When Noel Dempsey gave the warm-up speech ahead of Brian Cowen’s address to the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis earlier on this year, he decided to share his thoughts with us on what Fianna Fail stands for. It included being “a party that protects the weak and vulnerable” and “a party that stands up to vested interests.”
Later on today, Fianna Fail looks set to vote against a Labour motion that deplores the cancellation of the long-standing Christmas bonus being paid to many people on social welfare. As nasty as this Budget measure was, at least Fianna Fail would now seem to be sticking to what they said that they would do, I suppose.
However, then I learn that Fianna Fail is busy rowing back on another couple of their Budget measures. One of these is the scrapping of ministerial pensions being paid to sitting TDs. The other is the termination of the long-term allowance that also just happens to get paid to TDs.
Perhaps what Noel really meant to say was “a party that stands up to the weak and vulnerable and a party that protects vested interests”?
Filed under: Ireland, Politics | Tagged: Fianna Fail, Labour, Noel Dempsey
