FG’s New-Era Funding Based on Guesswork - Collins

Niall Collins Fianna Fáil TD for County Limerick has today highlighted Fine Gael’s uncertainty over funding for its New-Era jobs plan.

Deputy Collins was responding to comments made by the author of New-Era, Deputy Simon Coveney, in the Irish Independent today in which he admitted that a lot of his calculations were based on optimistic guesswork.

Deputy Collins said: “Fine Gael has proposed selling off state assets such as ESB and Bord Gáis and securing investment from the European Investment Bank to help fund their multi-billion euro jobs plan. However, Deputy Coveney has admitted that he cannot be sure how much the state assets will fetch on the open market saying ‘we’ve had to estimate it.’ Given that this proposal is central to Fine Gael’s jobs plan, it is quite astonishing that they are engaging in little more than guesswork at this stage.”

“It has also emerged that Fine Gael cannot depend on support from the European Investment Bank either. According to the report in the Irish Independent, the party has only had informal talks with the bank, nothing has been guaranteed.”

Deputy Collins said: “These revelations inevitably cast doubt over the credibility of Fine Gael’s jobs plan. Deputy Coveney’s comments on RTE radio last week should also be noted in this context as they add further confusion to the mix. Asked how Fine Gael would fund their jobs and training initiatives, Deputy Coveney said that tax increases would be needed. However, a few days later Fine Gael’s Enterprise Spokesperson Deputy Leo Vardakar told the Dáil that tax increases were not on Fine Gael’s agenda saying that ‘taxes will destroy the recovery’.”

Deputy Collins concluded: “Despite having launched their New-Era strategy three times amidst much fanfare, it seems that Fine Gael is still not clear on the finer details of the plan.”