We will review escalating home prices in high-priced markets, like Toronto and Vancouver,
and consider all policy tools that could keep home ownership within reach for more Canadians.
We will also immediately restore the mandatory long-form census to ensure that decisions on housing are made using the best and most up-to-date data available.
POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
We will make post-secondary education more affordable.
For too many Canadians, rising costs have made post-secondary education increasingly out of reach.
It is harder and harder for middle class families to save for their kids' education, while many lower-income families are not able to save at all.
At the same time, the federal government spends billions each year on non-refundable tax credits that offer little direct help for students when they need it.
We will provide direct help to students from low- and middle-income families to help them pay for their education and ensure that debt loads are manageable.
We will increase the maximum Canada Student Grant for low-income students to $3,000 per year for full-time students,
and to $1,800 per year for part-time students.
In addition, to help more students from middle class families qualify for Canada Student Grants, we will increase the income thresholds for eligibility, giving more Canadian students access to even larger grants.
This investment will be funded by cancelling the poorly targeted education and textbook tax credits.
The tuition tax credit will be maintained.
This will increase the level of non-repayable grant assistance to students by $750 million per year, rising to $850 million per year by 2019/20.
We will also make our student loan system more flexible.
We will ensure that no graduate with student loans will be required to make any repayment until they are earning an income of at least $25,000 per year.
This will be done by changing the income thresholds in the Repayment Assistance Plan for recent graduates.
The federal government will continue to pay the interest on student loans until graduates begin to earn sufficient incomes to take over their own payments and repay their own loans.
We will work with provinces and territories to ensure that they do not assume any additional costs,
and to make sure these investments go directly to students.
Appropriate compensation will be offered to provinces and territories that do not participate in the Canada Student Loan program.
We will also work collaboratively with provinces and territories
to improve promotion of RESPs and Canada Learning Bonds,
and to make registration simpler for all families.
We will invest $50 million in additional annual support to the Post-Secondary Student Support Program, which supports Indigenous students attending post-secondary education,
and will allow the program to grow in line with increasing demand.
A NEW HEALTH ACCORD
We will make home care more available,
prescription drugs more affordable,
and mental health care more accessible.
Canada's publicly-funded universal health care system is a source of pride for Canadians –
and a source of economic security for the middle class and those working hard to join it.
When Canadians are in good physical and mental health, they are able to work better, be more productive, and contribute more fully to our economy while living healthier, happier lives.
Despite our health care system's value and importance, it has been more than a decade since a Canadian Prime Minister sat down with provincial and territorial Premiers to strengthen the program, and ensure that it can meet current needs and the challenges that come with an aging population.
We will restart that important conversation
and provide the collaborative federal leadership that has been missing during the Harper decade.
We will negotiate a new Health Accord with provinces and territories, including a long-term agreement on funding.
As an immediate commitment, we will invest $3 billion, over the next four years, to deliver more and better home care services for all Canadians.
This includes more access to high quality in-home caregivers,
financial supports for family care,
and, when necessary, palliative care.
To help families care for their loved ones at home, we will make the Employment Insurance Compassionate Care Benefit more flexible and easier to access, so that it provides help for more than just end-of-life care.
We will also develop a pan-Canadian collaboration on health innovation,
and will improve access to necessary prescription medications.
We will join with provincial and territorial governments to buy drugs in bulk, reducing the cost Canadian governments pay for these drugs, and making them more affordable for Canadians.
We will make high-quality mental health services more available to Canadians who need them, including our veterans and first responders.
To eliminate systemic barriers and deliver equality of opportunity to all Canadians living with disabilities, we will consult with provinces, territories, and other stakeholders to introduce a National Disabilities Act.
FIGHTING POVERTY
We will also lift more Canadians – including children and seniors – out of poverty.
Poverty and inequality are not just problems for individual Canadians – all of Canada is affected.
For Canadians, poverty makes it more difficult to get and stay healthy, and more difficult to find and keep good work.
For Canada, the costs of poverty – seen in higher health care costs and greater demand for social assistance – are immense.
Our plan will lift Canadians out of poverty starting immediately after the next election.
We will introduce a new Canada Child Benefit.
Tax-free, tied to income and delivered monthly, this benefit provides greater support to those who need help most: single-parent families and low-income families.
It will lift 315,000 children out of poverty.
We will help to lift hundreds of thousands of seniors out of poverty by increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement for single low-income seniors by ten percent.
This will give one million of our most vulnerable seniors – who are often women – almost $1,000 more each year.
And, as part of our new investment in social infrastructure, we will prioritize investments in affordable housing and seniors' facilities,
build more new housing units
and refurbish old ones,
give support to municipalities to maintain rent-geared-to-income subsidies in co-ops,
and give communities the money they need for Housing First initiatives that help homeless Canadians find stable housing.
INVESTING TO STRENGTHEN THE MIDDLE CLASS
Under Stephen Harper, Canada's economy has faltered, and our middle class now finds it harder and harder to make ends meet
It is time for smart, strategic investments that will turn our economy around and get it growing again.
Our plan will deliver the services we need,
create jobs,
and restore economic security to the middle class.
We will invest now in the projects our country needs and the people who can build them.
Interest rates are at historic lows, our current infrastructure is aging rapidly, and our economy is stuck in neutral.
Now is the time to invest.
We will run modest short-term deficits of less than $10 billion in each of the next two fiscal years to fund historic investments in infrastructure and our middle class.
After the next two fiscal years, the deficit will decline and our investment plan will return Canada to a balanced budget in 2019.
PUBLIC TRANSIT
We will invest in public transit to shorten commute times,
cut air pollution,
strengthen our communities,
and grow our economy.
Canadian cities have been growing at a rapid rate, but investment in public transit has not kept pace.
Stephen Harper's failure to invest has led to worsening traffic congestion, making it harder for families to spend time together
This gridlock also costs our economy billions of dollars in lost productivity each year.
