Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has called for a general election calling the Government "incompetent and inept".
Speaking in Dublin this morning, Mr Adams said the Government's "time was up" and that people were demanding a change.
“The Government have constantly misled people about the origins of the economic crisis and the cost and implications of their policies,” he said. “The people and politics that caused this crisis are the same who are now presenting us with Nama, the savage cuts from An Bord Snip and the Commission on Taxation report.
“This Government has also presented the people with a referendum on exactly the same Lisbon Treaty that the people rejected,” he added.
Mr Adams said if the Government really believed in its proposals, it should seek a mandate from the people.
“It is time for a change. A general election is needed now. These propositions are so unfair and will have such a devastating effect on society, including the next generation, that any Government wanting to go down this road needs to have the courage to go before the people," Mr Adams said.
Sinn Féin opposes Nama and believes nationalisation of the main banks would be the fairest way to deal with the banking crisis.
Mr Adams also said his party opposes the recommendations of An Bord Snip. "We do not believe health, education and children’s services should be cut to pay for this mess. We do not believe households should be taxed to raise the revenue needed to fix the economy, when those who have the ability to pay more have not been asked to do so," he added.
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Arthur Morgan accused the Government, and
Taoiseach Brian Cowen in particular, of “consistently lying to the Irish people when they claim that they were not warned of the dangers inherent in their economic approach over the last decade”.
He said Sinn Féin “regularly and consistently warned the Government that the reliance on property and consumption taxes could not be sustained and that the tax base needed to be broadened”.
