Gilmore’s ‘Chicken Licken’ Routine Unconvincing – FF
Published on: 04 February 2013
Fianna Fáil Dublin Spokesperson and Leader in the Seanad Darragh O’Brien has criticised the weekend comments of Tánaiste and Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore on the efforts to achieve a deal on the Promissory Notes issue.
Senator O’Brien commented, “It is a source of growing concern for many people that while the Government was busy hyping the possibility of a deal on the promissory notes at home over the last year, the necessary work was not being done abroad over the same period.
“Last week, anonymous briefings from the upper echelons of the ECB poured cold water on the Government’s preferred option and the response from Government has not been encouraging. While Fine Gael smile and tell us there’s nothing to worry about, the Labour Party has become steadily more hysterical over recent days.
“This reached farcical levels at the weekend when we read well sourced articles in the Sunday media about Eamon Gilmore warning European leaders at a meeting in Chile that the Coalition Government will fall if a deal isn’t done. It is hard to know what his colleagues might have made of this ‘Chicken Licken’ routine, but the Irish people will find it completely unconvincing.
“The last time that the Gilmore Gale was blowing in such force was when the Labour Leader warned the world that it would be Frankfurt’s Way or Labour’s Way. Since then, he has quietly signed off on €16.2BN payments to unsecured, unguaranteed bond holders, while his election promises have been dismissed as ‘what the Labour Party does before an election’.
“People will recognise the return of the Gilmore Gale for what it is – a transparent and increasingly desperate plea for relevance from a political party that the Irish electorate have seen through.”