Sinn Féin has angrily accused Fine Gael of blatantly lying in an attack ad which claims the main opposition party will raid the €16 billion “rainy day” funds if elected to government.
On Wednesday, Fine Gael launched a video and billboard campaign that showed a piggy bank being smashed and a number of hands grabbing the money inside it. A captain references the €16 billion allotted to the State’s two sovereign funds.
“Sinn Féin can’t be trusted,” reads the caption. “Sinn Féin would raid our public finances.”
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty reacted furiously to the advert saying the claims by Fine Gael were “blatant lies” and “false information”.
Election 2024: Who will be in next government? Test the options using our coalition builder tool
Care services for most vulnerable not good enough, says Simon Harris
Referendums, resignation and repeat elections - a year of drama and political shocks
The Irish Times view on the next government: a perceptible shift to the right
“We published a manifesto this week. It is clear that only do we not touch the €16 billion but actually we will have a surplus in the next five years of an additional €15 billion which will go into the funds to bring it up to €31 billion,” he said.
Mr Doherty said Fine Gael was deliberately putting out misinformation and borrowing from the playbook “on the other side of the Atlantic”.
In its press release for the advert, Fine Gael Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Peter Burke “call on Sinn Féin to commit to retaining the €16 billion that has been built up by the Irish Government”.
“Sinn Féin is intent on committing the biggest heist ever on the island of Ireland by raiding the carefully saved ‘piggy bank’ funds, throwing caution to the wind and the Irish people to the depths of uncertainty in the years ahead.”
Mr Doherty said that page 167 of its manifesto makes clear that the €16 billion fund will not be touched.
The difference between the two plans is that Sinn Féin has said it will put an additional €15 billion into the fund, bringing it to €31 billion by 2030, while Fine Gael has committed to bringing it up to €40 billion by 2030, Mr Doherty said.
Mr Donohoe said: “What Sinn Féin is promising permanent change on the back of money that might not be permanent. We’ve been down that path before. We are making the case to the Irish people that this approach with our public finances is not something that’s radical, it’s reckless.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has also attacked Sinn Féin’s finance plans as “dangerous stuff” and claimed “there’s a €3.5 billion tax hike in the Sinn Féin manifesto that will destroy enterprise, that will destroy the foreign direct investment base in this country”.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
- Sign up to our Inside Politics newsletter to get the behind-the-scenes take direct to your inbox
