The electorate should not award the balance of power in the next Dáil to parties which are either hostile or indifferent to private enterprise, Tánaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Michael McDowell said yesterday.
Speaking at the campaign launch for PD candidate Jeff Aherne in the Kildare North constituency, Mr McDowell questioned whether Sinn Féin, the Green Party and Labour really subscribed to the terms of Article 45 of the Constitution, which committed the State to favouring private enterprise.
"If we elect a Dáil, which has, as its balance of power, parties which are indifferent to enterprise and risk-taking, we will have a government which reflects that view," he said.
Warning that the Celtic Tiger would develop "congestive heart failure", the PD leader continued: "Is Sinn Féin, which sits by choice with the Euro-communist bloc in the European Parliament, seriously to be trusted with the interests of the private sector?
"Are the Greens, who have never taken a stance for the interests of the private sector and who describe themselves as willing to coalesce with Sinn Féin, to be trusted with an economy which is driven by the private sector?
"And is a Labour Party which is now led by a small clique of former members of the Workers' Party, and which still holds its nose at the policies of New Labour in Britain and still worships at the political and economic shrine of Connolly, closely wed or in any way loyal to the interests of the private sector?"
Commenting on the media, Mr McDowell said: "In some quarters . . . there is a ravenous appetite for what they in a hostile way see as 'regime change' regardless of consequences. That outlook is, of course, their privilege in a free democracy.
"But changing government is, happily, a matter for the people in our democracy. And a major change in economic and social direction now cannot but have very real consequences for real people in the coming years."
