Howlin verbally lashes Coalition’s Tory tactics
‘A sham of government’ says Labour leader in conference speech
LABOUR Party leader Brendan Howlin has castigated the Government and said Finance Minister Michael Noonan has resorted to Tory tactics since the last election.
At his first party conference as Labour leader he lashed out at the front runners to replace Enda Kenny as Fine Gael leader, saying Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar were dragging the country to the right.
He also took swipes at US president Donald Trump.
Speaking to the Sunday In- dependent yesterday, Mr Howlin said that without Labour in power, Michael Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe “resorted to typical Tory tactics”.
“Their only solution to the challenge of Brexit is tax cuts.”
Last night, while addressing 1,000 party delegates, Mr Howlin said the Fine Gael-led Coalition was “a single-party right-wing government.”
The former Public Spending Minister said the Government had not delivered public spending to develop schools, hospitals and other badly-needed public services.
“This is a sham of a government — FF, FG and a rag-bag of Independents who show no ambition. And they seem quite content about it.
“Leo and Simon square up to each other, playing to their base, dragging the country further to the right. Running a false election based on tax cuts and shutting down Bus Eireann. Dog whistles to their supporters on the right. Meanwhile, Enda and Micheal are content to play for time. It means that government begins to do actual harm.”
He used the speech to label Donald Trump “a danger”, adding: “He is a racist, sexist, homophobe who doesn’t have the patience to run the world’s greatest power...
“People are voting in large part out of fear and out of hurt. There are many people happy to prey on these fears.
“And they are not restricted to the US, Britain, or France. We have our own, less extreme perhaps, but hurlers on the ditch nonetheless, who will say anything to make people afraid, whose ‘solutions’ would only make things worse.”