Gilmore insists he will renegotiate deal

PRESS CONFERENCE:LABOUR LEADER Eamon Gilmore has vowed to renegotiate the Government's agreement with the EU and IMF at the earliest opportunity if his party is elected next year.

Mr Gilmore described the deal as a “sell-out” and said it was “dangerous for Ireland” because it posed an unacceptable risk to jobs and growth.

Unveiling his party’s pre-budget proposals, Mr Gilmore warned yesterday that the Government’s plan to frontload € 6 billion in cuts next year would inflict another year of stagnation on the economy.

The € 6 billion sum was a “figure of convenience” and a product of a right-wing consensus in Ireland and Europe, he claimed.

Mr Gilmore said the leader of the IMF mission in Ireland, Ajai Chopra, had said nothing in discussions with the Opposition parties about the need for € 6 billion in cuts and had also said some matters could be renegotiated. He added: “Our budget won’t be decided by Rehn or Chopra or anyone else but by the elected representatives of the country.”

He said the Government had been wrong about the bank guarantee, wrong about Nama, wrong about economic recovery and now it was wrong about the level of cuts proposed. When it was put to him that Fine Gael was also proposing € 6 billion in cuts, Mr Gilmore said that was a matter for Fine Gael, and voters, in an election, would have to make a choice.

Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said lenders, especially foreign banks who loaned in the Irish market without performing due diligence, must bear some responsibility for what had gone wrong.

“It is not acceptable that the burden of their recklessness should be borne exclusively on the slim shoulders of Irish taxpayers.”

Mr Gilmore described the Labour budget proposals as a balanced approach that would tackle the national deficit while providing rooms for jobs and growth.

Labour itself is proposing € 5 billion in cuts but with a proposal for a € 500 million jobs fund, the net proposed reduction in spending is € 4.5 billion.

Mr Gilmore said the bosses of semi-States would not be covered by Labour’s proposal to cap public sector salaries to € 190,000, but “they should be”. There were no proposals to sell off semi-States.

Labour is proposing to add 50 cent to the price of cigarettes, 25 cent to a bottle of wine and 5 cent on a pint of beer. Responding to questions, Mr Gilmore once again ruled out any future coalition with Sinn Féin.