Two faced Ministers have lost the respect of the people – Kelly

Cllr Anthony Kelly has condemned the government for initiating a huge ‘scare and spin’ campaign aimed at trying to break the will of household tax protestors while they squander tax payers’ money. The Sinn Féin rep said that the governments undemocratic move to buy Irish Life for €1.3 billion under emergency banking legislation yesterday while insisting that homeowners refusing to pay the controversial household tax were in danger of bankrupting local government was the height of hypocrisy.

Cllr Kelly said;

“On the day that our government paid €1.3 billion of taxpayers’ money for Irish Life, Enda Kenny demanded that the 1.1 million householders who had not paid their household tax should ‘measure up and obey the law.’ Does Mr Kenny and his cabinet not realise that Irish people can do a simple bit of arithmetic and work out that the money paid out for Irish Life yesterday is eight times the amount to be raised from the household tax?”

“Despite previous spin, it now appears certain that the government will pay out another €3.1 billion this Saturday to honour the promissory note. €4.4 billion paid out to honour the sins of failed banking institutions in a matter of days. That amounts to 27.5 times the maximum amount that could be generated from the household tax.”

“The constant mutterings coming from government ministers over the past week can only be described as a huge scare and spin campaign aimed at intimidating the Irish people into paying the household tax. How can families who have been hammered with austerity over the past four years put their faith in a government who speaks and acts with two very different faces?”

“Attempts to convince household tax protestors that they are responsible for bankrupting local government while state money is squandered on banking assets and debts are the height of hypocrisy. The government’s move to buy Irish Life without any debate on the issue is completely undemocratic and shows the dangerous mentality at the heart of this regime. I truly believe they have lost the respect of the people.”