We will get our communities moving again, by giving our provinces, territories, and municipalities the long-term, predictable federal funding they need to make transit plans a reality.
Over the next decade, we will quadruple federal investment in public transit, investing almost $20 billion more in transit infrastructure.
In communities all across Canada, transit projects are ready to go.
In British Columbia's Lower Mainland, for example, plans are in place to:  • increase SeaBus service to every ten minutes during morning and afternoon rushes;
extend rapid transit service along Broadway, currently the busiest bus corridor in North America;
and  • bring light rail transit to Surrey, one of the fastest growing parts of the region.
We will work with provinces and municipalities across the country to get projects like these done.
STRONGER COMMUNITIES
We will strengthen our communities by investing in the things that make them good places to live.
Investing in our communities is not just about creating good jobs and economic growth.
It is also about building communities that we are proud to call home.
With historic new investments in social infrastructure, we will achieve both.
We will improve quality of life for millions of Canadians by prioritizing investment in affordable housing,
seniors' facilities,
early learning and child care,
and cultural and recreational infrastructure.
We will also work with provinces, territories, and First Nations
to create a new National Early Learning and Child Care Framework, to ensure that affordable, high-quality, fully inclusive child care is available to all families who need it.
Over the next decade, we will invest almost $20 billion more in Canada's social infrastructure.
Toronto's Alexandra Park is an example of an urban community where investments in social infrastructure are already building a brighter future for its residents.
Aging community housing is being replaced with new affordable housing,
new commercial spaces,
and new parkland
– all helping to grow this vibrant neighbourhood and improve the quality of life for all who call it home.
With a federal partner at the table, stories like the revitalization of Alexandra Park can happen in communities all across Canada.
GREENER COMMUNITIES
We will invest in sustainable infrastructure that makes our communities safer and more resilient.
Responsible governments do not walk away from challenges, or pretend they do not exist.
We will protect our communities from the challenges of climate change and grow our economy by making significant new investments in green infrastructure.
This includes investments in local water and wastewater facilities;
clean energy;
climate resilient infrastructure, including flood mitigation systems;
and infrastructure to protect against changing weather.
We will boost investment in green infrastructure by nearly $6 billion over the next four years,
and almost $20 billion over ten years.
When it comes to infrastructure that will help keep Canadians safe and better prepared for emergencies, local leaders know what needs to be done.
What they need is a federal partner willing to invest to help build stronger, more resilient communities.
In St. John's, this means upgrades to its wastewater plant.
In Trois-Rivières, this means improving the Maples and Cardinal-Roy reservoirs,
and finding ways to mitigate the regular flooding of the Millette, Bettez, and Lacerte rivers.
In Calgary and Southern Alberta, this means investments in flood mitigation projects, to help protect local families and businesses.
NEW BUILDING CANADA FUND
We will make the New Building Canada Fund more focused
and more transparent.
The New Building Canada Fund is an important source of infrastructure funding for Canadian communities, but it has been hit by dramatic cuts and is heavily back-loaded, with more than 70 percent of its funding locked away until after 2019.
We will make the New Building Canada Fund more focused.
By providing significant, separate investments in public transit,
social infrastructure,
and green infrastructure,
we will enable the New Building Canada Fund to make greater investments in Canada's roads, bridges, transportation corridors, ports, and border gateways, helping Canada's manufacturers get their goods to market.
We will also make the fund more transparent, by providing clearer project criteria,
along with faster approval processes.
KEEPING OUR COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITIES
We will make sure that no money intended for investment in communities is allowed to lapse.
Too often, Stephen Harper budgeted funds for use in our communities, then let those dollars go unspent.
We will make sure our communities are not shortchanged.
Near the end of the fiscal year, we will automatically transfer any uncommitted federal infrastructure funds to municipalities, through a temporary top-up of the Gas Tax Fund.
This will ensure that no committed infrastructure money is allowed to lapse, but is instead always invested in our communities.
CANADA INFRASTRUCTURE BANK
We will establish the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to provide low-cost financing for new infrastructure projects.
The federal government can use its strong credit rating and lending authority to make it easier and more affordable for municipalities to build the projects their communities need.
Where a lack of capital represents a barrier to projects, the Canada Infrastructure Bank will provide loan guarantees and small capital contributions to provinces and municipalities to ensure that the projects are built.
JOB AND SKILLS TRAINING
We will help Canadians get the training they need to find and keep good jobs.
In a changing economy, Canadians need more opportunities to improve their skills and upgrade their credentials.
We will make it easier for adults to access training programs by increasing investment in skills training.
To help those receiving Employment Insurance get the training they need to rejoin the workforce, we will invest $500 million more each year in provincial and territorial Labour Market Development Agreements.
To help those who do not qualify for Employment Insurance or are not currently employed, we will invest an additional $200 million in training programs led by the provinces and territories.
We will also invest $50 million to renew and expand funding to the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy,
and provide $25 million each year for training facilities, delivered in partnership with labour unions.
We will work with employers and workers to determine an appropriate apprenticeship ratio for all federal infrastructure projects.
Our total investment of an additional $775 million per year for job and skills training will help Canadians get the training they need to find and keep good jobs.
JOBS AND INNOVATION
We will kick-start investment in innovation to grow our economy and create good, middle class jobs.
To get our economy growing again, we need to immediately invest in helping our businesses and entrepreneurs – including those in manufacturing – become more innovative, competitive, and successful.
Over the next three years, we will:  invest $200 million each year in a new Innovation Agenda to significantly expand support for incubators and accelerators, as well as the emerging national network for business innovation and cluster support;
and   invest an additional $100 million each year in the Industrial Research Assistance Program, which has a proven track record of helping small- and medium-sized businesses to innovate and become world leaders.
AGRICULTURE
We will help Canada's agriculture sector be more innovative, safer, and stronger.
Canada's farmers and ranchers are the foundation of our food sector.
