WE'VE DONE THE GROUNDWORK  NOW LET'S BUILD THE NATION    BREAKING OUT OF THE VICIOUS CIRCLE   ELECTION'87  Fine Gael  INTRODUCTION  This document does not set out to encompass all facets of Irish life. Instead of listing a series of individual proposals, we have chosen to indicate the major policy changes which we know are necessary for Ireland to break out of the self destructive vicious circle created by the Fianna Fail Governments between 1977 and 1982.  Apart from introducing a more commercial structure for the marketing of the products of State Forests, we do not propose that our problems be answered by setting up new bodies, new committees or new authorities. On the contrary, we propose to abolish or to rationalise some existing bodies. It is time for political parties to produce real solutions, to act themselves - not to pass the buck to others.  Secondly, we do not believe that throwing money at a problem will somehow solve it - even if the money were there, which it clearly isn't.  Fine Gael believes that the self destructive circle of high spending, high taxation, high borrowing and high interest rates can be broken only by real and specific cuts in government spending. Such spending cuts are popular in theory with some people - but they are rarely popular when spelt out in detail. Yet anything less than specific detailed proposals would be only window-dressing. Unless details are set out before an election, action will be much harder to take afterwards.  Fine Gael is the only political party with the courage to say just what needs to be done to reduce expenditure.  THE NEW IRELAND  The primary thrust of Fine Gael policy for the 1987 Election is necessarily economic for the economic crisis overshadows all other considerations in relation to the immediate future.  * Getting out of our present economic and financial difficulties;  * Restoring our economic independence, now threatened by our gross over-dependence on foreign borrowing;  * Reviving hope in the future of our country and in its potential to provide work within this island for its new generations;  these are major issues facing this generation but they are not the only ones.  We are faced also with a more general challenge - that of our relationship with the modern world, and of the kind of society we want to create in Ireland for our children and for their children after them.  That society has to be part of the global society but it does not have to be, and few of us want it to be, a mere reflection of a mass world culture. We want to retain our distinctive Irish identity, while playing our part in the greater world outside. We have not yet resolved this tension to our own satisfaction.  Some amongst us, reacting against so much that is unattractive about the modern world, have been tempted to turn in on ourselves, to try to shelter our society from outside forces. But that reaction, while understandable, is a counsel of despair. The world outside will not go away: it knocks insistently on our door. Either we create in our own land a culture, a value system and a society self-confident enough to take its rightful place with others, or we shall be overwhelmed.  Fine Gael rejects the forces of reaction which are so often narrow, inward-looking and intolerant. We want to create in Ireland an ethos distinctively Irish and capable of standing on its own feet. We want to see emerging a culture that grows out of the deep and diverse roots that we have inherited, something that finds its inspiration in the values that Christianity, with its roots in the Judaic tradition, upholds.  That culture, if it is to bring together the people of this island in a coherent society that will hold us together in a genuine community, cannot be based on one tradition alone, amongst those we have inherited.  It has been Fine Gael's distinctive contribution to the 1980's to raise this question of our Irish identity and to ask the Irish people to face the issues implicit in it, which will not go away. We cannot avoid facing the question as to whether we want to revert to a traditional-type society, based on a single strand - albeit by far the most important strand of our past - or whether we want to build a society that will be broad and tolerant enough to comprehend the whole of our heritage.  Those who attempt to portray Fine Gael's commitment to a tolerant and comprehensive Irish society as involving a repudiation by any of us of the particular tradition each of us has individually inherited are being dishonest with themselves and with others. Each of us in Fine Gael values deeply our roots but we value also elements of the Irish tradition which are not ours, but the validity of which we nevertheless recognise - including, most difficult of all for many of us, the Northern Unionist tradition. We in Fine Gael cannot see a peaceful and successful Ireland emerging if it rejects that tradition, or any other. And we intend to pursue the task of bringing together with a common Irish framework all those, however far apart they may feel themselves today, whose roots are in this island.  In an election necessarily fought primarily on economic issues, these questions will probably not play a prominent part. But we wish to put on record at the outset our commitment to our vision of the Ireland of the future which will be tolerant and open but distinctively and unmistakably Irish, built on the firm foundations with which Christian values have endowed our people.  THE FINE GAEL/LABOUR GOVERNMENT OF 1982-1987;  The 1982-1987 Fine Gael and Labour Coalition Government is not seeking re-election.  With the backing of the people, who wanted to see the restoration of normal Government in the State, Fine Gael formed this Government with the Labour Party in December 1982. Under Fianna Fail the economy had been running out of control with no attempt being made to manage it effectively, save during the brief period of Fine Gael/Labour Government of June 1981 to January 1982. Public spending had been allowed to jump by 50% in the previous five years. We were faced with the only attempt in the history of the State to politicise the Gardai and to undermine the rights of citizens by illegal telephone tapping. Our relations with Britain, our other European partners and the wider world were at an all-time low.  With the Labour Party, Fine Gael in Government since December 1982 has done what the Irish people asked us to do. We have restored straight Government. Working within existing structures, we have achieved remarkable successes in many areas:  * Inflation has been reduced from 21% to 3%  * we have reduced borrowing to a far lower proportion of what we produce annually  * We have secured a smaller, more efficient public service  * We have got our State companies into far better shape  * We have expanded our educational system, with a bigger share of our population now in education than in any other country  * We have encouraged home ownership, now at a higher level than anywhere else, and have drastically reduced the local authority housing waiting list, halving the waiting time for council dwellings  * We have improved each year the living standards of the disadvantaged, especially of old age pensioners and the long term unemployed  * We have dealt successfully with a series of unforeseeable crises such as the I.R.A. funds seizure, and the P.M.P.A. and I.C.I. collapses at no cost whatever to the taxpayers (contrary to Fianna Fail propaganda the entire cost of saving the I.C.I. is being carried by the Banks, with the Central Bank acting as an intermediary)  * We have enacted the Single European Act  All this while cutting PAYE income tax rates in 1985 and 1986 by a total of £300 million a year.  BUT THIS IS NOT ENOUGH!  FINE GAEL POLICY  1. JOBS - THE PRIORITY  Ireland has been caught in a spiral of high spending, high taxation, high borrowing and high interest rates. Working within the present structures we have not been able to break out of this vicious circle. While our partners in Government helped us contain the problem with effective management, they have not felt able to join us in taking the policy leaps forward which are necessary to tackle the fundamental problems of our economy.  The radical policy shifts needed to pull us out of this vicious circle and make real jobs include:  * Cutting public spending. Fine Gael utterly reject the only other options: more taxation and more borrowing  * Presenting a credible medium-term programme to reduce the burden of taxation  * Encouraging enterprise and sharing wealth  * Freeing rigidities in the labour market so as to provide more people with the chance to work  * Developing our natural resources faster and more effectively  * Getting rid of the rigid distinction between State owned enterprises and privately-owned enterprises  * Increasing the efficiency of the Public Service  We also need to curtail restrictive practises in the 'free sector' of society.  1.1 CUTTING SPENDING TO MAKE REAL JOBS.  1.1.1 Public Spending  The fundamental problem we face is that the level of public spending in Ireland is far too high for a country at this stage of development. There are concrete reasons for this:  * We have more young people than any other developed country, and we educate a much higher proportion of them than, happens for example, in wealthier Great Britain.  * Government policies have helped us to become the country with the highest rate of home ownership in the world  * In recent years, in contrast to many other countries, we have increased social welfare payments faster than the rate of inflation  * We provide a whole range of services free for everyone, regardless of whether they can afford to pay for them or not  * The violence of the IRA both in the North and here has forced us virtually to double the size of our Army and to increase the numbers of Gardai well beyond what would be required to deal with normal crime. On top of this, between 1977 and 1982 the State sharply increased the size of the public service outside the security area.  This combination of policies cannot all be sustained. We have to be more selective.  1.1.2 Borrowing  Because public spending now far outruns taxation, the shortfall has been met from year to year by borrowing at home and abroad. The sheer scale of borrowing forced on us by the public spending policies of 1977 to 1982 has pushed the burden of interest so high that:  We are now close to the point of borrowing only to pay interest on past borrowing  Interest on borrowing absorbs the equivalent to almost all the tax collected under P.A.Y.E.  While we have trimmed public sector borrowing in recent years, first reducing the borrowing required by prevailing government policies from a threatened 27% to 20% of national output in 1981/1982,and since then cutting it to 13% between 1982 and 1987, this is not enough. Borrowing is still too high. Major  policy changes with regard to public spending are needed to tackle the problem at its roots. The 1987 Budget proposals set out a range of policy measures involving spending reductions in excess of £200 million in 1987. The aim in future Budgets will be to reduce the total Public Sector borrowing requirement by one and a half percentage points a year - slightly more than the one and a quarter point annual reduction effected between 1982 and 1987, but concentrated more on borrowing for current purposes.  1.1.3 Interest Rates  High Government borrowing leads to a high demand for money, and this makes high interest rates inevitable, high interest rates starve investment and thus destroy the prospect of more jobs. It is perfectly obvious that, realistically, investment can spring only from low interest rates.  Until we break out of the vicious circle of high spending/high taxation/high borrowing, there is no prospect of getting interest rates down to where they should be.  Already we have made Ireland more competitive. When inflation was running at 21% under Fianna Fail we were pricing ourselves out of the market. Now, with prices rising at only 3% a year, we can really compete. The balance of trade has moved sharply in our favour; Ireland Inc. is now trading at a profit. The only thing that is holding us back is the burden of debt and high interest rates.  A real and lasting solution to unemployment can only be a long term solution along these lines but Fine Gael recognises that young people cannot be expected to wait several years before they have a chance of a job. For that reason we have introduced schemes such as the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, the Social Employment Scheme, and the Teamwork Scheme, all of which are working effectively for those who use them. These schemes do not pretend to be long term solutions; but they have given over 25,000 people an opportunity to help themselves here and now.  At the same time we have boosted the construction industry with effective spending. While the Home Improvement Grants will by the end of this year have cost the taxpayer £125million,they will have generated almost £250 million worth of construction activity in 1986/1987. And we are meeting a real economic need through our £500 million road construction programme, the biggest ever in the history of the State.  