MEP Kelleher – Opposition response to Washington visit naive and damaging

Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South, Billy Kelleher says the response of the opposition parties to the Taoiseach's visit to Washington serves to illustrate how lucky the country is that they are in opposition and not in government.

"The opposition parties clearly prefer to indulge in self-righteous posturing rather than make a clear assessment of where Ireland's national interests lie."

"With absolutely no sense of irony Sinn Féin complained that the Taoiseach did not engage in public lectures on law breaking. If the Taoiseach behaved as Sinn Féin demanded, he would be injuring Ireland's diplomatic interests."

"We also saw similar outbursts from the Labour Party and the Social Democrats. Now while the Social Democrats' naivety can possibly be attributed to lack of experience in government, Labour really has no excuse. Having called for the Taoiseach not to go to the White House in the first place, Labour now expects that he should have caused an incident while he was there."

"The fact of the matter is that if the Taoiseach had behaved as the opposition demanded, there would be no further White House visits. For the sake of a short term soundbite, Ireland's long term interests could be fundamentally damaged. We should be grateful that these parties are not in government. We should also remember this lack of judgement the next time we pick a government."

ENDS