The work that they do to feed Canada and the world is vital, but government support is needed to help them with challenges ranging from transportation to water management to research and food safety.
To attract investment and create good jobs in food processing, we will invest $160 million, over four years, in an Agri-Food Value Added Investment Fund.
This will provide technical and marketing assistance to help food processors develop new value-added products that reflect changing tastes and market opportunities.
To support innovation in the agricultural sector, we will invest an additional $100 million, over four years, in agricultural research.
To better allocate research funding, we will establish a transparent process that involves food producers.
We will invest an additional $80 million, over four years, in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for more food safety inspections of domestic and imported foods.
We will continue to defend Canadian interests during trade negotiations, including supply management.
We will also work with provinces, territories, and other willing partners,
to better address water and soil conservation and development issues, including investments in appropriate infrastructure.
LABOUR UNIONS
We will restore fair and balanced labour laws that acknowledge the important role of unions in Canada.
Labour unions play an important role in protecting the rights of workers and growing the middle class.
Under Stephen Harper, many of the fundamental labour rights that unions have worked so hard to secure have been rolled back, making it more difficult for workers to organize freely, bargain collectively in good faith, and work in safe environments.
We will restore fair and balanced labour laws that acknowledge the important role of unions in Canada,
and respect their importance in helping the middle class grow and prosper.
This begins with repealing Bills C-377 and C-525, legislation that diminishes and weakens Canada's labour movement.
Changes to labour laws should be based on evidence, not ideology, and made after legitimate consultation with unions.
We will reinstate a modernized and inclusive fair wages policy for federal procurement.
We are strongly committed to supporting and protecting workers' rights,
and as government, we will bargain in good faith with Canada's public sector unions.
LABOUR-SPONSORED FUNDS
We will reinstate the tax credit for contributions made to labour-sponsored funds, to help support economic growth and help Canadians save for their retirement.
In many parts of the country, labour-sponsored funds are used to help small- and medium-sized businesses get off the ground, creating jobs and economic growth.
In Quebec, they also serve as an important retirement savings vehicle.
There, labour-sponsored funds help 650,000 workers save for retirement,
while investing in Canada's entrepreneurs.
Even though we need to do more to encourage investment in new, job-creating businesses, and more to help Canadians save for their retirement, the Harper Convervatives are phasing out the tax credit for investments in labour-sponsored funds.
We will immediately reinstate the tax credit in full.
HELP THAT WORKS FOR MODERN CANADIAN FAMILIES
For most Canadians, balancing work and family life is a daily challenge.
As families change and adapt, so too should government.
It is time for programs and benefits that truly work for modern Canadian families.
MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR PARENTS
We will make parental benefits more flexible.
Every family's needs are different.
Canadian parents deserve a parental benefits plan that is flexible and able to adjust to their unique family and work circumstances.
We will introduce more flexible parental benefits that will:   allow parents to receive benefits in smaller blocks of time over a period of up to 18 months;
and   make it possible for parents to take a longer leave – up to 18 months when combined with maternity benefits – at a lower benefit level.
We will work with the provinces and territories to amend their labour codes, to reflect these new federal benefits.
This more flexible plan will benefit more Canadians, representing an investment of $125 million per year in the economic security of Canadian families.
SUPPORTING CAREGIVERS
We will make the compassionate care benefit easier to access, more flexible, and more inclusive.
Millions of Canadians provide compassionate care for seriously ill family members, but the benefits available through Employment Insurance can be difficult to access.
We will introduce a more flexible and inclusive benefit available to any Canadian who provides care to a seriously ill family member.
This expanded benefit will:  be easier to access – applicants will still be expected to submit a medical certificate in order to qualify, but the benefit will be more inclusive;
be more flexible – caregivers can claim the benefit in blocks of time over a year-long period, and family members can share the six months of benefits;
and  be more inclusive – for example, those caring for a seriously ill adult family member who needs care beyond what can be provided during evenings and weekends, or those caring for a seriously ill child who cannot attend school for an extended period of time, will no longer be excluded from the benefit.
This enhanced compassionate care benefit represents an investment of $190 million per year in supporting Canada's compassionate caregivers.
FLEXIBLE WORKING CONDITIONS
We will make it easier for federally regulated workers to request more flexible working conditions.
Every family struggles with balancing work responsibilities and busy lives at home.
Leading by example, we will amend the Canada Labour Code to provide every federally regulated worker with the legal right to make a formal request to their employer – without fear of reprisal – for more flexible working conditions, such as flexible start and finish times, or the ability to work from home.
Similar to the system in place in the United Kingdom, where the vast majority of requests have been approved, employers will be required to formally respond to these requests.
We will also work with interested provinces and territories so that they can offer the same rights to workers under their jurisdiction.
EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
We will fix Employment Insurance to better serve Canadians now,
and help boost Canada's economic growth now and in the long-term.
Employment Insurance provides economic security to Canadians when they need it most.
Those who have lost their jobs, through no fault of their own, or are out of work to raise children, provide care for a loved one, or get needed skills training, should not struggle to get the support they need.
We will strengthen the Employment Insurance system to make sure that it works for our economy and for all Canadians.
Starting in 2017, we will reduce the waiting period for benefits.
When a worker loses their job and applies for Employment Insurance, they will only be without income for one week, not two.
We will also reverse Stephen Harper's 2012 EI reforms that force unemployed workers to move away from their communities and take lower-paying jobs.
We will ensure that the Employment Insurance system is providing real income security to workers, including those with precarious work.
CHILDCARE
We will develop a child care framework that meets the needs of Canadian families, wherever they live.
Child care needs vary from family to family, and provinces and territories have responded to these needs in different ways.
A one-size-fits all national program – particularly one that imposes pre-determined costs on other orders of government – is impractical and unfair.
We will meet with provinces, territories, and Indigenous communities to begin work on a new National Early Learning and Child Care Framework, to deliver affordable, high-quality, flexible, and fully inclusive child care for Canadian families.
