Enda Kenny and Gerry Adams in happier times Sam Boal Sam Boal

GERRY ADAMS HAS said Sinn Féin is “not going away” as he outlined the party’s priorities if in government.

Sinn Féin would introduce a third rate of tax at 48% on incomes over €100,000, increase capital gains tax, capital acquisitions tax and introduce a charge on second homes if in government, Adams told RTÉ this morning.

The property tax and water charges would be scrapped under a Sinn Féin government, the party leader said, claiming this would deliver a fairer recovery that benefits people on low incomes.

“The recovery, which the government claims is underway, is not felt by most people. It favours the elites, it’s a two tier recovery, we want a fair recovery, we want low and middle income families to benefit from this,” Adams told Morning Ireland.

He said that money generated from the introduction of new taxes would be used to deal with homelessness, create sustainable jobs and to regenerate rural Ireland.

Adams also slammed Taoiseach Enda Kenny, blaming him for the “awful scourge of emigration” which he said had forced half a million people to leave the country in recent years.

Recalling a recent conversation with a man in Donegal, Adams told RTÉ:

One man said to me: ‘There are no young people about here.’ That’s a disgrace, that’s a shame, that’s Enda Kenny, a west of Ireland man’s fault.

The Louth TD said he had no personal desire to be Taoiseach insisting he wanted to be “the best activist and the best teachta dála that I can be”.

He defiantly added:

Let all of those at this time who are ganging up on Sinn Féin in a totally contrived way understand Sinn Féin is here, Sinn Féin is not going away.

“Sinn Féin, if we get the support of the people, will stand by all of our commitments and that’s what we did during the peace process.”

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