FIRST-TIME TD Gerry Adams has taken a pop at what he called the “swingeing, anti-citizen, economically-illiterate measures” which he claims the next government will pursue.

Speaking on RTE Radio 1 this lunchtime, the Sinn Fein leader claimed that there is a “sameness in the policies being pursued by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael”, saying they were opposite sides of the same coin. He said that Labour had now “hoisted their wagon to the Fine Gael horse”.

While he congratulated Enda Kenny on Fine Gael’s performance, he said that if Kenny becomes Taoiseach, his government would not be pursuing policies that would be different from those laid down by Fianna Fail. If Sinn Fein were in power, he said, “We would derail the gravy train, cut salaries of ministers and TDs”. He denied that Sinn Fein was only touting popular policies for the sake of popularity.

He also said that he believed Sinn Fein had an important role to play in Opposition. He said:

A good government requires a good Opposition. The increase in our presence in the Dail is based on the sterling work done by the four TDs we had and then by Pearse Doherty (who joined as Sinn Fein’s fifth TD in Donegal South West late last year).

Referring to Micheál Martin’s comments today that Fianna Fail were looking to extend their work in politics in Northern Ireland, Adams said:

They are very, very welcome,

before adding a small jibe: “It took them a long time to do it.”