23 January 1997 Edition
Back issue: GOOD RIDDANCE!
THE FOUR-YEAR rule of one of the worst governments in the history of the 26-County state has at last ended and the unanimous verdict of the victims of their administration is a hearty: ``Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish!''
The Fine Gael/Labour coalition broke up this week after failing to agree on a budget containing more savage attacks on the poor, the unemployed, the sick and the elderly. Knowing full well that such a budget would not be agreed with an election looming, the coalition parties continued the charade up to the very last moment and spent probably the longest time of any government lingering on their death bed.
In an exercise of the greatest cynicism and hypocrisy, the Labour Ministers in government followed their leader Dick Spring out of the coalition on Tuesday. They knew that an election was inevitable sooner or later because, even if the budget was agreed by the cabinet, it would not survive a vote in Leinster house. The Labour deputies used the opportunity to wave their tattered flag and masquerade as defenders of the very same low-income groups they have helped to cripple for the last four years.
An electorate which is sick of such posturing is now more likely to give the Labour Party the answer it deserves and banish it further into the political wilderness.
The Fine Gael/Labour coalition broke up this week after failing to agree on a budget containing more savage attacks on the poor, the unemployed, the sick and the elderly. Knowing full well that such a budget would not be agreed with an election looming, the coalition parties continued the charade up to the very last moment and spent probably the longest time of any government lingering on their death bed.
In an exercise of the greatest cynicism and hypocrisy, the Labour Ministers in government followed their leader Dick Spring out of the coalition on Tuesday. They knew that an election was inevitable sooner or later because, even if the budget was agreed by the cabinet, it would not survive a vote in Leinster house. The Labour deputies used the opportunity to wave their tattered flag and masquerade as defenders of the very same low-income groups they have helped to cripple for the last four years.
An electorate which is sick of such posturing is now more likely to give the Labour Party the answer it deserves and banish it further into the political wilderness.