Labour Party leader calls for general election

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has said a general election was needed so that a new government could concentrate on dealing…

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has said a general election was needed so that a new government could concentrate on dealing with running the country.

With controversy over Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's finances rumbling on, Mr Rabbitte will this evening describe the Government as a "sulk coalition ... where one partner does not trust or believe the other".

In a prepared speach for the election convention for the Clare constituency, where Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald selected to run for the party, the Labour Party leader accused Tanaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Michael McDowell of "going missing".

Mr McDowell broke a 24-hour silence at lunchtime over the revelation that Mr Ahern bought his house from a man who attended a dinner in Manchester where the Taoiseach received €12,000.

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Mr McDowell said the "damage" to the Government over the controversy can be repaired. Talks between the Taoiseach and Tanaiste are scheduled for today and tomorrow and Mar Ahern said today that he would provide Mr McDowell with any information he required.

Mr Rabbitte said the Taoiseach's accounts have "endured more changes than a super-model at a fashion show".

"I can understand why the Tanaiste is sceptical. But he is only making himself and his party look foolish by not being able to make his mind up which way to go. "The controversy surrounding the Taoiseach and the tantrums of the Tanaiste are fast reducing our government to a laughing stock.

The Fianna Fáil ministers believe anything the Taoiseach feeds them and the Tánaiste believes nothing the Taoiseach advances."

Under these circumstances key issues such as policing, the health service and public transport were being neglected.

"This 'sulk coalition' has no credibility left." "It is time that the Irish people were given the opportunity to bring this farce to an end and elect an alternative government that can focus on producing workable solutions to problems that will continue to be neglected in the present political climate."