5%; in anyone’s language a reduction from 6% to 3.5% equals a significant renegotiation, as well as a considerable saving for the Irish people.

“This Government has been working day and night to undo the damage inflicted on our country Fianna Fáil. Martin’s attempts this evening to play the Irish people for fools and to hoodwink them through barefaced lies demonstrate that, as suspected, nothing about that Party has changed. The truth of the matter is that Fianna Fáil, under Micheál Martin – the last link to Brian Cowen’s Government – remains as true to the Irish people as it has ever been.”