“Gilmore is playing a dangerous con job, misleading the Irish people,  ignoring the economic reality we face and is making claims  that he can renegotiate the EU/IMF deal on a policy basis that has already been rejected by EU Finance Ministers” said Minister Dick Roche.

“The dangerous differences between Fine Gael and Labour are now fully exposed following publication of their individual pre-budget submissions.

While Fine Gael has attempted to spell out an alternative policy that ‘adds up’, Labour had ducked and dodged and is being totally dishonest with the Irish people.

There is a huge gap of €1.5 billion in the proposals put forward by Fine Gael and Labour for the 2011 budget alone.

After some huffing and puffing by its TDs, Senators  & Councillors Fine Gael has accepted the projections made by the Government, the Central Bank, The EU Commission, The European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund about the need to make €6 billion in adjustments in the 2011 budget. Fine Gael also agree that further adjustments of €9 billion need to be spread over the next four years.

Labour has its head stuck in the sand. The Labour Party disagrees with Fine Gael and all of the international experts saying that an adjustment of €4.5 billion in 2011 will do. It won’t!

In spite of repeated calls in the Dail for a multiannual plan to deal with Ireland’s public finances Labour has produced only a back of the envelope bogus budget for 2011. It has nothing to say about the later years other than it disagrees with everybody else – except perhaps Sinn Fein.

Gilmore is playing a dangerous con job. He is misleading the Irish people. His approach will make an already bad situation infinitely worse.

Gilmore has said that he can renegotiate the €85 billion rescue package with the EU and the EU & the IMF. Gilmore’s claim is a fraud: it has no basis.

A key part of Gilmore’s ‘strategy’ for renegotiation, rengaging on paying back monies lent to banks has already been rejected by the EU Finance and Economic Ministers & by the EU Central Bank.  If Gilmore were to attempt to do this unilaterally Ireland would run out of funds for key services like health, education and welfare services or be forced to borrow funding at impossibly high interest rates.

Whenever hard decisions have to be made Mr Gilmore always ducks them.

Gilmore is establishing a cowardly track record of dodging the decisions needed to get Ireland’s economy back on track, to protect our public services to the maximum extent possible and to help job creation and go instead for the cheap sound bite, the political advantage or the patently false option“ Minister Roche said.