These things have been achieved by diverting resources from less useful and less urgent purposes. Total borrowing for Capital purposes has actually been reduced during this period.  1.2 REFORMING TAXATION  1.2.1 Reducing Taxation  The high level of direct and indirect taxation is in itself a major obstacle to employment. It is an integral part of the vicious circle created by the huge increase in spending in the late 1970's and early 1980's. To break this vicious circle we must cut spending and get borrowing down to the point where there can be real, sustained relief of the tax burden.  While there are inequities in the tax system, the real inequities are in the way we misuse the taxpayers' money. Reform must begin with reform of spending. If, because of excessive borrowing, there is not room for a real reduction in the level of taxation, tax reform can mean only that for every pound of inequity relieved in any one part of the system an additional burden is created somewhere else in the system. That is the major obstacle to tax reform at the present time. Real tax reform must involve reductions in the overall levels of tax. This can come only from reduced spending.  Fine Gael's immediate aim is to reduce the share of taxation in Ireland to a level at or below the OECD average. In the meantime, reform within the tax system will be guided by the principle of the enhancement of the incentive to work.  The tax bands need to be modified so that people on relatively modest incomes do not find themselves paying tax on part of their income at rates that are absurdly high for such people. The top rate of tax,58%, is not in itself inordinately high, but it is payable by people whose incomes are quite low - e.g. a single person with £10,500 a year. Getting back to the point where the great majority - at least two thirds of taxpayers are on the initial tax rate now 35% - will require that we make reasonable progress towards restoring balance in the public finances generally.  But there is also a need to reduce this initial rate of tax. The 35% rate at which Irish workers enter the tax net is the highest in the O.E.C.D. Fine Gael's objective is also to reduce this rate, which is the one that affects many lower paid workers.  1.2.2 Introducing Self-Assessment  Fine Gael proposes to introduce self-assessment of tax. This will be carried through within three years. The purpose for which self-assessment is being introduced is to improve tax collection. The present system is cumbersome. Revenue staff are involved in making assessments of all taxpayers, rather than concentrating resources in areas of significant evasion. The new system will give Revenue resources to concentrate on eliminating evasion, thus helping to create conditions for an overall reduction in the tax burden.  It has been Fine Gael's objective to make this change-over as rapidly as possible; experts with experience in self-assessment in the United States, who have recently been attached to the Revenue Commissioners, have shown that this is an attainable objective. A summary of their findings has just been published by the Minister for Finance.  Fine Gael will start in 1987 by introducing a form of self assessment with respect to farm tax. We recognise that the process of assessing adjusted acres is necessarily a slow one, full implementation of which will take a number of years. Later this year, when farmers with over 80 adjusted acres will have been assessed, other farmers will be asked to make returns of their own estimation of their adjusted acreage, together with the tax payments appropriate to this figure, where this figure exceeds 20 adjusted acres. Checks based on experience already gained by the Farm Tax Commissioners will control attempts at evasion through under-estimation.  The extension of self-assessment to Corporation Tax and Income Tax will follow. Based on U.S. experience, involving spot checks and heavy penalties for fraudulent tax returns, this system is expected to be effective in minimising and going a long way towards eliminating the tax evasion that exists at present in this sector.  Already we have in the past two years:  - Reduced the five different Income Tax rates to three  - Extended the first two bands by one quarter from £6,000 to £7,500  - Abolished the 1% Income Levy  - Increased the PAYE allowance to £700  As a result of these measures the tax payable by a married couple on an income of £14,000 has been reduced by £400.  In addition we have in these past two years:  - Reduced the top Income Tax rate from 65% to 58%  - Simplified the VAT from five rates to three, and eliminated the top 35% rate  - Reduced VAT for a whole range of services employing people rather than machines  Now we are about to take the next step - introducing self-assessment.  1.3 ENCOURAGING ENTERPRISE  Already this present Government has undertaken a whole range of measures to encourage enterprise and employment.  In successive Finance Acts, the Government has introduced tax concessions to encourage employees to become shareholders in the company in which they work, and the public in general to become shareholders in productive business.  Democracy is stronger in a country in which the majority of people own a share in the wealth of the nation. If the wealth is owned by a few people, democracy is vulnerable. The Government's campaign to broaden share ownership has therefore a wider political objective - to strengthen democracy through a wider  diffusion of wealth ownership, both to workers in their own firms, and to the general public.  The purpose of the Government in introducing the Business Expansion Scheme, and the enhanced tax incentives for workers, has been to create the best tax incentives in Europe for people to become shareholders. Already this has had a dramatic effect. The number of firms seeking capital through the Business Expansion Scheme has increased sharply in the last 18 months. Moreover, already 20,000 Irish workers own shares in the businesses in which they are employed.  Fine Gael's target in Government over the next four years is to increase the rate of capital placed in manufacturing and traded services business through the Business Expansion Scheme from £7 million pounds a year in 1986 to £30 million pounds in 1990.  The Government's objective in regard to worker shareholders is to increase the  number of worker shareholders from 20,000 in 1986 to 100,000 in 1990.  1.3.1 New proposals in 1987 Budget Relating To Wider Share Ownership  New measures to promote wider share ownership have just been announced in the 1987 Budget proposals.  These include the following new incentives which will be introduced under the Business Expansion Scheme:  - Investors in the new designated funds under the Scheme will be allowed to opt for tax relief against income in the year in which investments in the fund are made in respect of shares issued before the end of the following year  - Investors acquiring qualifying shares under the Scheme in excess of £25,000 in one year will be allowed to carry forward the excess to the following year for tax relief purposes  - At present 50% of the dividend income received by Irish shareholders in manufacturing companies in manufacturing companies is exempt from tax, up to a limit of £7,000 per annum. This limit will be increased to £9,000 where the company has an approved profit sharing scheme.  - Shares issued to employees as part of a redundancy or retirement package will not under certain conditions be reckonable for tax purposes. This will be additional to the tax relief which such employees enjoy in the normal course.  1.3.2 Other New Proposals in 1987 Budget to Encourage Enterprise  - In order to assist the car hire and taxi businesses, the annual rate of wear-and-tear allowance on motor vehicles will be doubled in the case of vehicles provided for short-term hire to the public  - Consideration is being given to a possible tax incentive for export sales representatives who spend minimum number of days working overseas  - Proposals are being actively examined for Futures, Swaps, Options and other new types of financial markets to be located in Dublin. Ireland, with its young, highly educated and English speaking population is ideally placed to use its modern telecommunications network to create jobs in this rapidly expanding field.  Further measures will be considered for 1988. One of these would allow people to divert a portion of the interest relief that is available to them for mortgages to interest in borrowing to purchase shares.  1.4 FREEING UP THE LABOUR MARKET  The Labour Market is the market for jobs. Without an efficient Labour Market, output alone will not create jobs. The answer to employment is not just growth. In the 1980s the European growth rate was only fractionally less than that in the United States. Yet, while employment fell in Europe in the early 1980s it actually rose by 30 million in the United States. Why? A large part of the answer lies in the fact that the United States does not have the rigidities in the labour market which exist in Europe.  1.4.1 Pensions  In Ireland and in the rest of Europe it is more difficult to make radical changes in your career than it is in the United States. For example, a relatively high percentage of people in Ireland are in permanent pensionable jobs in which the pension is not transferable. People are thus inhibited from making radical changes in their career for fear of losing pension rights. This problem has already been largely solved within the public sector, where there is pension transferability between about 90 different bodies, but it still remains a problem both within the private sector, and between the public and private sector.  Accordingly, Fine Gael will introduce a new condition for the recognition of pension schemes for tax purposes. Pension schemes will in future be required to contain provisions for the transferability of the benefit to other employments, or for deferred payment of pension benefits that have accrued in the firm in question, so that they may be enjoyed after retirement age even where an employee moves to another job. In 1986, the Government established the National Pensions Board to advise on this and other ways of improving systems.  1.4.2 Starting Salaries  High starting salaries are an inhibition to the employment of a greater number of young people. Very many young people would be happy to start work at salaries well below the existing starting salaries. They are prevented from doing so by the unwillingness of those concerned to accept the introduction of lower initial salaries for such workers even though this would have no adverse affect on those already employed. Fine Gael in Government will initiate changes in this respect in the public sector, and will encourage changes in the private sector, where such changes would result in more jobs being available for young people.  1.4.3 Mobility  In Ireland and the rest of Europe people are not as willing as they are in the United States to move away from their home to work in different parts of the country. Fine Gael will discuss with the Trade Union movement what steps should be taken to facilitate greater internal mobility within Ireland. The absence of internal mobility here, especially from Dublin to other areas, is striking when compared with the high level of outward mobility reflected in Irish emigration rates. The exceptionally high rate of home ownership - obviously a good thing itself - and the relatively small proportion of rented accommodation are factors discouraging mobility. Fine Gael will tackle this by reductions in the rate of tax (Stamp Duty) on second hand houses over the next two years encouraging private rented accommodation in provincial areas.  The ability to improve one's education in mid-life is important to job mobility. In the education section of the document we have set out proposals in this regard.  1.4.4 Industrial Relations  Industrial disputes benefit nobody. In an obvious sense the employer suffers, and employees rarely recoup the wages they have lost, quite apart from endangering the security of their employment. In a wider sense the whole country suffers. Our industrial relations framework at present is defective in that it does not provide for a logical sequence of steps to be followed before the ultimate weapon of strike action is invoked. Fine Gael in Government will provide that trade union immunity as provided under the 1906 Act will apply where a six point mandatory procedure has been followed, as recommended by the Commission on Industrial Relations.  The six steps in question are:  1. Discussions between the Parties.  2. Conciliation.  3. Adjudication.  4. Secret ballot.  5. The Authorisation of industrial Action.  6. The Issue of Notice of industrial Action.  Fine Gael in Government will initiate discussions between trade unions and employers on this legislation.  