There is “a desperate need for a new government”, with a mandate from the people, and not reliant on independents, to implement measures to properly deal with the banking crisis and begin a process of job creation.
This is the view of Fine Gael Galway East candidate, councillor Paul Connaughton, who has challenged the Taoiseach to dissolve the Dáil immediately and hold a general election, “before the awful state of depression gets an even deeper grip on people”.
Cllr Connaughton said the Irish people saw for themselves “in the most horrific way” last week “the real impact” of the IMF bailout, when the first cuts on pay and Social Welfare began to bite.
He said that if interest rates rise as expected at the end of this year, “endless misery will be heaped on top of people for no other reason that they were doing their best to house themselves but who unfortunately believed everything they heard from the Government, banks, and building societies”.
“It is not that a new government will be able to wave a magic wand and make everything rosy,” said Cllr Connaughton, “but a new government will look at ways to help couples who have outrageous mortgages on their family homes.”
He also said the cost of borrowing for 2010 was just under €5 billion and that by 2014 this figure will be over €8 billion. As a result he is calling for a new Government to work with other governments in the Euro Zone, “to get some relief from the phenomenal borrowing cost” as every billion saved “needs to be invested in job creation”.
