FG leader:Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny claimed yesterday that a vote for Fianna Fáil in the general election was a vote for a minority government which would be dependent on Sinn Féin for support.
Speaking in Mallow, Co Cork, where he was canvassing with Cork East candidate Senator Paul Bradford, Mr Kenny said that he recognised Sinn Féin's work in restoring devolved government in the North, but he still had concerns about the party's role in the Republic.
"I don't believe that Sinn Féin in the Republic are yet in a position where they can demonstrate that they are truly participants in a democratically-elected government," he said.
"From that point of view, a vote for Fianna Fáil now appears to be a vote for a minority government supported outside and kept in office by the Sinn Féin party, which would have a veto on anything that they might say.
"And I understand that Gerry Adams has now set up a negotiating team to negotiate with Fianna Fáil [ on] what might happen after the election.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's now very clear that a vote for Fianna Fáil may well be a vote for a government kept in office by the Sinn Féin party."
Mr Kenny also went on the offensive over plans by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats for the co-location of private hospitals on public grounds, accusing Fianna Fáil of having failed to properly cost the proposals.
He described as extraordinary the confusion between the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, who had announced that the co-location proposals would cost €500 million in foregone revenue, and the Minister for Social Welfare, Séamus Brennan, who had said that the plan would cost €280 million.
Mr Kenny said it was equally surprising to see Mr Cowen revising his figures for the annual running costs of the co-location hospitals project from the €70 million figure he had quoted on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme to the figure of €40 million which he was now quoting.
"It's not just a variation between what he was saying last night and what's he's saying today. It's a complete chasm. This is a complete shambles the way that the Minister for Finance and all his fellow ministers have costed their own programme," he continued.
"Only last week they left €450 million out of their pension programme, and they are supposed to have the best consultants, the best advisers and the best financial analysts you can get."
Referring to problems within the health service, the Fine Gael leader said: "You have an embargo on public service recruitment and you can't take on personnel to deal with cystic fibrosis, you can't get midwives in Drogheda or Wexford, while midwives at the Coombe have handed in their notice.
"Nurses are to vote this evening on their ballot and the consultants are taking industrial action over their contracts."
Mr Kenny concluded: "The health sector is in chaos and this election should be a referendum on that service and why the Government should be changed."
