Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wants IMF booted out

Read more: Gerry Adams to run in Irish election --shock move by Sinn Fein leader

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams says telling the IMF “to go home and take their money with them” is still his party’s policy.

If Sinn Fein were in government they would close Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide and amalgamate Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland. Depositors would be protected under legislation.

Speaking to RTE he said “We would create funding to protect those who are already in employment, particularly small, native, indigenous businesses, and, also, to create new jobs.”

Over six years, rather than the planned four, Sinn Fein would deal with the exchequer deficit of $25.8 billion.

Adams said “We would argue the funds are there to run the State for the remainder of this year…We would burn the bank bondholders and introduce a bank resolution Bill to protect depositors.”

Adams would not give specific figures when questioned over the cost of recapitalization of the banks.

He went on to say that if their plan was put in place the markets would see that Ireland had cleaned up its act, gotten rid of bad debt and stimulated the economy. He said that astute bondholders would do business with the country.

The exchequer deficit would be funded by Ireland returning to the bond market no later than 2012 having separated private debt from bank debt.

The Sinn Fein president said the party had not supported the blanket bank guarantee in the Dail [Parliament].

He insisted that his party's 2008 vote for the first bank guarantee was to protect the rights of depositors. The party subsequently voted against the bailout when it failed to get guarantees on depositors on credit for small, Irish businesses.

Sinn Fein's popularity has declined along with Adams', whose personal rating has dropped from 40 percent to 28 percent. Adams attributed the drop to a general dissatisfaction with political parties.

He added “But Sinn Fein is different from the other political parties…As politicians often say, in response to that type of question, there has not been a vote cast. Let the voters decide; opinion polls will come and go but the voters will decide.”