Fianna Fáil’s desperate attempt to exonerate its past won’t wash – Burke

Fianna Fáil’s desperate attempt to exonerate itself from the economic crash won’t wash with voters, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Longford/Westmeath Deputy Peter Burke said Fianna Fáil election candidates are already trying to distance themselves from the disastrous decisions taken by Micheál Martin and others at the Cabinet table.

And he warned that allowing Fianna Fáil back into power would risk jeopardising the crucial Brexit negotiations.

Deputy Burke commented:

“Just one day into the campaign, we are already seeing some of the younger Fianna Fáil TDs attempting to rewrite history.

“Yesterday, Deputy Lisa Chambers accused Fine Gael of running a ‘nasty’ campaign simply because we have called her party out for having no concrete policies.

“And today, we heard Deputy Jim O’Callaghan issue the extraordinary clam that his party is responsible for putting in place a national recovery programme.

“It was Fine Gael, on behalf of the Irish public, who led this recovery. Fianna Fáil’s younger crop of deputies, who harbour ministerial ambitions, are simply exonerating themselves from their party’s legacy – which was to wreck the country and saddle a generation with massive personal debt.

“And we shouldn’t forget that several of their leading candidates in this campaign served as ministers when the economy collapsed, such as Willie O’Dea, Mary Hanafin and Éamon Ó Cuív.”

Deputy Burke said Election 2020 should be based on who the electorate can trust.

He continued:

“When you look at Fine Gael’s economic record, our top team have carefully but successfully steered this country through the first phase of the Brexit negotiations.

“We are halfway there and are one nil up. Can you really trust reckless Fianna Fáil with the next phase of the Brexit negotiations given their track record with managing the economy?”