Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has again warned against handing the balance of power at the General Election to a "slump coalition" hostile to enterprise and to foreign investment.
Speaking at a Progressive Democrats event in Dublin, Mr McDowell said the country had been extraordinarily successful in attracting foreign direct investment and developing indigenous companies and entrepreneurs that can compete on the world stage.
Tánaiste Michael McDowell
The Tánaiste claimed Sinn Féin's economic policies are "as serious a threat to our economic well-being as the IRA's campaign was to the democratic system". He also hit out at the Labour Party and its But are you happy?campaign slogan.
"A labour force that is growing more educated by the year, is enterprising and comfortable with risk-taking and achievement matches them. Together they will continue to deliver success; but only if we have a government that understands and is comfortable with success and delivers the infrastructure (including roads) that 21st century business requires," Mr McDowell said.
"However, they will not deliver growth if there is confusion and indecisiveness; if the government is unsure about whether it wants growth or is embarrassed by success. Who ever heard Pat Rabbitte praise enterprise and risk taking? Who ever heard Trevor Sargent praise our economic achievement? Who ever heard Gerry Adams praise business success?"
"If the Irish people sleepwalk into electing a Dáil in which the effective balance of power is given to a mosaic of parties which are hostile to enterprise, hostile to a multinational presence in Ireland, hostile to foreign direct investment and un-interested in growth and prosperity, any Government will reflect those attitudes," he added.
"If we give extra seats to such parties we will send out a clear signal to the boardrooms, the investors, the market-leaders and the entrepreneurs of the world that Ireland has given up on the policies that have brought us to our unprecedented success.
"If we put into the driving seat 'slump-orientated' parties, we will get a 'slump coalition'. And the immediate and inevitable consequence of such a change in direction will be a slump in business confidence, a drying up of investment and enterprise."
He said no one should be "bullied" into a false sense of security and that noe on should fall for the "glib and seductive line" that "we have prosperity, now let's concentrate on quality of life issues".
Hitting out at the Labour Party's campaign slogan, Mr McDowell said: "We should be very worried if a party's question is 'Are you happy?'
"That attitude shows a veiled hostility to growth, market economics and international investment. The question amounts to 'dog whistle' appeal of the left of 30 years ago."
"We cannot sleepwalk into a confused election in which we are the generation who threw it all away."
Separately, Mr McDowell criticised the Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny for a "naive" attitude in relation to sentencing in criminal cases.
In a statement, Mr McDowell said a lot has been written and said in recent days about the system of temporary releases from prison.
"Most of this arises from naïve and ill-thought through pronouncements and promises from Fine Gael," he said.
"The kind of naivety displayed by the Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny in revealing his plans to 'eliminate remission and temporary release' is hard to credit. There are perfectly sound reasons to have temporary release as part of a prison regime.
"Releasing an offender under supervision allows him/her to make plans for accommodation and access to employment with the support of the Irish Prison Service and the very positive work undertaken by the Probation Service in co-operation with many partner agencies in the public and private sectors."
"All Western European nations have remission as part of their prison regime and I have in the past resisted pressure to increase the statutory remission period to 50 per cent as it is in some other jurisdictions including the UK."
Mr McDowell again defended the Government's record on the prison system and its proposal to close Mountjoy jail in Dublin and to build a new prison on the controversial Thornton Hall site near Swords in the north of the county.