IRELAND: The Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, has further escalated the Progressive Democrat attack on anti-war activists, accusing the Labour Party of pursuing a dangerous agenda, linking up with the Green Party and "voting with the Provos".
Mr Parlon's remarks follow last Friday's speech by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, who accused some anti-war campaigners of being anti-American, anti-EU and anti-UN, and Minister for Justice Mr McDowell's claim on Sunday that some of them were supporters of Saddam Hussein.
Mr Parlon yesterday warned people with genuine humanitarian concerns about a possible war on Iraq not to allow themselves be "hoodwinked into going along with another agenda that they are totally unaware of".
He further broadened what is now seen as an attempt by PD Ministers to turn the substantial proportion of the population that opposes Government policy on Iraq away from the leaders of the campaign against war.
Mr Parlon yesterday focused on the Labour Party, accusing it of pursuing a "very, very dangerous" agenda. "They're linking up with the Greens, they voted with the Provos in the Dáil last week. Now over the weekend we've had Pat Rabbitte coming out cosying up to the Fine Gael party proposing a fairly ridiculous alternative to the government and talking about wealth tax."
His reference to Labour having "voted with the Provos" was a reference to Labour voting in the Dáil last week for a Sinn Féin motion to enshrine neutrality in the Constitution.
Mr Parlon made his remarks in a debate on RTÉ's Today with Pat Kenny programme yesterday.