THE LEADERS of the main opposition parties have welcomed the Green Party’s call for a general election in January – and have once again called for the government to resign immediately.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny – who is still in Donegal canvassing for Cllr Barry O’Neill ahead of Thursday’s Donegal South-West by-election – said that the Greens’ statement had backfired in its true intent.

“The move by the Green Party this morning was presumably intended to provide clarity in terms of the date for an Election – [but] what has actually happened is [that] further uncertainty has been created,” Kenny said.

Kenny added that the four-year budget plan being demanded by the European Union would carry no weight if the government that passed it was one without the support of the public.

“What is needed now is an immediate General Election so that a new government, with a clear parliamentary majority, can prepare the four-year economic plan, complete negotiations with the IMF and frame a budget for 2011,” Kenny said.

Labour party leader Eamon Gilmore also called for an instant general election, saying his preference for the country’s future would be for the Dáil to be dissolved today, hopefully leading to the election of a new government by December.

“The country has never more urgently needed a new government with the political authority that only a clear mandate can provide,” Gilmore said, reiterating his party’s hope to emerge as the largest party in the coming election so that he could become the country’s first Labour Party Taoiseach.

“Fianna Fail has made a mess of the country; they have crippled the economy and brought national morale to an unprecedented low,” he said.

Gilmore later told reporters that he was considering tabling a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach as early as tomorrow morning, hoping to force the support of fringe backbench TDs in bringing down the government.

Sinn Féin has held protests outside government buildings, also demanding the immediate resignation of the government.