Fine Gael will also re-introduce into the terms of reference of the Labour Court the "National Interest" clause that used to be included in them. The effect of the dropping of this clause some years ago has been to preclude the Labour Court from having any regard to the national interest in its adjudications, which in Fine Gael's view is undesirable and indeed dangerous.  1.5 EXPLOITING NATURAL RESOURCES  1.5.1 Agriculture  The future of Irish agriculture lies in exploiting market opportunities, particularly in the European Community where our exporters have unrestricted access to a market of over 320 million people. Agriculture provides the raw material for an increasingly sophisticated food-processing industry and it is important that we build on Ireland's reputation for a clean and unpolluted environment for the production of high quality consumer goods. Fine Gael in Government will continue to encourage a radical re-orientation of the whole agriculture/food processing sector. We will implement fundamental changes in the structure of Government and in the organisations servicing agriculture to maximise the development of a new marketing strategy with particular emphasis on new products. This radical re-orientation of policy will require major changes in the work of both ACOT and AFT which, for this purpose, will be merged and re-organised with an injection of talent related to the needs of the food processing sector.  In the difficult period ahead the skill and determination of our negotiators in Brussels will be crucial to the success of Irish agriculture. The record of the past four years is the best criterion by which to judge performance in this respect. Over these four years agriculture in the European Community has faced its greatest difficulties since the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy. While the accumulation of vast food surpluses has been a symptom of the success of the CAP, it has given rise to ever-increasing financial problems. These have had to be tackled to avoid the destruction of a policy from which Irish agriculture has benefited so substantially over the years. The problems have been compounded here by the two worst summers in living memory.  Against this background we have had exceptional success in the negotiations on the reform of the CAP. Our case has been forcefully and effectively represented at the negotiating table in Brussels. Most recently, and against the background of severe financial constraints facing the Community, our determined efforts produced a reform package which safeguards both the long-term future of the CAP and Irish farmers incomes.  It is clear that considerable expansion is possible in both beef and sheep with much greater added-value opportunity in milk. The re-structuring of the CAP will result in more market opportunities and greater long-term stability  In its 1987 Budget proposals Fine Gael has taken further steps to help farmers in different parts of the country in a number of different ways  Regional reference income criterion for farm investment are being replaced by a single national income criterion  The rate of grant for cattle and sheep housing in disadvantaged areas is being raised from 35% to 45%  Grants of £550 per hectare are being made available for farmers outside the Western Package area who afforest their land  The amount of leasing income exempted from Income Tax will be increased from £2,000 to £2,800 a year where leasing contracts are entered into before December 31st next  Stock relief is being continued for a further year  Grants are to be made available for Farm Guest-house tourism and craft projects undertaken under a Farm Plan in Disadvantaged Areas  A proposal is being put to the Commission to upgrade the status of less severely handicapped and sheep headage areas to the status of more severely handicapped  Financial provisions have been made to cover a full round of TB testing during 1987  The Farm Tax is being introduced on a self-assessment basis for farmers between 20 and 80 adjusted acres  Meanwhile over the past four years Irish farmers have greatly benefited from Fine Gael's achievements in Government.  We have reduced inflation from 21% to 3%, thereby considerably reducing farmers input costs e.g. energy, fertilisers and feeding-stuffs  doubled total expenditure on agriculture from £625 million in 1981 to £1,321 million in 1986  brought in a Farm Improvement Programme under which considerable investment aid is available to farmers  made additional aid payable to young farmers in the form of an installation grant  introduced and given a tax incentive for long-term land leasing  introduced the stamp duty exemption for young farmers to encourage land transfers to young trained farmers  set up potato and vegetabie marketing co-operatives to promote the marketing of high quality home-grown produce to replace imports  responded to the crises following two successive bad summers  (a) with emergency aid - over £20 million in 1985 and £15 million E.E.C. aid in 1986  (b) with the introduction of a £200 million Euro currency loan scheme with interest rates at about 5.5%,which is proving a major help to farmers severely hit by the appalling weather conditions  provided for the maintenance of headage payments where land is used for forestry  increased grant aid on the various cattle and sheep schemes which apply in the Disadvantaged Areas by 132%, from less than £122 million in 1986. This included increasing beef cow grant aid from £32 to £70 in 1986.  doubled the value of sheep output from £54 million in 1980 to £102 million in 1986, and increased ewe numbers in the same period by over one-third, with an increase in the ewe premium from 75p to £20  negotiated an exceptional 6% green pound devaluation in September 1986 (while other Members States were refused devaluations). This is worth over £120 million in a full year and Fine Gael will be seeking a further 5.8% green pound devaluation in this year's price negotiations, which will double the £120 million benefit and greatly improve farm incomes in 1987. This, together with the removal of the delay in intervention payments for milk products, for which provision is made in the recent EEC agreement on CAP reform should give a price increase of about 10p a gallon during 1987  secured in the recent negotiations on the reform of the CAP remarkably generous compensation for farmers for milk quota cuts, together with recognition of the special importance of butter intervention in Ireland. In the case of beef we considerably reduced the cut in intervention prices which the Commission had proposed from April 1st next  negotiated an increase in the suckler cow premium from £27 per head to £37 per head together with a new premium of £15 per head for male animals which is worth £20 million in 1987  increased agricultural export earnings by 69% from £1,482 million in 1981 to an estimated £2,500 million in 1986. Here dynamic promotion of the valued added content of the food industry has been an important factor  succeeded in having an additional 1.25 million acres classified as Disadvantaged. This was by far the largest acreage re-classified in any review since we joined the EEC  spent £29 million in 1985 and £26 million in 1986 on disease eradication despite severe budgetary difficulties. This all-time high expenditure enabled the country to be declared officially brucellosis free in April 1986 and TB prevalence in the national herd was reduced to 2.84% in November 1986  Earlier in 1984, through astute negotiations on the part of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Agriculture and the close links which Fine Gael has with Christian Democratic Parties in Government in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and with other EEG Governments such as that of France, an exceptionally favourable deal in the milk super levy negotiations was achieved. We secured for Irish farmers a milk quota 23% above it would have been, had it been fixed on the same basis as for other member states. This advantage has been retained in the subsequent reshaping of the CAP.  This remarkable record shows the extent of the Governments' concern for agriculture and their determination to assist the industry to develop and to achieve its full potential. Despite severe budgetary constraints, substantial aid has been provided for the industry, and favourable terms have been negotiated at EEC level in the reform of the CAP. The special aid provided to mitigate the worst effects of the adverse weather conditions of the past two years is a reflection of Fine Gael's deep concern for the interest of Irish farmers.  Fine Gael is by far the best-equipped party to secure favourable results in future EEC negotiations affecting agriculture.  1.5.2 Forestry  Ireland has an exceptional forestry potential. There are favourable conditions for growth in this sector in Ireland and it is a sector where it is clear that demand will continue to expand strongly worldwide over years and decades ahead. It is attracting increasing attention from the private sector.  The development of state forests has now reached a stage where a more commercial approach is appropriate than has hitherto been needed, in the period when the forests were being built up. It is Fine Gael policy to ensure that the management and marketing of our State forests will be undertaken in future by a National Forest Enterprise Body as recommended by the Government's Forestry Review Group.  It will have a degree of independence similar to that of the Revenue Commissioners, and the staff will have Civil Service status.  Fine Gael in its Budget proposals has announced the advance sale of £3 million worth of trees this year with a view to investing in an expansion of planting by 1,000 hectares.  The sales of these trees will be conducted in such a way as to ensure that there will be no adverse affect on the funds currently available in the private sector for the creation of new forests from bare land. These enterprises are a valuable additional source of employment.  One of the obstacles to further development is the problem of providing farmers with income during the period while forests are growing on their land but have not matured. The first step towards resolving this problem has been the continuation of the headage payments for lands converted to forestry. Other new  measures in Fine Gael's 1987 Budget proposals designed to encourage private forestry include grants of £550 per hectare for farmers outside the Western Package area who afforest their land and improved grants of £500 per hectare for non-farmers in these areas.  1.5.3 Tourism  Ireland has an extraordinarily powerful natural resource in tourism. Why has it not developed faster? Important reasons have been  The impact of violence in Northern Ireland  High access costs  Under development of the Tourism infra-structure  Northern Ireland  One of the major obstacles to the development of tourism in Ireland during the past twenty years has been the impact of the violence in Northern Ireland on attitudes of potential tourists. The tourist boom that had begun in the early 1960s was brought to a sharp halt by the violence in the North, and the industry has never since recovered its momentum. The fundamental causes of this are now being tackled with the Anglo Irish Agreement.  Access Costs  The sheer cost of getting to this island, geographically peripheral to Europe, is a major impediment to tourism. We need further to liberalise air transport. Fine Gael in Government has already liberalised air transport between Ireland and both Britain and the United States and this has already begun to produce positive results. This policy will be continued, developed and extended to the European continent. Already, these liberalisation measures have had an impact on air fare structures which in turn have affected fare structures on cross channel ferry routes.  Fine Gael in Government will continue to work at EEC level not only to liberalise services but also to remove limitations on the share of the market which work against Aer Lingus and to secure for Irish airlines the right to pick up and set down passengers between foreign countries on the European continent. This is a necessary basis for a major expansion of the Aer Lingus network.  Development of Tourism Infra-Structure  The 1987 Budget proposals include improved grants for non-accommodation amenities such as waterways development, recreational facilities etc. These proposals also provide for grants to Farm Guest-House Tourism and craft projects within the framework of a Farm Plan. The budget proposals also provide for increased grants to sporting amenities provided in association with hotels and other tourist accommodation. Fine Gael believes that sport based tourism has major potential for Ireland. In our White Paper on Tourism we have set out plans to target youth tourism generally, and also bring outside venture capital into the industry. We want tourist operators to form their own marketing consortia, rather than rely on Bord Failte.  The Budget proposals also will give a boost to the important car hire sector by a new tax relief. This will help improve the cost competitiveness of Ireland as a tourist destination.  