THE leader of the Labour Party has ruled out a future coalition arrangement with Fianna Fail if it advocates the wholesale privatisation of semi State companies.
The Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said if Fianna Fail joined "the ranks of the Thatcherites" it would be fought every inch of the way by the Labour Party.
"This party," he told a meeting in Portlaoise on Saturday, "is not in the business of killing State enterprise and we will not join others who make it their business".
Mr Spring accused the Progressive Democrats of embracing "greedy, get rich quick policies" which were serious threats to any sense of community. And he said their unremitting attacks on social investment were based on the simplistic notion that cuts could be made without pain.
The "muddled incoherence" off Fianna Fail economic policy showed "a fairly crude embrace of PD dogma". That party had Bet to deny reports that it was prepared to sell off the ESB, CIE, RTE, Coillte, Bord Failte, Bord Iascaigh Mhara and other companies.
And, Mr Spring continued if that's the direction that Fianna Fail wants to go in if selling off a good part of Ireland's economic engine is part of the bargain - we won't be in that market. The spectacle of Fianna Fail selling off what is, after all, a substantial part of its own proud past, in order to keep the tax cutting PDs happy, is a pretty degrading sight."
The Labour Party favoured the creation of leaner, fitter State companies, mobilised to meet the future and capable of attracting investment and partnership.
Mr Spring signalled the likely nature of the Labour Party's election platform when he said "the only political path worth taking is one that leads to a better sense of community".
"If we can strike the correct balance between well managed public expenditure and the legitimate demands of the PAYE sector, we can do a lot.
"We can improve the education of our children. We can win the fight against drugs and crime. We can repair the communities that have been ravaged by neglect and disadvantage. We can include rather than exclude . . . That's the road I want to travel," Mr Spring said.