FINE GAEL CAMPAIGN:FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has ruled out a pre-election pact with any other party in advance of the next election and has again ruled out a coalition with Sinn Féin in any circumstances.
Mr Kenny denied claims by former Green Party leader Trevor Sargent that he had asked him to approach Sinn Féin after the last election with a view to supporting a Fine Gael-led rainbow government. “If I had been prepared to do business with Sinn Féin after the last election I would have been Taoiseach for the past two years,” said Mr Kenny. He said it was absurd to suggest he would ask another party leader to approach another party about the formation of a government. “If I have anything to say to another party I will say it directly,” he added.
Mr Kenny said the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government would not be able to ignore the results of the election. “I believe the people will deliver their verdict on this coalition and vote for change. The Government cannot ignore the sovereign will of the people.”
He added that he expected a general election would take place sooner rather than later.
He forecast that Fine Gael would win more than 300 council seats and be the biggest party in local government in Ireland.
Mr Kenny said that tough times had been made tougher by a Government that had put bankers and developers first and tried to tax its way out of a recession.
“Ireland deserves a new team and a fresh start. So to those people in Ireland who are looking for change, for a better, fairer economic future, I ask you to vote Fine Gael this Friday,” he said.
Mr Kenny said that 100,000 jobs could come from an €11 billion infrastructure investment package and another 80,000 small- and medium-enterprise jobs could be saved by making government work for business rather than the other way around.