This work will begin in the first 100 days of a Liberal government
and will be funded through our investments in social infrastructure.
The framework we design together will be administered in collaboration with, and in respect of, provincial jurisdictions.
HEALTHIER KIDS
We will do our part to help Canadian children live healthier lives, with less exposure to known health risks.
To help families make better food choices, we will:  introduce new restrictions on the commercial marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children, similar to those now in place in Quebec;
bring in tougher regulations to eliminate trans fats, similar to those in the U.S.,
and to reduce salt in processed foods;
and  improve food labels to give more information on added sugars and artificial dyes in processed foods.
To help Canadian children avoid and manage known health risks, we will increase funding to the Public Health Agency of Canada by $15 million in each of the next two years, to support a national strategy to increase vaccination rates
and raise awareness for parents, coaches, and athletes on concussion treatment.
This will be based on the best science
and will support existing provincial and territorial efforts.
We will introduce plain packaging requirements for tobacco products, similar to those in Australia and the United Kingdom.
HELPING EDUCATORS
We will introduce a new tax benefit to help teachers and early childhood educators with the cost of school supplies.
Teachers and early childhood educators work hard to provide a positive learning environment for our children, often paying out-of-pocket for classroom supplies.
It is a generous gesture that is not currently recognized by our federal tax system.
To help offset these costs, we will introduce a new Teacher and Early Childhood Educator School Supply Tax Benefit.
This new benefit will apply to the purchase of up to $1,000 worth of school supplies each year, providing a cash benefit of up to $150 each year for licensed and certified teachers and educators, starting in the 2015 tax year.
Because this benefit will operate as a refundable tax credit, all educators who have purchased educational materials qualify, regardless of their income level.
CANADA'S NORTH
We will invest in Canada's North, to help northern Canadians with the high cost of living,
and help our northern economies grow.
Canada's North is a vast and beautiful part of the world, home to a rich culture and tremendous economic potential.
Because of its isolation, however, it is also a very expensive place to live.
The Northern Residents Deduction was designed to help mitigate these higher costs, and help attract workers to the North.
Unfortunately, the deduction amount has not kept pace with inflation, making its help less valuable to those who need it.
To help northern residents with higher costs of living, and to help our northern economies grow, we will increase the residency component of the deduction by 33 percent to a maximum of $22 per day.
We will also index this benefit so that it keeps pace with inflation.
To ensure that northern families have access to affordable, healthy food, we will increase investments in the Nutrition North program by $40 million, over four years.
We will also work with northern and remote communities to ensure that the program is more transparent, effective, and accountable to northerners and other Canadians.
As part of new, ten-year investments in social infrastructure and green infrastructure, we will prioritize investment in affordable housing
and climate change preparedness, both of which are important to the quality of life for northern Canadians.
For residents in Canada's Northern Zone, our enhanced Northern Residents Deduction will provide a new annual maximum deduction of $8,000 per year, from the $6,022 currently available.
Those living in the Intermediate Zone will see their annual maximum deduction rise to $4,000 from $3,011 per year.
In total, this enhanced deduction represents a $50 million annual tax savings for Northern Canadians.
CHAPTER TWO
FAIR AND OPEN GOVERNMENT
OPEN AND TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT
It is time to shine more light on government and ensure that it remains focused on the people it is meant to serve.
Government and its information should be open by default.
Data paid for by Canadians belongs to Canadians.
We will restore trust in our democracy, and that begins with trusting Canadians.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
We will make government information more accessible.
Government data and information should be open by default, in formats that are modern and easy to use.
We will update the Access to Information Act to meet this standard.
We will make it easier for Canadians to access information by eliminating all fees, except for the initial $5 filing fee.
We will expand the role of the Information Commissioner, giving them the power to issue binding orders for disclosure.
We will ensure that Access to Information applies to the Prime Minister's and Ministers' Offices, as well as administrative institutions that support Parliament and the courts.
To ensure that the system continues to serve Canadians, we will undertake a full legislative review of the Access to Information Act every five years.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will make it easier for Canadians to access their own personal information.
Canadians have a right to access their personal information held by the government.
To make accessing this information faster, less complicated, and more affordable, we will create a simple, central, no-fee website for personal information requests.
We will back this up with a 30-day guarantee: should a request take longer than 30 days to fulfill, government must provide a written explanation for the delay to the applicant and the Privacy Commissioner.
OPEN DATA
We will embrace open data.
We will accelerate and expand open data initiatives,
and will make government data available digitally, so that Canadians can easily access and use it.
OPEN PARLIAMENT
We will disclose Parliamentary expenses
and make Parliament open by default.
The Liberal Party was the first to require its members to proactively disclose travel and hospitality expenses.
It is time for all Parliamentarians to do the same.
We will make government more accountable by requiring all Parliamentarians to disclose their expenses in a common and detailed manner, each quarter.
We will end the secrecy surrounding the Board of Internal Economy – the group responsible for regulating spending by Members of Parliament.
Except in rare cases requiring confidentiality, meetings of this group will be open to the public.
OPEN AND FAIR ELECTIONS
Restoring integrity to our electoral process will improve the fairness of our elections,
and help to renew Canadians' faith in government.
GOVERNMENT ADVERTISING
We will ban partisan government ads.
The federal government should use advertising to promote government programs, not partisan agendas.
We will appoint an Advertising Commissioner to help the Auditor General oversee government advertising.
The Commissioner will review proposed messages to ensure that they are non-partisan and represent a legitimate public service announcement.
We will protect the integrity of our elections
and encourage more Canadians to vote.
Fair elections are the cornerstone of democracy.
We will give Elections Canada the resources it needs to investigate voter fraud and vote suppression, illegal financing, and other threats to free and fair elections.
We will help encourage more Canadians to vote, by removing restrictions on the ways in which the Chief Electoral Officer and Elections Canada can communicate with voters.
Any incident of electoral fraud must be prosecuted.
