Why does Joan Burton want to be in Government with ‘Celtic Tory’ Fine Gael?

Joan Burton wants Labour in Government with 'Celtic Tory' Fine Gael

JOAN BURTON has been challenged by her Sinn Féin rival in Dublin West on why Labour are insisting on government only with Fine Gael when Eamon Gilmore’s last speech in the 30th Dáil accused Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil of being “the Celtic Tory consensus that has brought us to where we are”.

Sinn Féin Dublin West candidate Paul Donnelly asked:

If Eamon Gilmore and the Labour Party are so worried about what he denounces as ‘the Celtic Tory consensus’, why does he and Joan Burton want to put Fine Gael back into government?

Donnelly, who is Chairperson of Dublin Sinn Fein, accused Labour and Fine Gael of playing out a sham fight for the media when Labour TDs have already openly admitted the only party they want to get into government with is Fine Gael.

It’s a bad con-job by Labour.

Sinn Féin has stood out against the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael/Labour ‘Consensus for Cuts’ with a costed programme of job creation, tax justice, an end to wasteful expenditure, a sensible deficit reduction timetable, the separation of sovereign debt from bank debt and a realistic approach to addressing the banking crisis.

For people who don’t want Fianna Fáil, there is an alternative to Fine Gael/Labour, there is a better way – vote Sinn Féin.