Already a number of important measures have been introduced to boost tourism  VAT on many services (rooms, meals, car hire etc.) has been sharply reduced  Grants of up to £30,000 have been provided to upgrade hotels  A consultancy service for hotels has been provided through Bord Failte  Increased training for tourism has been provided  Fine Gael in Government has initiated a major international study of the whole Irish tourism sector to devise new innovative ways of realising the large job potential of this industry  1.5.4 Oil and Gas Exploration  The price of oil has fallen substantially since 1985,not withstanding the recent partial recovery engineered by OPEC. While the balance of payments has benefited, Fine Gael recognises that the respite may be only temporary. With an eye to the future, therefore, it has been our objective for sometime to encourage a higher level of offshore exploration. As a necessary response to changed conditions in the oil industry, the Government announced revised licensing terms last September. The new terms are reasonable and impartial. They allow the industry make decisions about further investment.  We are greatly encouraged by the recent announcement that BP is to press ahead with evaluation of the promising oil discovery in Block 49/9. With this and other discoveries waiting to be appraised, the prospect of Ireland becoming an oil producer soon is now very real with all the direct and indirect benefits that will follow - additional tax revenues, employment spin-off and a boost to national confidence.  Fine Gael's policy for the future will be to continue to encourage exploration and development in a responsible and impartial manner, thereby maximising the long-term benefits to the Irish people.  Mineral exploration on land is also being encouraged with hopeful prospects for a range of minerals in different parts of the country.  1.5.5 Mariculture and Fisheries  Our fishing industry was boosted by the 1976 EEC negotiations carried out by the present Taoiseach, as a result of which our total fish catch has increased three-fold, while other countries' catches have been restricted. However, despite this major positive discrimination in our favour, the Irish fishing industry has not yet reaped the full benefits of what was then negotiated. This has been partly because of the adherence by many of our fishermen to traditional species - a factor that bas been dictated by the kind of boat used.  This has now started to change. Fine Gael in Government will concentrate on the re-orientation of our fishing fleet towards other species for which markets are now being developed. It will also encourage a much greater amount of secondary processing, thereby providing a far higher added value to the catch.  At the same time fishery harbours will be improved to cater for larger landings and larger vessels. The development of Rossaveal will complete the five designated fishery harbours. Work is also in progress in other harbours and this programme of development will continue so that the fishery industry can move toward reaching its full potential.  With the recent designation of parts of our coastline for mariculture (fish-farming) purposes, an explosion of activity in this sector is now taking place in Galway, Mayo and Donegal. Much of this activity is in peripheral regions where opportunities for other forms of economic activity are limited, and it is expected that by 1990 3,600 jobs will have been created in this new industry. Developments have been much slower in other coastal areas. To ensure a more widespread development of mari-culture, Fine Gael in Government will extend IDA grants to mariculture.  1.6 THE PUBLIC SECTOR - MAKING IT A SOURCE OF DYNAMIC GROWTH  Up to now there has been a rigid distinction between the public and private sectors in Ireland.  This distinction has no rational basis. Fine Gael takes a pragmatic and progressive view of the question of the expansion of the State sector into new area, e.g. through bodies like Aer Lingus developing ancillary services or through the newly established National Development Corporation.  1.6.1 Private Investment in Some State Enterprises  There are a number of companies owned entirely by the State which Fine Gael believes could benefit from private investment which could secure more rapid expansion of the enterprises concerned.  Where an element of significant public interest or monopoly is involved, the State would continue to hold a majority of the equity. In relation to the remainder of the equity, shares will be offered to employees on favourable terms and investment from the private sector will be encouraged, where it will strengthen the company and achieve expansion. Companies in this category could include:  Aer Lingus  NET  Irish Steel  The National Stud  Bord na Mona  and monopolies such as:  Bord Telecom  An Post  Bord Gais  Aer Rianta  This list is not necessarily exhaustive. Other enterprises such as the Irish Sugar Company could at a later stage be added, and decisions in each case would be taken on their merits, the chief criterion would be the likelihood of faster growth through private participation. The primary purpose of the sale of shares in these concerns will not be to raise funds for the Exchequer but rather finance further expansion of the body concerned and to limit the need for further State borrowing for additional investment. In certain cases the sale of shares to reduce the National Debt will be considered, however.  1.6.2 State Enterprises which might be sold  There are other State Companies, at present owned by the State, which would be able to operate at least as well and in some cases better in the national interest if they were privately owned, and in respect of which the State has no specific interest in ownership. One example is, Ostlanna lompair Teo, whose hotel operations have been rescued and made profitable by the Government. As far as Fine Gael is concerned, the criterion to be applied to promote private involvement of either kind in State enterprises will in all cases be the national interest, represented by the desirability of acquiring additional capital for expansion of particular companies, the strengthening of management, or the reduction of the national debt.  1.6.3 Television  Within a few months most TV cable systems will be offering a further choice of two low-powered satellite channels. To those who are outside cable system areas, the availability of individual receiver dishes, announced last year by the Minister for Communications, gives access to the low-powered satellite channels. In parallel with this development the steady progress towards an Irish Direct Broadcasting Satellite (DBS) system and steps towards a UK DBS system is likely to greatly increase the number of TV channels available to viewers within the next few years.  Nevertheless there remains at present a problem of access to external TV channels in extensive areas of the West and South-West, and in non-urban areas elsewhere. Such access has been impeded by two problems, the technical problems of scarce frequencies and the copyright problem.  The difficulties of scarce frequencies may now be coming to an end. As a result of research over the past few years the Department of Communications proposes to use a newly developed Canadian system called M.M.D.S. which is economical of frequency use and which holds the promise of enabling the delivery of UK TV channels to all parts of the country.  In relation to copyright, Fine Gael in Government will be prepared to grant franchise in most areas for M.M.D.S. re-broadcasting, subject to copyright being negotiated successfully with the relevant interests.  Notwithstanding the major extension of the number of TV channels available to almost all viewers in the coming years, the question arises as to whether further Irish TV channels should be provided. Fine Gael would encourage an R.T.E. role in the DBS area but also sees a possible role for an independent Irish TV company providing programmes for DBS, and in the process providing an alternative Irish station for Irish TV viewers. This could very well be in conjunction with a network of regional TV services - already commenced in Cork City on an experimental basis on Cable TV.  It is regrettable that Irish TV is not easily available in Belfast and other parts on the east of Northern Ireland. Many Northerners who have access to it watch RTE. It is an objective of Fine Gael policy to have RTE TV services available throughout Northern Ireland.  The question of Irish language T.V. programming is being examined by a working group and Fine Gael intend that progress be made in this important matter.  1.6.4 Radio  Fine Gael propose that RTE have four national radio stations:  RTE 1 With Fm3 offshoot  RTE 2 Over 24 hours  RTE 3 Raidio a Tri (Radio na Gaeltachta renamed)  RTE 4 Long Wave Radio, possibly in association with Radio Luxembourg  Fine Gael proposes to re-introduce the Local Radio Bill as soon as possible. It is not envisaged that RTE will have a major role in this area. This is being done in the interests of competition and diversity. The Local Radio Commission will be re-named and re-organised to include also in its remit responsibility for cable TV systems, and any possible alternative independent Irish DBS TV stations.  1.6.5 Public Tendering for Major Road Projects  The State is currently entering the third year of the National Road Building Programme costing almost £500 million. In addition major water and sewage works have cost £300 million in the last three years.  These major infrastructural programmes are playing a significant part in the development of our towns and villages and in reducing journey times, thereby reducing distribution costs and transport costs for our goods for export. is Fine Gael is concerned to ensure that these major capital works are built in the most cost effective way from the taxpayer's viewpoint and also that the Irish construction industry get every opportunity to participate in this work.  It is for these reasons that the Minister for the Environment recently announced a new type of Public Contract - design and construct - for major new road projects: - the Dunleer by-pass, the Malahide Road, the Mullingar by-pass, and the new Dundalk bridge and inner relief road. These contracts will cost in the Region of £35 million.  It is Fine Gael's intention that, in future, all Local Authority capital works costing more than £500,000 will be put out to competitive public tender - for which the local authorities themselves will also be allowed to compete.  1.6.6 Subcontracting Maintenance  The cost of local authority house and road maintenance is a severe burden on Local Authorities. This burden is passed on to the taxpayer through the Rate Support Grant which must be paid to Local Authorities. In the context of its reform of local government, the Government will encourage the sub-contracting of road maintenance and other Local Authority maintenance services. This will be done in such a way as not to interfere with the continuity of employment of existing employees. However, in the case of replacement of retiring workers, and the initiation of new services, the first priority will be to open the work to competitive contract tendering from the private sector, as well as from Local Authorities themselves. Where Local Authorities can do work themselves more competitively than private contractors, the work will be done by the Local Authority, and Local Authorities will be given power to tender themselves for outside contracts using their management skills, and their labour force.  1.6.7 ESB Costs  Fine Gael fully supports the conclusions of the Jakobsen Report on the ESB. This report gives specific recommendations for the reduction of overheads in the ESB. This is designed to reduce electricity costs to domestic consumers and to industry. Fine Gael in Government will be seeking a comprehensive report from the ESB on the implementation of every aspect of the Jakobsen report by 21st May, 1987.  In addition, the Government will establish an independent mechanism for validating the tariff structure of the Electricity Supply Board. This will ensure that a competitive and comparable price is paid by the Electricity Supply Board to private generators of electricity who sell electricity to the ESB grid. A clear and fair formula for the pricing of such electricity is necessary for the development of private electricity generation. Without private electricity generation, the full indigenous potential of electricity generation in Ireland will not be achieved. This is because some electricity generation projects are too small-scale to be undertaken by the ESB itself, or are subsidiaries of another industrial operation undertaken by a private firm.  Fine Gael will also seek to promote, in conjunction with the British or French authorities, an inter-connector with Britain or France which would end our isolation with respect to electricity production and reduce the costly reserve capacity made necessary by this isolation. Fine Gael will also seek to re-establish the North-South electricity inter-connector destroyed by the IRA as part of its campaign of national sabotage.  