Fianna Fáil tried to deny the bailout and now they’re trying to deny the recovery – Harris

The Minister of State at the Department of Finance and Fine Gael TD for Wicklow/East Carlow, Simon Harris, said today (Thursday) we cannot go back to Fianna Fáil’s chaos of five years ago.

“This day five years ago two Fianna Fáil ministers denied the troika were in the country to clean up Fianna Fáil’s mess. We now know how wrong they were.

“Fianna Fáil initially sought to deny they had landed this country in a bailout but five years later there can be no denying the economic devastation they caused.

“Now Fianna Fáil are at it again, trying to deny the recovery is taking hold and undermining the contribution of the thousands of small and indigenous businesses who are driving it.

“Instead of learning from experience Fianna Fáil wasted four and a half years in opposition taking populist and self-interested positions and failing to outline any alternative policies. Over 135,000 jobs have been added to the economy since the launch of the Action Plan for Jobs, yet Fianna Fáil have no jobs or enterprise policy.

“Today we learned that Fianna Fáil actually have no interest in being in Government and are, in fact, preparing for another term in opposition.

“It’s the same old Fianna Fáil, putting their own interests ahead of those of the country. It’s the same old Fianna Fianna Fáil which led us to the brink of disaster five years ago.

“After the next election Ireland needs a Government that can be trusted to keep the recovery going. That means having a plan to create more jobs and keep the economy strong. Do Fianna Fáil even want to be in Government?”