In the Green corner, we have De Burca…and Round 1!

By Ruth Feeley

The claws are out and as D-day approaches, no holes are barred in the vicious battle for a seat at the forefront of European Politics. While accusations are flying around between opposing parties, it seems that the tactic is not to demonstrate your worthiness but rather the unworthiness of the rivals. As things heat up, accusations of lies, empty promises and hidden motivations abound, but some just skip all the peripherals and dig straight in. This week in politics has witnessed a lot of the approach.

Taking a sharp swipe at Libertas Candidate Caroline Simons, Green Party Senator Deirdre De Burca brings Simons’ geographical knowledge into question when she challenges Simons referral to Brussels as “abroad”. “On which continent does Caroline Simons think that Belgium is located?” De Burca went onto make the statement that "Libertas also appear to be against the European Union spending money in this country”.

Clearly De Burca does not believe that Ireland can put themselves back on their feet through a solo effort. She goes on to say that “if elected they will not play any role in bringing new jobs to Ireland.” Deirdre De Burca also claims that Libertas “...are against investment, jobs and recovery, which can now only come from Europe." Libertas has instead decided to look closer to home for answers to the current economic crisis and they have issued this tagline into their manifesto – (Libertas) will “reduce bureaucracy, red tape and the shocking waste of taxpayers’ money.”

In response, accusing De Burca of stooping low to whip up media attentio, Libertas expressed their surprise at the approach she has taken when speaking of her opposition.

When asked about their response to De Burca's comments, Libertas seemed unsure as to who is an encumbent MEP; their direct line was “Senator de Burca sits with the Green Party in the European Parliament, which has voted to approve over €25billion in wasteful spending over the last five years. If she really wants to be pro-European, she should call for an end to this waste immediately. In the last few weeks, she has attacked Mairead McGuinness for having a bad dress sense, whinged about not getting coverage, and called people names to get in the news. She is desperate for publicity.

Deirdre will get all the publicity she needs when the voters humiliate her on June 5th. In the meantime, her comments about Brussels being abroad are silly, because €25billion in waste is completely foreign to the people she's trying to represent".

Ouch!