With the starting gun for general election ’24 having been sounded Ireland's political parties have left the starting blocks, while dishing out election promises as they go.
Fine Gael has announced a €40 billion plan to deliver 303,000 new homes by the end of the decade.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said housing is the country’s “biggest challenge” and his party’s number one priority.
“Fine Gael is the party of home ownership. We want to get young people out of their parents’ box rooms and into homes of their own. From the moment, I became party leader, I said we needed to scale up our ambition on housing and that is what this plan delivers,” Harris said.
“We have fully costed a very significant investment package which balances the right mix of housing supply to meet our target of 303,000 by 2030 and provides more help for first time buyers.”
Launching its campaign to “move Ireland forward, together,” Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said that public finances were strong, while public services had expanded and major investments are underway.
“In order to secure services and investments into the future, we have also created the largest ever reserve funds,” Martin said.
“We have a record of real achievement, but we can and must go further. Our manifesto is the blueprint for how Fianna Fáil in government will protect the progress we all value and how we will deliver sustained action on the most important issues for Ireland’s future.”
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald has said that a Sinn Féin-led government will scrap the Universal Social Charge (USC) on the first €45,000 of income for every worker. Sinn Féin is running its largest number of candidates in a general election for the November 29th poll. Sinn Féin are running 71 candidates this time out.
Speaking at the launch about the promised changes to the USC McDonald said: “This means a Sinn Féin-led government will ensure that the average worker will never again pay the USC. Our measure would benefit all workers and would mean up to €1,100 more a year in take home pay from where they are today.”
She added: “There’s clear blue water between Sinn Féin and the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil partnership. Their approach ensures those at the top benefit first and benefit most. Our USC proposal puts fairness for ordinary workers first.”
