Vote Fianna Fáil – get Sinn Féin? Harris

The nuclear option with both parties pursuing high tax high spend economics

Fine Gael TD for Wicklow and Minister for State at the Department of Finance, Simon Harris, has said that a vote for Fianna Fáil could amount to support for Sinn Féin, with a group of Fianna Fáil TDs stating their preference for a coalition with Sinn Féin today.

“A vote for Fianna Fáil at the next General Election could be a vote for Sinn Féin. This is becoming clear today with a group of Fianna Fáil TDs saying they will happily go into coalition with Sinn Féin. The mask has slipped and we now know that Fianna Fáil would consider anything to regain power, including putting Gerry Adams’ party into Government.

“This really is the nuclear option for the electorate as Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin would throw away our hard won economic recovery given half the chance. These two parties would actually be well suited to each other but disastrous for the Irish people. Both parties pursue the irresponsible high tax, high spend policies that destroyed our economy so recently and condemned so many families to such terrible hardship.

“Both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin voted against the tax reductions introduced by this Government in the last Budget. Reducing tax on work is a pro jobs policy which also goes a long way to rejuvenate the recovery on the high street. Small businesses do better when everyone has a little more in their pocket at the end of the week.

“300,000 jobs were lost in the last 3 years of the disastrous Fianna Fáil led Government. They would be better off using the Dáil recess to come up with some jobs policies rather than sitting around plotting future coalitions with Sinn Féin.

“The Fine Gael Labour coalition put Ireland on a stable footing again in the wake of the economic crash. We also put in place mechanisms to ensure no party can ever buy an election again with wild spending plans. This country will not be going back to the bad old days of boom and bust economics.

“While we know that not everyone has felt the benefits of the economic recovery yet, we are getting there. Fine Gael’s plan is that by 2018, we’ll have replaced all the jobs lost in the crash with better, more sustainable jobs, and we are working hard to spread the benefits of the recovery to all corners of the country. Don’t throw away the progress we’ve made on Mícheál Martin and Gerry Adams.”