To that end, we will restore the independence of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, so that they are accountable to Parliament and not the government of the day.
POLITICAL FINANCING
We will close political financing loopholes.
When fixed election date legislation was introduced, it left a loophole that allows unlimited spending in the period before an election is called.
That creates an uneven playing field.
We will review the limits on how much political parties can spend during elections,
and ensure that spending between elections is subject to limits as well.
LEADER'S DEBATE
We will establish an independent commission to organize leaders' debates.
Elections are a time for Canadians to learn more about political parties, their leaders, and their policies.
When it comes to leaders' debates, the focus should be on educating and engaging Canadians, not on twisting the rules for political advantage.
We will establish an independent commission to organize leaders' debates and bring an end to partisan gamesmanship.
ELECTORAL REFORM
We will make every vote count.
We are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system.
We will convene an all-party Parliamentary committee to review a wide variety of reforms, such as ranked ballots, proportional representation, mandatory voting, and online voting.
This committee will deliver its recommendations to Parliament.
Within 18 months of forming government, we will introduce legislation to enact electoral reform.
YOUNG CANADIANS
We will engage with first-time voters
and encourage more Canadians to vote.
Every young person should be registered to vote when they turn 18.
We will work with interested provinces and territories, and Elections Canada, to register young Canadians as a part of their high school or CEGEP curriculum.
To ensure that no young person loses the opportunity to vote, we will mandate Elections Canada to stay in contact with them if they change addressesafter graduation.
Finally, to encourage more voter participation, we will support Elections Canada in proactively registering Canadians from groups that historically have lower turnout, such as students.
EASIER VOTING, STRONGER PUNISHMENTS FOR LAW BREAKERS
We will make it easier for Canadians to vote,
and harder for election lawbreakers to evade punishment.
We will repeal the anti-democratic elements in Stephen Harper's Fair Elections Act, which make it harder for Canadians to vote and easier for election lawbreakers to evade punishment.
We will restore the voter identification card as an acceptable form of identification.
We will also increase penalties so that there are real deterrents for deliberately breaking our election laws.
GIVING CANADIANS A VOICE IN OTTAWA
For Parliament to work best, its members must be free to do what they have been elected to do: represent their communities and hold the government to account.
Government must always stay focused on serving Canadians and solving their problems.
SENATE REFORM
We will bring real change to the Senate.
The status quo is not an option: the Senate needs to change.
We need to end the partisan nature of the Senate.
We also believe that government should focus its efforts on the priorities of Canadians, not on more rounds of constitutional negotiations.
We will create a new, non-partisan, merit-based process to advise the Prime Minister on Senate appointments.
QUESTION PERIOD
We will reform Question Period so that all members, including the Prime Minister, are held to greater account.
As the head of government, the Prime Minister represents all Canadians and should be directly accountable to all Canadians.
We will introduce a Prime Minister's Question Period to improve that level of direct accountability.
We will also empower the Speaker to challenge and sanction members during Question Period, and allow more time for questions and answers.
We will look at other ways to make Question Period more relevant, including the use of online technologies,
and will work with all parties to recommend and bring about these changes.
FREE VOTES
We will make free votes in the House of Commons standard practice.
We will give Canadians a stronger voice in the House of Commons by limiting the circumstances in which Liberal Members of Parliament will be required to vote with Cabinet.
For members of the Liberal Caucus, all votes will be free votes with the exception of:  those that implement the Liberal electoral platform;
traditional confidence matters, like the budget;
and  those that address our shared values and the protections guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
PROROGATION AND OMNIBUS BILLS
We will not resort to legislative tricks to avoid scrutiny.
Stephen Harper has used prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances.
We will not.
Stephen Harper has also used omnibus bills to prevent Parliament from properly reviewing and debating his proposals.
We will change the House of Commons Standing Orders to bring an end to this undemocratic practice.
GOVERNMENT WATCHDOGS
We will not interfere with the work of government watchdogs.
Our Officers of Parliament do important work in helping Canadians.
We will ensure that all of the officers are properly funded and accountable only to Parliament, not the government of the day.
SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS
We will make the Supreme Court appointment process more transparent.
Under Stephen Harper, the all-party Supreme Court appointment process has been disrespected and degraded, culminating in the Prime Minister's unprecedented attacks on the Chief Justice.
We will restore dignity and respect to the relationship between government and the Supreme Court.
We will work with all parties in the House of Commons to ensure that the process of appointing Supreme Court Justices is transparent, inclusive, and accountable to Canadians.
We will ensure that the process involves proper consultation with authorities throughout the legal profession, including the provinces, provincial law societies, provincial appellate and superior courts, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
We will ensure that all those appointed to the Supreme Court are functionally bilingual.
PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICER
We will make the Parliamentary Budget Officer truly independent.
The decisions that government makes must always be based on the latest, most accurate information available.
That includes information about the state of the nation's finances.
To make sure that we have the best information on hand, we will ensure that the Parliamentary Budget Officer is truly independent of the government.
We will make sure that the office is properly funded, and accountable only – and directly – to Parliament, not the government of the day.
To help Canadians make informed decisions during elections, we will also add the costing of party platforms to the Parliamentary Budget Officer's mandate.
Starting with the next election, Canadians will have a credible, non-partisan way to compare each party's fiscal plans.
FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT
We will provide better oversight of taxpayer dollars.
Canadians understand the importance of saving, spending, and borrowing responsibly.
Our government should hold itself to the same standard.
We will change Parliament's financial processes so that government accounting is more consistent and clear.
We will ensure accounting consistency between the Estimates and the Public Accounts, provide costing analysis for all proposed legislation,
and require the government to receive Parliament's approval on borrowing plans.
NATIONAL SECURITY OVERSIGHT
We will deliver stronger national security oversight.
At present, Parliament does not have oversight of our national security agencies, making Canada the sole nation among our Five Eyes allies whose elected officials cannot scrutinize security operations.
