Fianna Fáil TD rules out coalition with Fine Gael

A member of Fianna Fáil’s frontbench has again ruled out any prospect of his party going into coalition with Fine Gael whatever the outcome of the election.

Dara Calleary, the party’s spokesman on jobs and enterprise , said there was no way he would support going into government with Fine Gael after the election. While ruling out coalition, he said all other options would be discussed by the party when the votes were counted but not before that.

“Until 10pm on Friday week we are going out to get as many votes as we can and we’ll see what happens after that,” he said.

Mr Calleary was commenting on the latest poll which has shown a decline in support for Fine Gael.

He was speaking at the publication of his party’s jobs policy which sets a target of 250,000 new jobs in the economy by 2021.

“We will incentivise job creation and bridge the current imbalanced regional jobs spread,” said Mr Callerary, who added that the Fianna Fáil jobs package was centered on incentivising SMEs and entrepreneurship, equity for the self-employed and protection of the country’s corporation tax rate.

“We support fair and decent living wages for all workers. Giving workers more certainty is key and allowing them the right to request more hours of work. We will introduce banded hour contracts and end exploitable zero hour contracts,” he said.

The key elements of the Fianna Fáil plan include:

* Incentivising job creation by reducing employers’ PRSI

*Equalise tax treatment of the self-employed by increasing the earned income tax credit by 300 per cent to €1,650

*Create a full State enterprise bank by licencing the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) to lend directly to SMEs

*Empower entrepreneurs to set up new businesses by providing relief from capital gains tax at 10 per cent (up to a €15 million gains limit)

*Rolling out digital hubs based on the Digital Hub Development Agency model to all local authorities

“Fianna Fáil believes in a country where decent hard working people can thrive, not just survive,” Mr Calleary added. “ Our vision centres on building an Ireland that will benefit people in every community not just the select few.”

He said the party’s offering on jobs would ensure an Ireland “built on strong, safe and enterprising communities and end the two tier recovery that is leaving many Irish communities behind”.

“We believe in a balanced recovery, one that recognises the contribution of the regions to the national economy.”