Gerry Adams: government has 'no vision for future'

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has attacked Ireland’s main political parties in a written piece for Cork student website CorkStudentNews.com.

The Republican leader says that the opposition parties , “simply do not know how to harness that energy and enthusiasm” of the country’s youth and so are squandering a potential resource.

Adams also claims in the piece for the website’s Politics2Students series that the result is that young people are being turned away from politics, and not engaging with it.

Of his own party, Adams says that : “Sinn Fein is ambitious. Sinn Féin is about a new future. Our goals and aspirations and vision of that future is greater than any other party on this island.”

The Belfast West MP also takes a swipe at Britain in the piece, saying that Ireland’s current economic mess was “created by this and previous governments, and Britain’s involvement in our affairs and the partition of the island.”

The controversial politician also says in the article that the government “has no vision for the future” and questions the sagacity of the government’s policy of mounting cutbacks to already strained services: “There are also deep cuts to public services. Cuts in health. Cuts in education. Cuts, Cuts and more cuts!” the politician says in the piece.

Adams also claimed that Sinn Fein “stood alone” in its warnings that the economy was going to meltdown, a claim which will likely be hotly contested by opposition party members.

The Sinn Fein leader finishes his piece by stating that Sinn Fein has relaxed its membership rules in order to make it easier for students to join, and then appeals to the website’s readers to “join us in building a new future, a better future”.