This leaves the public uninformed and unrepresented on critical issues.
We will create an all-party committee to monitor and oversee the operations of every government department and agency with national security responsibilities.
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES
We will strengthen Parliamentary committees so that they can better scrutinize legislation.
Better government starts with better ideas.
We will ensure that Parliamentary committees are properly resourced to bring in expert witnesses,
and are sufficiently staffed to continue to provide reliable, non-partisan research.
To increase accountability, we will strengthen the role of Parliamentary committee chairs, including elections by secret ballot.
We will also change the rules so that Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries no longer have a vote on committees.
BETTER SERVICE FOR CANADIANS
In a digital era, Canadians have high standards for the service they receive.
Dealing with the government should be no exception.
Better service for Canadians would mean faster service, delivered in a way that makes citizens feel respected and valued.
CANADA REVENUE AGENCY
We will make the Canada Revenue Agency fairer, more helpful, and easier to use.
The Canada Revenue Agency exists to serve Canadians.
We will overhaul its service model so that people who interact with the CRA feel like valued clients, not just taxpayers.
A client-focused Canada Revenue Agency will:   proactively contact Canadians who are entitled to, but are not receiving, tax benefits;
offer to complete returns for some clients, particularly lower-income Canadians and those on fixed incomes whose financial situation is unchanged year-to-year;
support more Canadians who wish to file taxes using no paper forms;
and   deliver correspondence that is straightforward and easy to read.
We will allow charities to do their work on behalf of Canadians free from political harassment,
and will modernize the rules governing the charitable and not-for-profit sectors.
This will include clarifying the rules governing “political activity,” with an understanding that charities make an important contribution to public debate and public policy.
A new legislative framework to strengthen the sector will emerge from this process.
We will also invest an additional $80 million, over four years, to help the Canada Revenue Agency crack down on tax evaders.
CANADA POST
We will save home mail delivery.
By ending door-to-door mail delivery, Stephen Harper is asking Canadians to pay more for less service.
That is unacceptable.
We will stop Stephen Harper's plan to end door-to-door mail delivery in Canada
and undertake a new review of Canada Post to make sure that it provides high-quality service at a reasonable price to Canadians, no matter where they live.
DIVERSITY IN GOVERNMENT
We will build a government as diverse as Canada.
Our country is stronger, and our government more effective, when decision-makers reflect Canada's diversity.
We will include an equal number of women and men in our Cabinet.
We will also adopt a new government-wide appointment process that is open and based on merit.
YOUNG PEOPLE
We will involve young people in government.
At its highest levels, our government needs to do a better job of understanding and addressing the needs of Canada's young people.
We will create a Prime Minister's Youth Advisory Council, consisting of young Canadians aged 16 to 24, to provide non-partisan advice to the Prime Minister on issues facing the country.
GENDER IMPACT
We will consider the gender impacts of the decisions we make.
Public policies affect women and men in different ways.
We will take these differences into account when making decisions in Cabinet.
We will also ensure that federal departments are conducting the gender-based impact analyses that have been required of them for the past 20 years.
ONLINE SERVICES
We will deliver easy online access to government services.
Accessing government services online should be easier.
We will make the process easier and faster through individualized, secure accounts for Canadians who want to access their benefits and review key documents.
We will also create a single online point-of-contact for all government services,
and work with the provinces and territories on ways to combine online access.
As we expand online services, we will also expand in-person service, such as reopening the nine veterans' service centres closed by Stephen Harper.
Finally, we will work with the Privacy Commissioner as we develop these new initiatives, to ensure that Canadians' data is kept safe and secure.
QUALITY OF SERVICE
We will establish new performance standards for federal services.
Busy Canadians deserve better service from their government.
We will establish new performance standards, including streamlining applications, reducing wait times, and offering money-back guarantees.
Performance will be independently assessed and publicly reported.
We will start with the services hardest hit by years of cuts by Stephen Harper: Employment Insurance, veterans' services, immigration, and EI and CPP appeals.
We will also ensure that all federal services are delivered in full compliance with the Official Languages Act.
YOUR VOICE
We will involve Canadians in policy-making.
Technology makes it easier for citizens and government to share ideas and information.
We will explore new ways to use technology to crowdsource policy ideas from citizens.
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY
Government should base its policies on facts, not make up facts to suit a preferred policy.
Common sense, good policy, and evidence about what works should guide the decisions that government makes.
SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS
We will value science and treat scientists with respect.
We will appoint a Chief Science Officer who will ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work,
and that scientific analyses are considered when the government makes decisions.
THE LONG-FORM CENSUS
We will restore the long-form census.
Without accurate and reliable data, Canada's communities cannot plan ahead.
Everything from transit planning to housing strategies to support for new Canadians becomes more difficult.
We will immediately restore the mandatory long-form census, to give communities the information they need to best serve Canadians.
STATISTICS CANADA
We will make Statistics Canada fully independent.
Data collected by Statistics Canada helps the private sector, government, not-for profit groups, and researchers make better decisions.
We will make Statistics Canada fully independent.
We will work with Statistics Canada and other stakeholders to provide a broader range of information, including detailed labour market information, child development data, and statistics about our population.
MAKING DECISIONS
We will make decisions using the best data available
and will invest only in programs proven to offer good value.
Responsible governments rely on sound data to make their decisions.
We will release to the public key information that informs the decisions we make.
We will devote a fixed percentage of program funds to experimenting with new approaches to existing problems.
We will measure our results
and encourage innovation to continuously improve the services government provides to Canadians.
We will use accurate data to make good decisions.
We will stop funding initiatives that are no longer effective and invest program dollars in those that are of good value.
CHAPTER THREE
A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT AND A STRONG ECONOMY
Canadians want a government they can trust to protect the environment
and grow the economy.
Stephen Harper has done neither.
Our plan will deliver the economic growth and jobs Canadians need,
and leave to our children and grandchildren a country even more beautiful, more sustainable, and more prosperous than the one we have now.
