FF’s election speculation shows their true colours once again – Brophy

Fianna Fáil’s election speculation has exposed that the party’s trademark arrogance and complacency have not gone away, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Dublin South West TD, Colm Brophy, said, “This weekend we see Deputy Leader of FF Dara Calleary talking about securing a Confidence and Supply deal to lead the next Government.

“Clearly FF believe that they have been in opposition long enough for the public to forget the way they steered this country to economic ruin and caused hardship and heartache for thousands of people around the country.

“It is extremely arrogant to make statements about the potential aftermath of an election that has not been called and it is that type of arrogance that saw Fianna Fáil court economic disaster while in Government in the past.

“Clearly this trademark hubris has not gone away.

“During their time in Opposition instead of learning from their catastrophic mistakes and re-evaluating their approach to governance we have instead witnessed Fianna Fáil reverting to type time and again.

“Their reckless spending and economic management of the past is reflected today in their almost daily spending pledges – which totalled €24m per day in the first half of 2019 according to research carried out by my colleague Deputy Peter Burke.

“Rather than being honest with people we see FF deputies make promises, pledges and then, on the other hand with not a hint of irony, talk up their supposed prudence and responsible approach.

“Instead of producing policies FF have opted instead to allow themselves a blank slate where they can promise everything to everyone at once without ever needing to show how it would be paid for or provided.

“Since the minority Government was formed in 2016 the number of policy papers published by FF frontbench spokespeople can be counted on your fingers: what does that tell us about how seriously they take the prospect of returning to power?

“It tells us they don’t believe they have to demonstrate what they have learned, how they have changed or why they deserve another chance at the helm of the country.

“But tellingly, the comments we are seeing reported of late, including those of Deputy Calleary, show us that FF expect to be handed the keys to the gate again, despite refusing to change. It seems a leopard really cannot change its spots.

“Fine Gael restored this country to economic success and instead of being complacent about this we have deliverable policies in place to maintain this success, to meet the remaining challenges and to prepare Ireland for the future,” Deputy Brophy concluded.