THE Progressive Democrats had made it clear that they wished to create a "me fein Ireland" in which the better off would have all the options and the less well off would have to make do, the Tanaiste said at the weekend.
Addressing a Labour Party regional conference in Cork, Mr Spring said the PDs were committed to sacking 3,500 public servants as well as selling the ports, harbours, the rest of Telecom Eireann "and anything else that will attract a quick buck".
For the past six months, he added, the PDs had been systematically attacking the Labour Party, seeking to make it a target for their politics of begrudgery. Labour in government had contributed to every significant move towards more liberal and pluralist legislation and introduced the most comprehensive platform of equality legislation in the State's history.
Labour had contributed to government for about half of the last 25 years and could be proud of that contribution, he said. "We can compare it to the miserable three years that the PDs spent in government, three years when increases in public spending were significantly higher than anything Ruairi Quinn has managed, three years when unemployment rose at the rate of 47 every single day they were in office.
"Three years when not one significant piece of social or reforming legislation was introduced or passed. Three years when queues got longer, class sizes got bigger, few houses were built, legal aid was a shambles and Third World aid was cut to the bone. Three years when Ireland was regarded as one of the sick economies of Europe. Three years when AngloIrish progress was allowed to run into the sand while the PDs squabbled over who should attend the meetings, "Mr Spring said.
The Labour Party's election campaign was already under way, Mr Spring continued, and Labour was ready. At the next election, the people would have a profound, choice to make they could opt for a new Ireland or the PDs version of a me fein Ireland.
The Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, said in 1992, when Fianna Fail and the ,PDs were in government, the economy was floundering, the unemployment situation was in crisis, and tax and social welfare policies were woefully inadequate.
In 1992 there was no divorce in Ireland and, as a result of PD style Thatcherism, Ireland's social services were strangling from lack of funds, Mr Taylor said. "In 1992, FF and the PDs failed to tackle the cosy relationship between business and politics.
"Labour in government brought in an Ethics in Public Office Act. We have set up a tribunal on the Dunnes Stores payments and we, have published an Electoral Bill to ensure that election contributions are made public. In 1992, FF and the PDs had yielded to powerful vested interests such as those that had ruled the education sector, unchecked, for decades" he said.
After four months in operation, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) was already having a major impact on crime, the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, told the conference. "The criminal world is in turmoil with many of the drug barons reported to have fled to sunnier climes.
"For legal reasons, it would be unfair of me to go into details of the particular cases, but the public can,judge with their own eyes the various legal proceedings going on here, and abroad. Assessments for tax in the total sum of £3,151,892 have been raised so far by the CAB. A variety of applications seeking to enforce the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 have been brought to the High Court.
"Five persons are under court injunctions at the moment. We must keep up the pressure and not relent on criminal bosses until we have finished the job," Mr Quinn said.