Sinn Féin can deliver 'genuine left-republican Government' says Pearse Doherty

THE state needs to break with the past and to elect a genuine left-republican Government with "core values of peace, social equality, economic prosperity and Irish unity" Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty told the MacGill Summer School.

Hitting out at the Fine Gael and Labour Government, the Donegal TD criticised its approach of "inflicting failed austerity economics at huge cost to society and the social fabric of Ireland":

"They have a conservative mind-set that believes that the state should not intervene in the economy, except to provide subsidies to the private sector and bailouts in periods of economic crisis."

"We are at a critical juncture on how we decide the future society and the type of Ireland we want to fight for now - 100 years later in 2016," he said.

"This means new economic thinking, new ideas and an honest and coherent political approach, a real break from the past, from the same old, same old that what we are getting now."

Pearse Doherty says he believes Sinn Féin can provide that political leadership. 

On the issue of water charges, Doherty outlined the party's approach in the North where it blocked the imposition of water charges from Westminster.

Discussing Irish Water's funding model, Pearse said: 

"As payment levels stutter at below 50% it is conceivable that even in simple budgetary terms abolishing water charges is achievable and even prudent."

He told the audience that in Government Sinn Féin would dismantle Irish Water, keep water services in full public ownership and replace Irish Water with a public water utility with "a new model of governance, funding and delivery within full public ownership and democratic control and accountability". 

He said the party in Government would establish an independent Commission on Water Services to examine the best public ownership model