The election of single-party Fine Gael government would be a recipe for disaster, the head of the country’s largest trade union has said.
Speaking this afternoon, Siptu president Jack O'Connor said that while there were very many good and well intentioned people in Fine Gael, the party was committed to the deflationary principles of the outgoing Fianna Fáil administration.
“If that party (Fine Gael) is in government on its own it will be a recipe for disaster because it will be committed to the same deflationary policies which it outlined in its own manifesto,” he said.
He said the best option for the country would be a balanced government which he defined as being one comprising Fine Gael and Labour.
What is required is a government that can mobilise the entire country, he said.
Mr O’Connor said his union had not advised members how to vote but its analysis was that their interests would be served by voting for the Labour Party and continuing their preferences for parties committed to social solidarity.
Mr O'Connor, also president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), spoke s he launched the congress paper A Better, Fairer Way to Recovery.
Its five-point alternative strategy to tackle the economic and jobs crisis focused on a new deal on Ireland's €85 billion bailout package, creating jobs, protecting incomes, respecting rights in the workplace, and protecting public services.
