SF TDs vote against new Government and Ahern, Kenny nominations

Following a meeting last Thursday morning the Sinn Féin’s four newly elected TDs, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Martin Ferris, Arthur Morgan and Aengus Ó Snodaigh, confirmed that they would be voting against the proposed Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats/Green Government and against the nominations of both Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny for Taoiseach.
Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin stated:
“Sinn Féin fought the General Election as an independent political party on a radical platform for real social and economic equality and Irish reunification. We will not be supporting the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats/ Green nomination for Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, nor that of Enda Kenny. Neither bloc offers the real change which is so desperately needed.
“The Programme for Government agreed between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party is essentially a Fianna Fáil/PD Programme. It will continue most of the failed policies of the past decade. Most glaringly it contradicts two core values of the Green Party – equity in our health services and Irish neutrality and independent foreign policy.
“The Programme retains the disgraceful hospital co-location scheme which rewards private for-profit hospital developers and reinforces the two-tier system. It allows Shannon Airport to continue as a staging post for the US/British war in Iraq, in complete violation of our neutrality.
“The four Sinn Féin TDs will provide constructive opposition in the Dáil and in the country. We will be holding the new Government to account and putting forward real alternatives. We will continue to challenge the domination of politics by the two conservative parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The Labour Party have once again helped to revive Fine Gael while the Greens have now joined Fianna Fáil in putting the PDs back in office. There was never a greater need for a radical and relevant alternative.
“We are a campaigning party and we will build and mobilise among communities demanding their rights to decent healthcare, education, housing and a clean and safe environment. We look forward with confidence to our work in the 30th Dáil.”