CLIMATE CHANGE
We will provide national leadership and join with the provinces and territories to take action on climate change,
put a price on carbon,
and reduce carbon pollution.
Climate change is an immediate and significant threat to our communities and our economy.
Stephen Harper has had nearly a decade to take action on climate change but has failed to do so.
His lack of leadership has tarnished Canada's reputation abroad, making it harder for Canadian businesses to compete.
The provinces and territories recognize the need to act now, and have already begun to price carbon and take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We will end the cycle of federal parties – of all stripes – setting arbitrary targets without a real federal/provincial/territorial plan in place.
We will instead partner with provincial and territorial leaders to develop real climate change solutions, consistent with our international obligations to protect the planet, all while growing our economy.
Together, we will attend the Paris climate conference,
and within 90 days formally meet to establish a pan-Canadian framework for combatting climate change.
We will work together to establish national emissions-reduction targets,
and ensure that the provinces and territories have targeted federal funding and the flexibility to design their own policies to meet these commitments, including their own carbon pricing policies.
These targets must recognise the economic cost and catastrophic impact that a greater-than-two-degree increase in average global temperatures would represent, as well as the need for Canada to do its part to prevent that from happening.
Partnering with the provinces and territories,
we will create a new Low Carbon Economy Trust.
The Trust will provide funding to projects that materially reduce carbon emissions under the new pan-Canadian framework.
We will endow the Low Carbon Economy Trust with $2 billion in our mandate.
We will protect our communities from the challenges of climate change
and grow our economy by making significant new investments in green infrastructure.
We will fulfill our G20 commitment and phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry over the medium-term.
We will also work in partnership with the United States and Mexico
to develop an ambitious North American clean energy and environmental agreement.
CLEAN JOBS
We will make it easier and more financially rewarding for Canadian businesses to invest in creating clean jobs.
Clean technology can deliver real benefits for our environment and our economy, including more good, middle class jobs.
We will invest $100 million more each year in clean technology producers, so that they can tackle Canada's most pressing environmental challenges, and create more opportunities for Canadian workers.
We will deliver more support to emerging clean tech manufacturing companies, making it easier for them to conduct research and bring new products to market.
We will also invest $200 million more each year to support innovation and the use of clean technologies in our natural resource sectors, including the forestry, fisheries, mining, energy, and agricultural sectors.
To support both large- and community-scale renewable energy projects, the new Canada Infrastructure Bank will issue Green Bonds to fund projects like electric vehicle charging stations and networks, transmission lines for renewable energy, building retrofits, and clean power storage.
We will enhance existing tax measures to generate more clean technology investments,
and work with the provinces and territories
to make Canada the world's most competitive tax jurisdiction for investments in the research, development, and manufacturing of clean technology.
We will deliver a better quality of life for all Canadians by working with the provinces
to set stronger air quality standards,
monitor emissions,
and provide incentives for investments that lead to cleaner air and healthier communities.
As the country's single largest employer, customer, and landlord, we will lead by example and increase government use of clean technologies.
This will boost domestic demand for clean technology, support entrepreneurs, and fuel new jobs.
We will improve energy efficiency standards for consumer and commercial products,
and use new financing instruments to encourage investments in energy-saving retrofits to Canada's industrial, commercial, and residential buildings.
We will provide more support for our clean technology companies to successfully export their products by training trade officials and leading trade missions focused on clean technology.
These companies will also be provided with useful training, data, and technical assistance on export opportunities in a more coordinated way.
We will look for ways for government to be an “early adopter” of emerging green technologies,
and will support clean transportation by adding electric vehicle charging stations at federal parking lots,
and rapidly expanding the federal fleet of electric vehicles.
To foster the creativity that leads to cutting-edge research, we will establish Canada Research Chairs in sustainable technology.
We will also work closely with the provinces and territories
to develop a Canadian Energy Strategy to protect Canada's energy security;
encourage energy conservation;
and bring cleaner, renewable energy onto the electricity grid.
Canada has lost 71% of its clean tech market share during the harper decade.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS
We will make environmental assessments credible again.
Resource-based projects can create jobs and spur investment, but success depends on regaining public trust.
Canadians must be able to trust that government will engage in appropriate regulatory oversight, including credible environmental assessments, and that it will respect the rights of those most affected, such as Indigenous communities.
While governments grant permits for resource development, only communities can grant permission.
We will immediately review Canada's environmental assessment processes
and introduce new, fair processes that will:  restore robust oversight and thorough environmental assessments of areas under federal jurisdiction,
while also working with provinces and territories to avoid duplication;
ensure that decisions are based on science, facts, and evidence, and serve the public's interest;
provide ways for Canadians to express their views and opportunities for experts to meaningfully participate;
and  require project advocates to choose the best technologies available to reduce environmental impacts.
We will modernize the National Energy Board, ensuring that its composition reflects regional views
and has sufficient expertise in fields like environmental science, community development, and Indigenous traditional knowledge.
We will end the practice of having federal Ministers interfere in the environmental assessment process.
We will also ensure that environmental assessments include an analysis of upstream impacts and greenhouse gas emissions resulting from projects under review.
We will undertake, in full partnership and consultation with First Nations, Inuit, and the Métis Nation, a full review of laws, policies, and operational practices.
This will ensure that on project reviews and assessments, the Crown is fully executing its consultation, accommodation, and consent obligations, in accordance with its constitutional and international human rights obligations,
including Aboriginal and Treaty rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We recognize the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the land,
and will respect legal traditions and perspectives on environmental stewardship.
Stephen Harper's changes to the Fisheries Act, and his elimination of the Navigable Waters Protection Act, have weakened environmental protections.
We will review these changes,
restore lost protections,
and incorporate more modern safeguards.
We will also do more to protect Canada's endangered species.
We will respond more quickly to the advice and requests of scientists,
and will complete robust species-at-risk recovery plans.
WATER
We will protect our freshwater and oceans.
