Fine Gael calls on Cowen to sack Harney

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has called on  taoiseach-designate Brian Cowen to sack Minister for Health Mary Harney, reject the forthcoming ministerial pay increases and replace the Programme for Government.

Mr Cowen is due to take over from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Wednesday. Mr Ahern will submit his resignation to President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin tomorrow evening.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny

Mr Kenny today published a list of three decisions he says Mr Cowen must make “if [he] wants to show leadership and a change in direction for the Government.

First among them is to remove the health portfolio from Ms Harney.

"The simple truth is that Minister Mary Harney has failed to lead and reform our health service, failed to deliver on commitments made by this Government and ultimately failed those who use the service,” the Fine Gael leader said.  “She has created a health service which is systems-centred, not patient-centred. The HSE is her agency, set up with her legislation. It's her system that has failed.”

Mr Kenny also addressed the new round of pay talks, which he says could make or break the economy.

He noted that Mr Cowen recently called for wage restraint among workers. Mr Cowen also expressed concern over the size of pay increases being awarded to senior business figures and the message they sent out to workers.

"Brian Cowen now has the opportunity to show political will and act. He knows it is not right that Ministers should take massive pay increases of €38,000 while asking workers to limit their demands. He could show leadership and set an example by rejecting this pay increase immediately on taking office,” Mr Kenny said.

Finally, Mr Kenny claimed the Programme for Government, adopted following last year’s General Election, was “now entirely in tatters”. He said the fall in Exchequer revenue over the past years shows the Programme was untenable.

"Mr Cowen's Government can no longer afford the soft option politics of the last decade,” he argued. “A new, truthful Programme for Government setting out realistic and achievable targets is now needed, otherwise the great illusion continues. Politics should be about lifting people up, not letting them sink in a morass of broken promises."