A CO KILDARE pensioner plans to spend Christmas Day standing outside Leinster House, protesting at "the unemployment situation."
Leo Armstrong (68), who lives in Prosperous, says he will be at the Dáil from 9am until 6pm tomorrow.
"I feel very strongly about how inept the Government has been. . . about the economy and rising unemployment. The English government dealt with things much faster and even they were too slow, but our Government has been far too slow."
The Government should not have "even contemplated" taking a six-week break at this time, he continued.
"I know the country is in half-speed mode at this time but it's the perception that the Government has no urgency about all this that annoys me."
Mr Armstrong had been active in politics all his life, he said, having been involved in Fine Gael and later as a member of the Green Party.
"I have been annoyed with this Government for a long time now, particularly since their total mishandling of the Lisbon Treaty. And then with the Budget, to see Brian Lenihan say he was not going to make the vulnerable suffer and yet it was the poor and the very old who had to . . . march in October, it's not tolerable.
"The Government in general has lost the confidence of the people . . . I'd say the Green Ministers are very industrious. The rest should pack their bags."
He said those in power should draw on those "with real ability, who foresaw what was coming down the road" to draw up a strategy to "get the country back on its feet".
He suggested people such as Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton, commentator Eddie Hobbs and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore should be among them.
Tomorrow he would not do anything more than stand outside Leinster House for the day.
"People may say I'm a looney but really it's a tiny gesture that I'm sure the hundreds of thousands of people who are unemployed will not think is looney. I'm sure they will appreciate it."
