Martin wrong to claim credit for clearing up the mess he helped cause

Earlier today Micheal Martin had the gall to claim that the economic recovery is down to the work of the previous Fianna Fail administration.

Let us remind him of his comments at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis in 2012 where he quite explicitly admitted that Fianna Fail was in the wrong: “We were in government and we should have acted differently. We made mistakes. We got things wrong. And we are sorry for that. No equivocation. No half-apology.”

“It is a complete lie to say that Fianna Fail policies helped deliver the recovery. Not only did their policies cause the financial crisis, they worsened it.

“The Fianna Fail response to the crisis was to unilaterally cut public sector pay, savagely reduce the minimum wage and to burden future generations with debt when they introduced a disastrous ill thought-out blanket bank guarantee.

 “It has been the policies of Labour in government that helped bring about the strong economic recovery. Ireland now has the fastest growing economy in Europe, over 135,000 jobs have been created and family incomes are rising. Fianna Fail simply cannot be trusted with the keys to Government Buildings again because they will put the economic recovery at risk.

“When it suited Fianna Fail to run away from the economic problems of the State they did, now that things are turning around they want to own it for themselves.”