Economics:Voters were at risk of electing a "divided left-wing" government, Mary Harney said yesterday. Addressing journalists at a special briefing, Ms Harney said that not all prospective cabinet ministers of the alternative government could be counted on to take decisions in the interests of the economy.
"You need every member of the government to be pro-business to have a pro-business government," she said.
"That's what I had back home when I sold Ireland as a place for new investment and new high-skill, high-value jobs."
Ms Harney said that she respected Richard Bruton as an experienced and pro-business minister, but she contended that he was not representative of the type of minister that a Fine Gael, Labour and Green Party government would put in the cabinet.
"There is only one Richard Bruton. We can't have Richard Bruton in finance, Richard Bruton in enterprise, Richard Bruton in environment, Richard Bruton in transport."
She criticised Fine Gael for not ensuring that Richard Bruton would be minister for finance in an alternative government and said that Pat Rabbitte's lack of experience as a senior minister made him an inappropriate choice for the position.
"Pat Rabbitte has no track record, he has never been a minister in the government, he has been a junior minister at cabinet level where he attended cabinet meetings.
"I understand from a Hot Press interview that he wants to be minister for finance."
She also criticised what she said was Enda Kenny's lack of experience: "I heard him say, when Gerry Barry asked him what he had achieved, he said he had chaired the world trade talks and he revamped the Dublin city St Patrick's Day parade . . . quite honestly, it's not sufficient experience to be taoiseach and to drive the economic agenda that this country needs."
Ms Harney's comments were rejected yesterday by the Labour Party.
"Pat Rabbitte was a successful minister in the Department of Enterprise and Employment during the last rainbow coalition, one of the most successful governments in the history of the State," a Labour Party spokesperson said.