Taoiseach attacks FF "instability" in coalition

THE Taoiseach has launched a bitter attack on Fianna Fail's instability in coalition, setting down a marker for the Government's strategy in the general election campaign.

He compared the record of this Government with that of Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats in a major address to a Fine Gael dinner in Dublin last night to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the State.

"We are not a temporary little arrangement. We are a real partnership. That is why this Government works", he stated. The "Millennium Government", which they wished to form, would be critical in making the right decisions for Ireland into the next century and Fine Gael, renewed and revitalised by its return to Government, stood ready with its partners to deliver a better future.

Inviting people to look under the surface of the troubled relationship between Fianna Fail and the PDs, Mr Bruton said: "They split originally in 1985, coalesced again in 1989 and split up yet again in even greater bitterness in 1992" he stated.

Contrasting the emphasis of the present Government on continuity and efficiency with the outcome of the last three governments, he continued that the last three governments - each of them led by their principal opponents had collapsed prematurely. "Their government collapsed prematurely in 1989. Their government collapsed prematurely in 1992 and, yet again in 1994", he added.

Fianna Fail was not planning ahead, he said. The only planning that was being done by "the big party" in those three collapsed governments was planning how best to undermine, and dispose of its partners.

The government he wished to form after the next election would have four great tasks - social political, physical and economic.

The great social task of the next government would be to harness the vitality and energy, the intelligence and commitment, of our vibrant and talented young population and to make Ireland an even better place in which to live and work.

Turning to Northern Ireland, he stated that peace would not come through clever formulae or through elaborate fudges. It would come only when both sides stopped pursuing a terrorist agenda.

The great political task, Mr Bruton continued, would be to improve the way the public service served the people, its customers. He wanted to humanise the system of government.

For instance, in education, government, teachers, parents and schools should agree measurable targets for reading, writing and basic mathematics in primary school. No child should leave primary school without familiarity with basic scientific principles and knowledge of a continental language.

The biggest physical task of the next government would be to protect our environment, our clean water, our nuclear free atmosphere, our living countryside.

The great economic task of this government would be to navigate Ireland's path into the Europe of the single currency. It would not be dictated by that of Britain. "We are independent now", he said.