FIANNA FÁIL ministers have been in "connivance" with tax accountants and lawyers over the past 12 years, according to Labour's finance spokeswoman Joan Burton.

Speaking about the revelations last week that businessman Gerry McCaughey had availed of a tax loophole to make a multi-million euro saving, she said: "The McCaughey case has highlighted how easy it was to set up a perfectly legal tax scheme to avoid a modest 20% tax on a €25m profit from the sale of a business that had enjoyed multiple taxpayer subsidies.

"A whole industry has developed among tax accountants and lawyers to facilitate this with the connivance of Fianna Fáil finance ministers. This has to end."

She called for tax shelter schemes to be closed down and said: "If you have an Irish passport, you should
be proud to pay your fair share."

Burton also warned: "Brian Lenihan is in the last-chance saloon on banking reform." She also said that Fianna Fáil have stayed in power for too long and said, "for Ireland's sake – they should just go".

Dublin South by-election candidate Alex White also attacked the finance minister over his rallying cry against crony capitalism in the Financial Times last week.

"Could this possibly be the same Brian Lenihan whose party has elevated cronyism to an art form? For God's sake, Brian: Fianna Fáil invented cronyism. You know of no other way. It is your life-blood… you can try and fool the FT but you can't fool the people."

Social and family affairs spokeswoman Roisin Shortall, told the conference that the government needs to provide assistance to people in mortgage arrears and postpone interest payments for struggling mortgage holders for two years.

Jan O'Sullivan, the party's health spokeswoman was critical of the failure to provide facilities for cystic fibrosis sufferers. Joe Costello stressed the need for pressure to be placed on the banks to open lines of credit to the small and medium enterprises.