Radical Reforms already Effected in the State Enterprise Sector  An Post and Telecom Eireann have been set up with a successful transition to the status of State Enterprises, transferring 30,000 people out of the Civil Service. These companies have kept increases in charges well below our already low inflation rate  C.I.E.'s losses have been reduced for three years in a row after 15 years of continually increasing losses and C.l.E. has been completely re-organised  New Management has been put in place in the B & I in order to give that company the opportunity of surviva' as a viable concern  Industrial peace has been established at Dublin Port  The hard decision to close Irish Shipping was faced up to  The taxpayer and the traveller are getting better value for money from Aer Lingus and the policy of increasing competition will be continued  The latest accounts in the commercial semi-state sector shows that 11 bodies have now reported profits  1.6.8 Transport  Apart from the foregoing, Fine Gael has reduced Corporation Tax on shipping from 50% to 10% and introduced a 25% grant for the acquisition of ships. Expansion of the Merchant Fleet and marine employment will ensue. All major harbours will be re-organised. The liberalisation of road freight transport will be completed. Major airport expansion at Dublin, Cork and Galway will be completed. A Transport White Paper is almost ready for publication.  1.7 INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC SERVICE  1.7.1 The size of the Public Service  Over the period 1977-1981 Public Service rose by about 29,000. The accumulated net cost of this staff expansion is now £1.5 billion. This sum represents extra borrowing to pay staff salaries. If we add on the interest we have been paying on this accumuiating borrowing, the overall cost is about £2 billion.  The Government has reversed this uncontrolled rise in Public Service numbers. The Civil Service has been trimmed for the first time in its history and is now 7% smaller than it was in 1981. Less people are doing a greater volume of work for the public. This trimming has been done with the co-operation of the Public Service, to whom a large share of the credit for this achievement must be given. Moreover within this slimmed-down Civil Service there has been extensive re-deployment of staff. In contrast to cuts elsewhere, in the hard-pressed areas of the Office of Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Welfare, 300 additional staff have been made available since 1981.  In the wider Public Service, numbers have been cut in many areas, enabling an expansion of 3,500 in the education sector and a rise of 1,000 in the number of Gardai, without any increase in the total numbers employed in this wider Public Service. Fine Gael has already brought in radically new concepts covering mobility, promotion, and management in the Public Service.  1.7.2 Reforms in the Public Service  Side by side with the improvements in efficiency and productivity, radically new concepts to improve Public Service management have been put in place. New and more open promotion systems for senior civil servants, together with greater inter-departmental mobility, staff exchanges, increased public offices, new management systems, vastly greater use of computer technology, are all now part of our modern Civil Service.  Career Break and Job Sharing Schemes introduced to the Public Service have created a total of 6,425 job opportunities since 1984, as well as affording the participants the opportunity-to tackle new frontiersÑall at no extra cost to the taxpayer. A further 1,000 clerical trainees have benefitted from twelve months in the Civil Service at £60 per week.  The first-ever White Paper on the Public Service has been published and legislation for its implementation is now at an advanced stage of preparation. The Government has also introduced the highly successful Ombudsman System enabling the public to have their grievances investigated impartially.  A major reorganisation of the Office of Public Works has just been announced involving the transfer of certain functions to other Departments and a concentration of the OPW's work on four areas:  Property Management  Construction Projects  Heritage Conservation  Purchase and Supply  In future, Departments seeking work to be done for them will have the option of either using the OPW or employing outside contractors, if these contractors can undertake the work at a more competitive price.  The Budget proposals also contain the announcement of the merger of the Department of Finance and the Department of the Public Service, the separate existence of which is no longer considered necessary, with the publication of the White Paper setting out proposals for Public Service reform which represent an important contribution by the D.P.S. to the development of the Civil Service.  1.7.3 Local Government  Fine Gael regards Local Government as an essential element in the institutions of the State. At present, because of over-centralisation of functions and controls, Local Authorities have very little effective power.  Fine Gael will:  Devolve functions at present administered centrally by Departments to locai Councils and reduce or eliminate central restrictions on those Councils  Restructure local Councils, as is already under way in Dublin, so as to bring local Government closer to the people  Confer new general powers on local authorities, thereby modifying the 'ultra vires' principle which at present limits severely their activities  Provide for greater accountability at local level  Encourage local voluntary organisations  Fine Gael believes that developing a sense of local responsibility, local pride and local voluntary services will inevitably help to give to Government at local, rather than national, level the status which it merits.  1.8 CURTAILING RESTRICTIVE PRACTICES  Fine Gael believes that in the "free enterprise sector" there are restrictive practices which work to the detriment of the consumer. These are amongst the rigidities that have to be dismantled if we are to have a dynamic economy.  1.8.1 Strengthening of Restrictive Practices Commission  The Restrictive Practices Commission (to be re-titled the Fair Trade Commission) has already been strengthened by the appointment of a new Chairperson and a new full-time member. The benefits of the strengthening will be seen shortly when the report of the Grocery Review becomes available in a much shorter time scale than has ever been previously possible for such reports.  A new Bill will give the Fair Trade Commission power to initiate their own studies and enquiries instead of having to rely on the initiatives of the Minister or Examiner of Restrictive Practices. The Bill contains provision for the making of Restrictive Practices Orders by the Minister without the need for prior full scale enquiry, as has been necessary to date.  It will also remove the exemptions from the scope of restrictive practices legislation of sectors such as communications, banking and electricity.  In addition to the provisions in relation to restrictive practices and competition generally, the Bill also provides for additional powers and functions for the Director of Consumer Affairs in relation to matters affecting the consumer. For example, the Director will be given the additional power to seek injunctions against persons engaging in practices contrary to obligations  imposed by the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980 or the Sale of Goods Act, 1893. He will also be given enforcement functions in relation to a range of consumer related legislation including, for example, food labelling regulations.  1.8.2 Prices Control  All of the powers in the Prices Acts are being retained and can be used if that is considered necessary at any stage.  The Fair Trade Commission, or its members in a personal capacity, can be appointed as an advisory committee under the Prices Acts to enquire into any prices questions wheneverthat is considered necessary  1.8.3 Restrictive Practices in Accountancy and Engineering  Fine Gael in Government will moreover publish within three months the results of studies carried out in relation to Restrictive Practices in the Accountancy and Engineering professions, involving restrictions on advertising and concerted fixing of fees or charges.  1.8.4 Restrictive Practices in the Legal Professions  Submissions in relation to a comprehensive investigation into restrictive practices in the legal professions have now been made and study of these practices is now under way. Fine Gael expects this report in mid-year and will act promptly on it.  1.8.5 Below-Cost Selling  The Government has just received the Restrictive Practices Commission's Report on below-cost selling.  Fine Gael will consult with the interests involved with a view to taking action on this matter.  1.8.6 Building Societies  Already we have brought in major reforms in the way Building Societies operate:  The borrower will in future have lower legal costs  The borrower will now have a choice of insurer for the property  The borrower will now have a right to the valuation report which previously he/she paid for, but which at present has no right to see  Tiered interest rates on new loans have been abolished  The new legislation prohibits the charging of redemption fees  1.8.7 Car Insurance Costs  Car Insurance for young drivers is prohibitively high. No distinction appears to be made between young people who are good drivers and those who are not. Fine Gael proposes that insurance premia should be reduced for young drivers who:  had a good driving record while insured under their parents' name or names have passed an Advanced Driving Test  Consultations have already commenced with the insurance companies on this matter.  1.8.8 Employers' Liability Insurance  Fine Gael believes that the reduction of Employers' Liability Insurance is a high priority. Already we have changed the way in which courts make awards. The non-jury courts to be established by legislation now before the Dail will contribute to a more rational and less costly system of awards.  2. SOCIAL SERVICES  2.1 SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFITS  It has always been the policy of Fine Gael to make proper social provisions for the genuinely disadvantaged in our community. In accordance with this policy, Fine Gael in Government:  has increased Social Benefits each year has most recently extended in its 1987 Budget Proposals the range of Social Benefits by the extension of treatment benefit to the spouses of insured workers has increased in its 1987 Budget proposals, provision for people over 45 years of age on Unemployment Assistance who are living alone has provided additional resources for disadvantaged parts of the educational sector has offered major incentives to people living in public owned dwellings to buy their own houses.  Even when overall spending had to be cut, Fine Gael believes that those who most need assistance must be protected and social provisions for them should be improved. This can be done, but only in one way: we must reform social policy so that it becomes more selective.  In short, we must match our resources to the problems facing us. There is at present a wasteful cycle of transfer payments. The taxpayer is paying high marginal tax rates to supply services not only to those who really need them, but also to those who don't.  2.1.1 Reforms in 1987  The Budget proposals for 1987 include provision for the extension of optical and dental benefits to the spouses of insured workers and for a supplementary allowance for people over 45 on unemployment assistance living alone.  2.1.2 Improvement of Crude Means-Testing for Medical Cards  A clear example of the present unselective, inefficient system is the extreme crudity of the meanstesting system. This includes the use of Medical Cards in deciding whether people do or do not get a range of services. This leads to a serious poverty trap. People whose incomes lie just below the specified level are entitled to a whole range of services while those whose incomes are marginally above this level are eligible for none. Fine Gael in Government, over its term of office, will replace this and other crude means test systems by a radically different model. This new system will determine the extent to which people of different income levels with different family responsibiiities are in need of State support. This will involve coordinating the income tax and social welfare systems which at present operate quite separately and in an unrelated manner. The resources for the equipment necessary for this purpose have already been allocated in the 1987 budget.  The recommendations of the Commission on Social Welfare contain many proposals directed towards equity in the redistribution of resources. Fine Gael in Government will examine the proposals with a view to implementation of recommendations that are feasible within the financial constraints of the years ahead.  