Cowen will battle on 'with or without support'
Taoiseach rejects calls for change in leadership
Wednesday June 10 2009
TAOISEACH Brian Cowen yesterday rejected calls for an early general election in the wake of the Government's mid-term poll disaster.
He derided "predictable attacks" by the opposition as the Dail met for the first time since heavy Fianna Fail and Green defeats in local, European and by-election battles.
Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore told Mr Cowen that he wasn't in touch with the people and hadn't heard what they had to say.
He angrily retorted that Fine Gael and Labour were preaching the economy was "banjaxed, never to return" and offering only a doom-laden future.
"The decisions we are taking are the way forward," Mr Cowen said, insisting the Government would repair the public finances between now and 2012 -- when the next election would be held.
"We intend to do that, with or without your support," he said.
Government TDs would "proudly" go through the lobbies to vote confidence in the coalition today, he said, despite the "endless cliches" spouted from the benches opposite.
He predicted people would look back on these years and be glad there was a government prepared to take decisions "so that our economy comes through it, and our people come through it".
But Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said three quarters of the people had voted no confidence last Friday "which is the reason we have a motion of no confidence before the Dail".
It was the first opportunity people had to give their verdict on the performance of the Government, which had "crash-landed our economy", he said.
"In excess of 400,000 people are on the live register -- yet the Taoiseach continues to insist that the people's verdict does not matter, the elections were irrelevant and he will ignore the voice of the people," Mr Kenny charged.
He said the Taoiseach had no mandate or authority to continue. "Any other government in Europe would have resigned in disgrace," Mr Kenny said.
But Mr Cowen insisted his mandate came from the 2007 general election and government authority was based on the continuing support of a majority of the Dail.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the last thing the people wanted was for the coalition to carry on.
Mr Cowen's words were a cloak for his "fright and terror of facing the people in a general election", he said. The Government had lost the consent of the governed, he added, calling on Mr Cowen to "do the decent, honourable and democratic thing" by seeking a dissolution.
Triggered
The Taoiseach said that if a general election was to be triggered by a bad outcome for incumbents at every mid-term poll, then there would be "a different Government every two years".
There was a five-year mandate to enable the Government to fulfil its task, and he was "quite prepared to put my authority on the line" in three years' time, he said.
But he also asserted that he accepted unreservedly the local, by-election and Euro outcomes.
"People have heard the political talk, left, right and centre, up and down the country. And now we have to get on. They expect us to get on with the job."
Mr Gilmore said there was no comparison with past mid-term elections.
"It was a referendum on the Government, and the people rejected you," he said.
Mr Cowen snapped: "You had your day in the sun. We're now going to get on with our job."
- Senan Molony Deputy Political Editor
