Taoiseach: FG will not indulge in personal attacks on anybody
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that he will not be engaging in personal attacks in the General Election after Fianna Fáil unveiled an "attack ad".
The billboard campaign launched by the main Opposition party today claimed that Fine Gael is prioritising tax cuts for wealth people over investment in the health service.
The Fianna Fáil leader stood in front of the billboard ad that features a huge picture of Enda Kenny, and an old Fine Gael logo.
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The main text that states "I won't end the scandal of patients on trolleys. Tax cuts for the wealthiest come first", with a mention of the Fianna Fáil website in much smaller text below.
For the past five years Micheál Martin has promised no "Punch and Judy politics" and he was adamant today that the poster was not the beginning of a dirty or negative General Election campaign.
"No, that's a positive campaign in the sense that it's highlighting a very fundamental policy issue," he said.
"I mean, highlighting policy issues is not a negative campaign, I mean that's what politics is all about."
The Taoiseach said that he has not seen the ad yet and joked with journalists asking if he should be "terrified".
Enda Kenny also promised no negative campaigning on his part:
"I am not, and nobody in my party will indulge in personal attacks on anybody in the Fianna Fáil party, or indeed any party," he said.
His party was criticised recently after the leak of a proposed campaign advert which portrayed Deputy Martin and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams as a married couple.
As a dad raising teenage boys to challenge homophobic remarks this puerile politicking is unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/nUpik8RJsl
— Colm Keaveney (@Colm_Keaveney) January 3, 2016
After making his comments, Enda Kenny read a 2002 quote from then Health Minister Micheál Martin which promised to end waiting lists once and for all.