2.1.3 Reorganisation of Control and Financing of Social Insurance Fund  One of the reasons why public expenditure has continued to rise in recent years is that the Exchequer contribution to the Social Insurance Fund has risen from 25% in 1980 to 31% in 1986.  This has happened because the taxpayer's contribution has been the residual element in financing Social Welfare with the taxpayer left "picking up the tab", no matter what it may be. The fact is that Social Insurance contributions and Social Welfare benefits have not moved hand in hand with one another. A key element in controlling public expenditure is to bring this process under firm control. It is important that a relationship be established between the amount spent on Social Insurance benefits and the level of contributions payable.  Fine Gael in Government will appoint trustees to the Social Insurance Fund. These will be representative of employers, trade unions and the general interest. These Trustees will make recommendations to the Minister for Social Welfare regarding Social Insurance contributions and changes in Social Welfare schemes. The Government contribution to Social Insurance spending will be a fixed percentage of the total. Knowing this percentage, the trustees will recommend each year what increases in benefits should be provided and what changes, if any, should be made in the rate of PRSI. The ratio of employers'to employees' contributions will be maintained at the present ratio.  Each year, well in advance of the Budget, the Trustees will notify the Government of their proposals. The Government will then include in its Budgetary calculations the amount required to fulfil its share of the obligation of providing a fixed percentage of the amount need for the fund in the year ahead. The Government will then determine Social Assistance levels having regard to the recommendations of the trustees in respect to Social Benefits.  Special attention will be paid by Fine Gael to the question of Disability and Invalidity benefits. The Government has already taken steps to improve controls in the Disability Benefit area and Fine Gael in Government will take further steps to ensure that abuses in this area will not impose an unfair burden on the taxpayer.  The Government have also brought in new measures to combat social welfare fraud. One hund red extra staff have been recruited for this purpose and enterprises from sectors thought to have a high degree of fraud are being looked at very closely. A new identity card for employment assistance recipients is being brought in on a pilot basis.  2.2 HEALTH SERVICES  2.2.1 Capitation Payments to G.Ps  Fine Gael proposes to negotiate with General Practitioners a change from the present fee per item to a capitation basis of payment. This will be done in a way that will facilitate G.Ps making superannuation provision for themselves.  2.2.2 Prescription Charges  There is very substantial over-prescription of drugs at present. This over-prescription is not merely costly to the taxpayer but may also be potentially harmful to the patients by encouraging overdependence on drugs. Fine Gael believes that a small prescription charge of £1 should apply, and has included such a charge in its 1987 Budget proposals. Thiswill act as a deterrent to patients demanding over-prescribing. It is also likely to have an effect on the number of visits paid to donors.  2.2.3 Health Board Reform  The present Health Boards have the power to spend money without the responsibility to raise it. This is a recipe for bad management. There are enormous variations between Health Boards in their running costs and in their attempts to control spending. Some Health Boards have been extremely efficient and co-operative. Others have gone so far as to threaten to terminate services which were not likely to be affected by the spending limits at all, and which were in the event maintained.  We intend to carry out a major review of the efficiency and effectiveness of Health Boards with a view to radical overhaul and restructuring. Health Boards should be made responsible for raising a larger share of their own Revenue needs. Much more effective monitoring of their performance will also be introduced.  2.3 EDUCATION  The scale of our achievement in the educational area remains little understood in this country. The proportion of our total population in the educational system, at 27% in 1985, is higher than in any other country in the world. The educational philosophy of Fine Gael is to ensure that despite the limited resources available, each child has the opportunity to develop its own personality through the educational system to the maximum extent to which he/she can benef it from it. This commitment is clearly reflected by the fact that although there is a much higher proportion of young people in our population, a considerably larger percentage of these are in third level education here than, for example, in our richer neighbour, Britain. In equivalent terms two-thirds more enter higher education in Ireland.  2.3.1 Primary Education  The main failing in our educational system is that it makes inadequate provision for those whose initial educational opportunities and achievements are least. Many people who have left school without a formal qualification are effectively condemned to unemployment.  An educational system which concentrates its resources on helping those at the top, and ignores the substantial minority who never make real progress, is fundamentally unjust.  A Fine Gael Government will therefore over the next four years introduce an integrated reform programme in regard to primary and secondary education with a view to ensuring that all students get a fair chance.  Fine Gael will secure more effective co-operation between primary and secondary schools, including the automatic passing on of student records.  The primary sector is about to reach its peak in term of numbers. It is clear that in the situation now facing us, with the approach rapid decline in the total number of primary school children, and a rapidly growing volume of spare school accommodation coming available near to areas with inadequate accommodation, the resulting problem must be met by some movement of children to nearby schools. The Minister for Education is initiating a review of this matter to be carried out over the next six months with a view to avoiding costly over-building.  The impending rapid decline in the numbers of primary school children also has implications for the future recruitment of primary teachers. Because the peak demand in secondary schools will not be reached for some years to come, co-ordination between the two sections of the teaching profession is necessary and consultations on this will be initiated by Fine Gael.  2.3.2 Post-primary Education  Similar problems involving a decline in the post-primary school population will start to arise in the mid 1990's. The problems in this sector are therefore somewhat less immediate than in the primary sector.  Nevertheless the planning of schools in different parts of the country must henceforth take account of the fact that the number of post-primary students in many areas will start to fall within the next few years and the type of school accommodation which will be provided must reflect this situation. In this as in other areas Fine Gael will be concerned to ensure that resources are applied in a rational way and that the taxpayers' money is put to effective use. Far greater attention wili be given to designing schools in such a way that the buildings can be multi-purpose and readily adaptable to other uses if not required for educational purposes at a later stage. The Minister's review will extend to this area also.  "Partners in Education"  Fine Gael in Government will ensure that the objectives of the Green Paper "Partners in Education" will be pursued so as to achieve an economic, rational and coherent structure of education.  2.3.3 Curriculum and Examination Board  The work of the Curriculum and Examination Board, first proposed in Fine Gael policies in the 1970's will be of very great importance in the post-primary sector. The introduction of what have been called "Life Skills" will be proceeded with in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Minister for Education. In second level education, as in the primary sector, it is Fine Gael's intention to increase and enhance the role of parents, which until recently has been gravely neglected.  2.3.4 Language Teaching  One of the areas of the school curriculum needing particular attention is the teaching of modern languages. The mastering of such languages is likely to prove increasingly important if school leavers are to be equipped to play a full part in international commerce and in marketing Irish products abroad. Fine Gael in Government will seek ways in which the range of languages studied can be extended and the quality of language learning enhanced.  2.3.5 Third Level Education  The demand for Third Level Education will continue to expand for many years to come, but the selection system for Third Level Education is neither academically nor sociaily satisfactory. Enormous variations exists between the proportions of children of different socio-economic groups securing access to Third Level education. Under existing arrangements the vast bulk of the money for Third Level education is paid to the Third Level Institutions themselves, which use mucn of the funds in question to reduce the fees charged for courses to a small fraction of the actual cost. Small though these fees may be in relation to the cost of the courses, they nevertheless represent a deterrent to many families which lack the necessary resources to finance their children at Third Level and where the student in question fails to achieve the equivalent of four honours in his/her Leaving Certificate such children of families with limited means are not entitled to grant assistance under the Higher Education Grants Scheme.  Fine Gael in Government will review the whole question of student support, including a reassessment of the higher education grants schemes, with a view to reorganising the financing of third-level education. The aim would be to move towards changes in the grants schemes designed to direct resources to those who most need them, which is not happening under the present system.  There are certain faculties where costs are extremely high owing to technological requirements and lengths of courses. The acquisition of a qualification from such a course can provide something very close to a guarantee of employment either abroad or at home. In these cases Fine Gael will consider combing a grant for the level of fees that is normal in facultes which do not have these unusually high costs, together with a loan for those following high cost courses to cover the excess cost.  The National Planning Board specifically recommended greater concentration of resources into parttime higher education, and recommended changes in theentry requirementsforThird Level education in order to cater more effectively for second chance education. It also proposed that unemployed people who have spent seven years in the labour force and who wish to further their education should be facilitated by reserving a proportion of university and other Third Level places for them. Fine Gael will implement these proposals, within the Higher Education financial allocation.  2.4 HOUSING  Housing is an area in which remarkable success has been achieved in recent years in reducing housing list dramatically and in halving the average waiting time for local authority accommodation. The results have been achieved by such measures as the establishment of the Housing Finance Agency in 1981 and the introduction of the £5,000 grant for people in Council dwellings seeking to purchase private houses. This is now paralleled by a scheme for the purchase by existing tenants of local authority houses at very favourable rates, averaging about 40% of the present cost of building such accommodation.  These policies have contributed to a situation in which the proportion of home ownership in Ireland is higher than any other country in the world, and where public housing is relatively readily available to those who cannot afford to undertake the obligation of home ownership. At the same time, the existing housing stock has been immensely improved by the Home Improvement Grants Scheme, in respect of which about 135,000 applications have been received, covering about one quarter of the eligible housing stock.  The total cost to the Exchequer in terms of capital and current costs, and tax relief, in respect of housing is now running at around £700 m a year. In the light of the achievements in this area it will be the policy of Fine Gael to secure some savings in spending in the years ahead, through modifications of existing schemes, which are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were originally conceived.  