Sinn Féin’s plans to abolish water charges and the property tax would cost the Irish taxpayer € 1.3 billion according to Labour Party leader Joan Burton. 

Speaking during a debate on RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live, the Tánaiste accused Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams of jeopardising Ireland’s tentative economic recovery with irresponsible fiscal policies, while Mr Adams claimed his political adversary had crumbled under pressure from coalition partners Fine Gael over core issues of policy. 

“Sinn Féin’s plan on water charges would cost an extra € 800 million, and Sinn Féin’s plan to abolish the property tax would cost €500 million.  These are fantasy figures on the leader’s part, they’re amazing figures; they’re simply not correct.  If he thinks about it, he knows they’re not correct,” she said. 

During the course of a wide-ranging debate encompassing budgets, European debt write-down and party posturing over alliances ahead of 2016’s expected General Election, Ms Burton maintained that her party had been successful in defending social welfare benefits, a point which Mr Adams vehemently denied. 

“You promised the electorate you would not cut carers’ allowances; you cut carers’ allowances,” said the TD for Louth. 

“You promised the electorate you would not cut child benefit, you promised the Irish electorate it would be Labour’s way or Frankfurt’s way.  You didn’t stand up for Irish interests in Europe, ” he added. 

While pedestrian at times, the argument threatened to combust at certain junctures as the opposing factions launched into scathing personal attacks, such as Ms Burton’s forthright appraisal of views expressed by senior members of Sinn Féin in relation to the economy and taxation. 

“You told a lie, and you’re actually not telling the truth when you’re talking there now about the Irish economy, about employment in the Irish economy, or about the tax system,” she said, commenting on the opposition party’s alternative pre-budget submissions. 

She added: “You think badly of everything to do with the Republic, we’re actually proud of the Republic, you’re not- we know that.” 

“You’ve reduced yourself to personal invective and personal attacks, and you’ve accused me of telling lies,” Mr Adams replied, before both combatants indulged in an unseemly quote-off involving speeches made by pre-eminent labour movement leader James Connolly. 

Ms Burton said a recent report from the Central Statistics Office illustrated the small steps being made by the average Irish family as the middle classes seek a return to pre-crisis prosperity. 

“For the first time in a long time, the actual income of people in the middle range has gone up, and for the first time in a very long time, the actual figures in relation to poverty have gone down very, very slightly. 

“The median income of families in Ireland has just gone up for the first time in a very long period of time by about € 300 to € 400 a year.  They are all significant achievements along with the extra 80,000 people back at work,” she said. 

In his response, former MP Adams urged the State’s governing parties to add to calls for a European conference aimed at writing down debts accrued by countries such as Ireland and Greece during the recession. 

“This is a Government that told us we were going to get retrospective recapitalisation of our banks- we haven’t even asked for it. 

“The big problem we have is the debt.  That’s a European problem, of course we should be working with the people of Greece and working with others to make sure a new European Union comes out of all of this,” he said.