Labour Party European launch: The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, has predicted that the Government will get "an even bigger hammering than any poll or expert is predicting" in the local and European elections.
At a press conference to publish his party's European election manifesto, Mr Rabbitte said it was obvious from the campaign so far that the Government is "as despised and distrusted as any government in the history of the State".
He claimed Fianna Fáil activists were deserting the party's campaign, Ministers were sticking to their desks and the party was paying people to put up large numbers of posters to conceal the low level of party involvement in the campaign.
Mr Rabbitte said the elections would and should be used by people "to comment on the Government's dishonesty and arrogance".
However, his party's manifesto was based on the belief that Europe matters, he said. The election was "not just about the high diplomacy of treaty writing, but about the impact which Europe has now and can have in the future on our daily lives".
He said Europe had been a powerful and progressive influence on the lives of people in Ireland, promoting equality for women, better workplace rights and ensuring higher standards of environmental protection.
Labour and its partners in the Party of European Socialists stood for "a strong social Europe". Mr Rabbitte called on Labour voters to use their lower preferences to vote against the Government parties, but he did not name the parties to which they should transfer their votes.
"People should exercise their preferences against the Government parties. That's as far as I am going," he said. Asked if he would exclude Sinn Féin from those parties to which he would recommend transfers he said: "I'm not excluding anyone."
When it was put to him that the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, had indicated greater enthusiasm for a voting pact by specifically calling for transfers to Labour and the Greens, he said: "That happens occasionally in courtships. I don't see any reason to finesse it further than I've already done." The party's MEP Mr Proinsias De Rossa rejected the suggestion that the lack of an explicit reference to God in the proposed Constitutional Treaty meant that the Christian origin of the EU was being neglected.
He said the preamble of the Constitutional Treaty had explicit references to religious and human rights, and there were three other references to giving churches and humanists rights to be consulted on various issues.
In addition, the Charter on Fundamental Rights, which went with the constitution, recognised rights to freedom of thought and religion, and the right to religious-based schools.
The party supports the strengthening of the powers of the European Parliament, which since enlargement will be charged with representing the views of 450 million people.
His said his party's five European Parliament candidates "bring a depth of political experience, intellect, commitment and energy to this election which, frankly, no other party can match".