There remain, however, a number of outstanding problems in the housing area. One of the most serious defects of the Irish housing situation is the very clearcut segregation of local authority and private housing estates. Secondly much recent house building, including local authority housing, has been in the outer suburbs of the main cities, despite the existence of sites within the cities. The use of inner city sites will reduce the burden of providing new services and will take advantage of under-utilised services in inner-city. It is important in inner-city redevelopment to secure the proper "mix" of both private and public housing. There is also the continuing problem of catering for the needs of the Travelling People, both in terms of housing and more particularly in terms of serviced camping sites, and of dealing with the problems of other homeless people.  Fine Gael in Government will work toward minimising the segregation of housing in the future. In major urban areas, it will concentrate new housing - both private and local authority - as far as possible in inner city areas. It will also ensure the rapid development of accommodation, including the provision of serviced halting sites, for Travelling People, spread throughout the community rather than concentrated in particular areas. Through the operation of the Housing Bill, at present before the Oireachtas, it will tackle other problems of homelessness.  2.5 DEALING WITH CRIME  We have succeeded in the last four years in turning the tide by reversing the rising trend in reported crime. In 1984, the level of reported crime dropped by 2.6%. In 1985, there was a further reduction of 8.5% followed again in 1986 by a reduction in the order of 6 to 7%. At this stage the figure for 1986 is of course provisional. Thus, in 1986, the level of reported crime was approximately 17% below that of 1983. This is the first time since crime statistics began to be compiled in the present way that a sustained reduction has been achieved for three years in a row.  This situation was brought about by several different means.  First, between 1982 and 1986 the Government decided that restrictions on recruitment to the Public Service should not apply to the Garda Siochana. The Force was built up from 10,640 in November 1982 to a peak of 11,400 members in 1986 - its highest level ever - and even without recruitment in 1987 will remain 500 above its November 1982 level.  Second, there has been a major investment in equipment for the force, with particular emphasis on a modern, custom-designed communications network.  Third, there has been a special emphasis on the development of community involvement in policing.  There are now 323 Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in operation throughout the country, involving 92,907 households. In rural areas, the Community Alert Scheme sponsored by Muintir na Tire has been of enormous assistance, particularly in providing reassurance to elderly people living in isolated areas. Further developments are well in hand, and we will build on these to bring about further improvements in crime prevention and detection.  Work on the new radio communications system for Dublin Metropolitan Area is well advanced. A contract was recently placed for a computerised Command and Control System for the Dublin Metropolitan Area, which will further improve the speed of response and the effectiveness of Garda resources. Fine Gael is preparing measures to modernise the management structure of the Garda Siochana and to update the content of Garda training courses, so as to make them more directly relevant to the situations facing Gardai on the ground.  The capacity of our prisons and places of detention has been increased so that some 1,900 offenders can be accommodatedÑan increase of more than 50% over the 1982 figure of 1,200.  The new detention centre at Wheatfield, Co. Dublin will be completed by the Autumn of this year, and will be ready for use at the beginning of 1988. This will provide a further 320 places, and its design permits a high level of flexibility in use.  This new facility will assist the Prison Service in responding constructively to the needs of society and of the different groups of offenders in custody.  3. ARTS, CULTURE, SPORT AND THE ENVIRONMENT  3.1 ARTS AND CULTURE  Fine Gael in Government will continue to give priority to the Arts, to Culture and the protection of our heritage.  The Arts Council grant has been fully maintained for 1987 at £5.9 million, and this will be supplemented by funds from the National Lottery. A total of 35% of the funds becoming available from the National Lottery - which are expected to total around £10 million in 1987 - will be allocated to Arts, Culture, the Irish  Language and the preservation of our architectural heritage. With the future development of the Lottery it is expected that a total of around £9 million should be made available from the Lottery for these purposes by 1990.  This should make possible, among other things, a doubling of the present Arts Council Grant over that timescale.  Fine Gael will also legislate:  to establish the National Museum on an independent footing, with its own Governing Board  to control the export of documents, pictures, etc.  3.2 SPORT  Fine Gael recognises the importance of sport in the national lives of our country and is proud of the contribution it has made in Government to the development of sport. That is why it is devoting 55% of the National Lottery proceeds to sport.  In considering, how the additional resources for sport deriving from the national lottery might be used in future, Fine Gael will be considering the following proposals:  Establishing COSPOIR - the National Sports Council - on a statutory basis  Developing a House of Sport to provide additional resources for governing bodies  Establishing a National Coaching Bureau  Developing sports facilities on a regional and national basis  Co-ordinating the funding and planning of sports facilities, now being done by several agencies and Departments  Encouraging the dual use of sports facilities between schools and communities  Promoting a national worker fitness programme  The steps already taken by Fine Gael to develop sport have included:  Increasing funding for sport by 123% from 1983 to 1986  Establishing the National Lottery which will allocate 55% of its surplus to sport. On present estimates this should involve additional resources of at least £5 million in 1987 rising towards £15 million by 1990  Establishing a grant scheme for elite sports persons worth £100,000  Introducing tax relief on gifts to COSPOIR for the development of sport in Ireland  Increasing funding for Olympic Council of Ireland to its highest level ever  Providing paid leave for civil servants representing their country in major championships  Providing £1/4 million to raise the standard of Irish national hunt racing _~  Appointing Sports Officers in the greater Dublin area  Publishing the national sports centre committee report which proposes substantial investment in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Athlone, Waterford, Blessington, the North East and the North West.  3.3 CONSERVATION  Measures are necessary to preserve our heritage. The Derrynaflan case has shown the urgency of legislation, which Fine Gael in Government will introduce immediately, to ensure that national treasures are entrusted to the State, with appropriate ex gratia payments for those who may accidentally find them, or on whose land they are found. The National Monuments legislation, at present before the Seanad, contains powers to protect archaeological sites from destruction or spoliation, and extend protection for the first time to archaeological items found in our territorial seas.  In recent decades a large part of ourarchitectural heritage has been lost through deficiencies in our planning laws. The same National Monuments legislation, provides that groups of buildings may be listed by the Commissioners of Public Works for protection, thus preventing their demolition, or destruction through neglect, which existing legislation has notably failed to secure.  Another important change which Fine Gael in Government will introduce will involve changes in the planning laws which at present permit compensation to owners of land or buildings that need to be preserved in the national interest on a scale that, in practice, often makes preservation financiaty impossible. Action taken under the present legislation has recently faced Dun Laoghaire Corporation with a choice between either paying a very large sum for a parcel of land purchased for £40,000, or allowing a most valuable amenity area on Killiney Hill to be built on. Fine Gael will legislate to maket his impossible in future, while of course preserving legitimate rights of compensation in cases of genuine loss. Other legislation will make it mandatory for Local Authorities, freed from this extravagant compensation threat, to list for preservation buildings in theirareathatareof artistic, architectural or historical interest, with appropriate penalties for their destruction, including an obligation to rebuild them, where they are destroyed. Finally, compulsory powers will be provided to secure repairs of listed buildings, and funds from the National Lottery will be available to assist the preservation of particularly outstanding buildings.  Legislation dealing with the problem of derelict sites, already in preparation, will also be introduced by Fine Gael.  A major achievement of the presnt Government has been the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act 1983, which sealed off the Planning Appeals Board from political interference.  3.4 THE NUCLEAR RISK  Fine Gael is opposed to the use of nuclear fission for civil as well as military purposes. It believes that however small may be the risk of major nuclear accidents, the consequences of such accidents, when they occur, as at Chernobyl, and the as yet unresolved problem of absolutely safe disposal of nuclear waste, are such that nuclear fission is not an acceptable method of energy generation. It believes all efforts should be concentrated on alternative energy sources and on energy conservation in order to enable nuclear fission to be phased out as soon as possible. It notes with satisfaction that some countries have already decided either not to develop a nuclear fission capability, or to abandon existing nuclear fission facilities.  4. SOCIAL REFORM  Fine Gael in Government will maintain the momentum of its programme of social reform.  In relation to Family Law, in addition to the law already passed lowering the age of majority, and legislation currently before the Oireachtas dealing with the Care and Protection of Children, Adoption, and the Status of Children, Fine Gael will be introducing legislation to reform juvenile justice, to control under-age drinking, to ban video nasties, and to control gaming establishments.  In relation to marriage we will be making provision:  for protection orders to be made separately from barring orders  to give spouses rights in the family home  to provide for reciprocal maintenance arrangements between Ireland and the United Kingdom  to raise the age of marriage  to provide for a three months period of notice of marriage  to extend the grounds for separation  to introduce Family Courts  This remarkable body of family legislation currently under way reflects Fine Gael's commitment to the protection of the family. Laws already passed to safeguard people's rights, such as the Ombudsman's Act and the Garda Complaints Act, will be supplemented by legislation now in preparation:  to ban incitement to hatred  to provide for judicial supervision of telephone tapping  to abolish the death penalty  Other legislation passed by the present Government which has tackled the problems previously neglected, range widely from the law establishing the National Archives and ensuring the protection of our archival heritage, to that establishing the Combat Poverty Agency.  5. WOMEN'S RIGHTS  In the area of securing full equality for women in Ireland, Fine Gael's concern has been expressed through Government action across a wide range of areas:  Securing flexibility in the work place for men and women through Job Sharing and Career Break Schemes  Appointing equal opportunity officers to key semi-State bodies  Introducing a new and unique programme to eliminate sexism in the education system  Establishing a major programme to release the potential of women enterpreneurs which has been a dramatic success  Introducing employment equality in the Gardai and the prison service  Enacting a range of important legislative reforms including equality in respect of Social Welfare, effective family planning legislation, removal of discrimination in domicile and citizenship laws  Ratifying the UN Convention to eliminate all form of discrimination against women  Achieving a clear breakthrough in the appointment of women to State bodies  Fine Gael has also fulfilled its commitment to home-makers by including in the 1987 Budget proposals provision for the extension of dental and optical benefit to spouses of insured workers.  Fine Gael will continue to facilitate and encourage the progress of women in Ireland towards full equality in all aspects of Irish life, and will introduce at an early date an Equal Status Bill to eliminate all forms of discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status in the matter of access to goods, facilities and services, sports and other forms of recreational activity.  6. POLITICAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICAL REFORM  It has become increasingly clear that defects in the political and administration system are contributing to economic and social problems and that the need for political and administrative reform is now acute.  6.1 THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM  There has been widespread and growing concern in recent years at the extent to which pressures deriving from our present multi-seat electoral system diverts TDs away from their legislative role towards an undue concentration on constituency work. It would be a grave mistake to undervalue the importance of such contact with individual constituents; without a significant interaction between constituents and their representatives, TDs would not gain the practical knowledge of defects in the existing administrative system that require remedy by legislative action. The problem lies rather in the excessive concentration on this kind of activity which is forced upon TDs, not merely by the normal competitive process between parties, but also by competition between TDs of the same party. In the past, two attempts at constitutional changes to deal with this problem were initiated by Fianna Fail. Both were extremely crude and simplistic efforts to substitute for our PR, system the British electoral system, which involves placing a single X opposite one name on the ballot paper in single-seat constituencies.  The Irish people are strongly attached to the concept of representation in parliament being proportional. They expect and wish the Dail to reflect reasonably accurately the overall political views of the people as a whole, and any revision of the electoral system must be such as to produce that result. At the same time they are also clearly attached to the more sophisticated Irish voting method of placing candidates in order of choice, rather than placing an X after one name. Any reform of the system designed to deal with the problem of multi-seat constituencies must, therefore, take account of these two requirements.  Fine Gael in Government will initiate a Referendum designed to authorise a modification of the present electoral system, invoiving the election of much the greater part of the members in the Dail (possibly about two-thirds) by transferable vote (1,2,3,etc.) in single-seat constituencies. However, to avoid the proliferation of very small parties, the distribution of the supplementary seats would be made only to parties which secured a certain minimum proportion of the national vote, e.g. 5% as in Germany. The details of such reform will be for discussion between the parties and by public opinion generally, but the need for such a reform is~ evident and widely accepted.  It may be noted that under such a system the number of people to be represented by a TD would fall from figures in the order of 60,000 to upwards of 100,000 at present, to, for example, about 32,000, if two-thirds of the members were to be directly elected in single seat constituencies by the alternative vote.  Fine Gael also proposes to achieve economies by reducing the number of Ministers of State trom 15 to 8. At the same time, Cabinet Ministers requiring additional political assistance with their work will have allocated to them TDs as Parliamentary Private Secretaries. These appointments will carry no remuneration.  Experience elsewhere has shown the value of this assistance in reducing the burden of routine work on Ministers, while at the same time giving administrative experience to an additional number of Members of the Dail.  6.2 CABINET SECRETARIAT  The existing administrative structures are inadequate to carry the load of modern government. A strengthening of the cabinet Secretariat to produce a sufficient corps of officials to present Departmental Memoranda for Government will be established.  6.3 'CABINET' OFFICERS  The present Government and some previous Governments have made limited use of Special Advisers. Where this arrangement has existed it has proved extremely valuable, but the fact that not all Ministers have had Special Advisers and that the roles of these Advisers have varied somewhat has made it impossible to gain maximum advantage from a system which is widely employed in Continental Europe and in the European Commission. This system reduces the load on Ministers, by providing a co-ordinating mechanism of a political-administrative type, immediately below Government level. Accordingly Fine Gael in Government will appoint Officers in each Ministry who as well as advising their own Minister will have a role supplementing the existing co-ordinating functions of the Civil Service. Ali such Officers will be appointed only for the life of the Government in question, and their services will terminate when a Government leaves office.  6.4 COSTING PARTY PROMISES  Ireland has suffered from the fact that politicians, in the short space of an election campaign, frequently make promises to the electorate that they are incapable of keeping. The result is severe disillusionment with politics and democracy on the part of the electorate.  Fine Gael believes that there should be a mechanism to check the cost, and consistency with economic reality, of promises made by parties at elections. Such a system has operated, with success, in the Netherlands since the last War.  Fine Gael will in the course of its next term of office establish an independent mechanism for undertaking validation of Party promises. This will be underpinned in a new law concerning registered political parties. There will be consultation with Opposition parties and economic institutions on the details of such a scheme.  Fine Gael also favours the re-introduction of limits on party spending during elections.  6.5 REFORM OF DISTRICT COURT APPOINTMENTS  At present appointments to the District Court are arbitrary, with scores of applications for each position and with no mechanism for screening applicants. Fine Gael will appoint a Committee comprising the Chief Justice, President of the High Court, President of the District Court, President of the Bar Counc~l, President of the Incorporated Law Society and Attorney General to recommend names to the Government as possible nominees in the case of each post.  7. NORTHERN IRELAND  The Anglo-Irish Agreement of November 15th, 1985 represents a major breakthrough in respect of both the rights of the minority in Northern Ireland and Anglo Irish relations. The declaration in this Agreement that in the event of a majority in Northern Ireland consenting to Irish unity, the British Government will introduce and support legislation towards this end in the British Parliament, has effectively removed the British question from Irish politics, leaving decisions on Ireland's future to Irish people in Ireland.  At the same time the assurance contained in this Agreement, that the status of Northern Ireland would not be changed without the clear consent of a majority in Northern Ireland, has removed all possible grounds for Unionist fears of unification being imposed on them.  The signatories to the Agreement recognised that it would take time before the Agreement came to be accepted by different groups in Northern Ireland, and they provided for a three-year review in respect of the working of the Inter-Governmental Conference established by the Agreement.  Progress is being made in securing full recognition of the rights of the minority in Northern Ireland and in moving towards a situation in which the minority can identifywith the structures of Government in the North, and find acceptable the administration of justice and the security system. Progress made to date includes:  In the area of administration of justice:  Virtually all prisoners sentenced on supergrass evidence have been released  More terrorist cases are to be dealt with by jury trials  The onus of proof in bail applications is being shifted from the defence to the prosecution ÑReasonable grounds of suspicion are in future to be required for arrest  People detained in custody are to have the right to have someone informed of their arrest and the right of access to a solicitor within 48 hours  The use or threat of violence is to be a ground for declaring a statement inadmissable in law  In the area of relations with the security forces:  Control by the Secretary of State and police over parades and marches is being substantially strengthened  The performance of the RUC during the 1986 marching season demonstrated a real concern to protect the rights of the minority  There has been a substantial increase in accompaniment of British Army and UDR patrols by the RUC, and a sharp reduction in the number of complaints of harrassment  Proposals for a stronger law against Incitement to Hatred are in preparation  A new police complaints procedure is being introduced  Identity issues:  The repeal of the Flags and Emblems Act is underway  Steps are being taken to remove the ban on Irish street name signs  A bilingual map of Northern Ireland is under preparation by the Ordnance Survey  The Northern Ireland Assembly franchise has been extended to include people from the Republic hitherto excluded, and steps are being taken to extend the franchise in a similar way for local elections  The Irish and British Governments remain totally committed to the Agreement, which has the support of all parties in the British Parliament, and Fine Gael will work to create conditions favourable for devoiution of a wide range of governmental powers to a form of government in Northern Ireland representative of those people in both communities who repudiate violence.  In the immediate future, Fine Gael looks forward to the allocation of the International Fund by itsTrustees in a manner that will stimulate economic activity in Northern Ireland and in Border areas of our State. The amount available from the first annual tranches of the Fund for use in our Border areas will approach £10 million.  Fine Gael in Government will also pursue actively the question of European contributions to the Fund.  8. FOREIGN POLICY AND OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT AID  Fine Gael in Government will pursue Irish ideals and interests in the foreign policy area.  Fine Gael is committed to the restoration and preservation of human rights. In conjunction with its partners in the EEC, as well as in its own right, it will pursue this objective.  Fine Gael's policies include opposition to apartheid in South Africa, including support for sanctions, which in Ireland's case, though not in the case of most of our EEC partners, extends to sanctions against South African fruit and vegetables; supports the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination in conjunction with adequate and effective guarantees for Israel's security; and support for the settlement of the political conflict in Central America by peaceful means and without external intervention.  Fine Gael is opposed to any denial of civil rights on the basis of religious belief or practices.  As it has done when in Government in 1973, when we joined the EEC, Fine Gael will continue to exercise Ireland's independent role in foreign policy matters, while working with the other members of the European Community to achieve common ground where possible on the basis of the positions Ireland has consistently  held. This policy has already borne fruit in significant movement during the past decade by other EEC countries towards Ireland's position in relation to the three foreign policy issues mentioned in the previous paragraph.  Fine Gael will continue to uphold Ireland's military neutrality, provision for which has been included at our insistence in the Single European Act.  Fine Gael will also support international moves towards disarmament and measures to prevent nuclear proliferation.  Within the European Community, Fine Gael in Government will use its links with the Christian Democratic parties in Government in Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as the close and friendly relations we have established with other member governments in countries such as  France and Spain, to further Irish interests - as it has done successfully so often in the past, e.g. in the 1976 fishery negotiation, the 1984 super-levy negotiation and the recent negotiations to rationalise the Common Agricultural Policy.  Official Development Assistance  Despite the difficult budgetary situation during the past four years, Fine Gael has very substantially increased Ireland's Official Development Assistance Programme. This year despite the £210 million cuts in domestic spending our Assistance Programme will again be increased though it has not proved possible  To meet the 'Building on Reality' target. Fine Gael is determined to build on our existing achievements during the next period in Government, even while public expenditure is strictly controlled. We are particularly concerned to strengthen the existing excellent relations with the Non-Governmental Organisations.