LABOUR PARTY leader Eamon Gilmore has come under sustained attack from Fianna Fáil for budget proposals described as “fantasy economics”.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen made a reference in the Dáil yesterday to a newspaper interview Mr Gilmore had given suggesting that there should be no tax increases or welfare cuts in the budget.
Mr Cowen noted Mr Gilmore had not denied any of the quotes so he presumed they accurately reflected his views. “He has not suggested otherwise,” he added.
Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins said Mr Gilmore’s claim that “middle-income” families would be unaffected by a Labour budget was a shallow and obvious attempt by the Labour Party to mislead Ireland’s middle class.
Mr Collins said the Labour leader, in an Evening Heraldinterview on Monday, had suggested that at least €3 billion in savings could be made in the next budget without affecting the income tax take paid by almost 80 per cent of the working population.
“The Labour Party talks repeatedly of hitting ‘high earners’ as if there is some large untapped resource out there. The reality is that only 5 per cent of the workforce earns over €100,000 and pay 48 per cent of all income taxes,” said Mr Collins.
He added that while it might play well in his media performances, this kind of approach would not do anything to tackle the real-world budget deficit.
“We are borrowing €55 million a week just to keep the country going. This is unsustainable. In this context, reforming our tax system must be looked at,” he said.
Mr Collins said Mr Gilmore should clarify how he will exempt middle Ireland and how raising taxes for a mere 5 per cent of the workforce could bridge the deficit.
Dublin North Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O’Brien said that Mr Gilmore’s interview represented a new low in terms of not coming clean about his real policy agenda.
“The more we see of Eamon Gilmore and his fantasy economics, the harder it is to shake the feeling that the only reason he shouts louder and louder for an election each day is that he fears deep down that as this Government returns the economy to growth, the massive policy vacuum at the heart of the Gilmore project will be found out,” Mr O’Brien said.