Canada is uniquely blessed with an abundance of freshwater, and marine and coastal areas that are not only ecologically diverse, but also economically significant: our ocean-based industries contribute nearly $40 billion each year to the Canadian economy.
To protect these valuable natural resources, we will deliver more robust and credible environmental assessments for all projects that could impact our freshwater and oceans.
FRESHWATER
We will treat our freshwater as a precious resource that deserves protection and careful stewardship.
We will work with other orders of government
to protect Canada's freshwater using education, geo-mapping, watershed protection, and investments in the best wastewater treatment technologies.
To protect our freshwater ecosystems, we will renew our commitment to protect the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River Basin, and the Lake Winnipeg Basin.
We will also act on the recommendations of the Cohen Commission on restoring sockeye salmon stocks in the Fraser River.
To aid in making the best possible decisions, we will restore $1.5 million in annual federal funding for freshwater research
– a program that was cut by the Conservatives –
and make new investments in Canada's world-leading IISD Experimental Lakes Area.
OCEANS
Stephen Harper's failure to meet our international commitments to protect marine and coastal areas puts these areas and our international reputation at risk.
We will make up for Conservative inaction
and increase the amount of Canada's marine and coastal areas that are protected – to five percent by 2017,
and ten percent by 2020.
To help achieve this, we will invest $8 million per year in community consultation and science.
We will also directly invest in ocean science.
Stephen Harper cut $40 million from the federal ocean science and monitoring programs.
We will restore that funding so that we can protect the health of our fish stocks, monitor contaminants and pollution in our oceans, and support responsible and sustainable aquaculture industries on our coasts.
We will use scientific evidence and the precautionary principle, and take into account climate change, when making decisions affecting fish stocks and ecosystem management.
And we will do a better job of co-managing our oceans, by working with the provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples, and other stakeholders.
Together, we will develop plans that make the best use of our marine resources
and give coastal communities more say in managing the resources around them.
NATIONAL PARKS
We will preserve and promote Canada's National Parks.
Canada's National Parks belong to all Canadians.
They are also an important part of local economies, generating nearly $5 billion each year and helping to employ 65,000 people.
We will make it more affordable for more Canadians to visit and appreciate our National Parks.
In 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation, admission for all visitors to National Parks will be free.
Beginning in 2018, admission for children under 18 will be free,
and any adult who has become a Canadian citizen in the previous 12 months will be given one year's free admission.
Through an expanded Learn to Camp program, more low- and middle-income families will have an opportunity to experience Canada's outdoors.
To protect ecosystems and species at risk, we will invest $25 million each year to develop Canada's National Parks system, as well as manage and expand National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries.
We will protect our National Parks by limiting development within them,
and where possible, we will work with nearby communities to help grow local eco-tourism industries and create jobs.
We will reverse Stephen Harper's cuts to Parks Canada, which cut more than $25 million from programs and services, and made it more difficult for Canadians to experience our National Parks and learn more about our environment and our heritage.
We will work with the Ontario government
to create the country's first urban National Park – Rouge National Park – including improved legislation to protect this important ecosystem and guide how the park will be managed.
CHAPTER FOUR
A STRONG CANADA
A RENEWED RELATIONSHIP WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
The relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples is vitally important – not just to our shared economic interests, but to our respective identities as nations.
It is time for a renewed relationship based on trust, respect, and a true spirit of cooperation.
A NEW NATION-TO-NATION PROCESS
We will renew the relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples.
It is time for Canada to have a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples, based on recognition, rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership.
This is both the right thing to do and a sure path to economic growth
We will immediately re-engage in a renewed nation-to-nation process with Indigenous Peoples to make progress on the issues most important to First Nations, the Métis Nation, and Inuit communities – issues like housing,
infrastructure,
health and mental health care,
community safety and policing,
child welfare,
and education.
As part of this renewed relationship, we will do more to make sure that the voices of Indigenous Peoples are heard in Ottawa.
As Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau will meet with First Nations, Métis Nation, and Inuit leaders each and every year of a Liberal government mandate.
Stephen Harper's changes to the Canada Elections Act make it harder for Indigenous Peoples to exercise their right to vote.
We will repeal those changes.
Finally, we will ensure that the Kelowna Accord – and the spirit of reconciliation that drove it – is embraced, and its objectives implemented in a manner that meets today's challenges.
A NEW FISCAL RELATIONSHIP
We will expand investment in First Nations communities
and work toward forging a new fiscal relationship with First Nations.
For nearly 20 years, investments in First Nations programs have been subject to a two percent cap on annual funding increases.
As a result, federal funding has not kept up with population growth and inflation in First Nations communities.
We will immediately lift the two percent cap on funding for First Nations programs and work to establish a new fiscal relationship that gives First Nations communities sufficient, predictable, and sustained funding.
Increasing First Nations' own source revenues, whether through revenue sharing or other mechanisms, will be a priority.
As part of this new fiscal relationship, we will also make sure that all First Nations receive equitable funding for child and family services provided on reserves.
FIRST NATIONS EDUCATION
We will work with First Nations to make sure that every First Nations child receives a quality education.
It is vital to Canadians' shared success that we work together to ensure better economic outcomes for First Nations.
This starts with education.
Chronic underfunding of the First Nations education system has held First Nations students back: they are behind provincial peers in reading, writing, and numeracy.
Today, less than half of students on reserves graduate from high school.
To help close the funding gap and improve outcomes for First Nations students, we will invest new funding each year in core funding for kindergarten through grade 12 programs.
This will include money committed by Stephen Harper that has yet to flow, plus an additional $300 million per year in incremental funding, totalling $750 million per year by the end of our first mandate.
Over the next four years, this represents a $2.6 billion new investment in helping First Nations students learn and succeed.
We will provide new funding to help Indigenous communities promote and preserve Indigenous languages and cultures.
We will also invest an additional $500 million over the next three years for building and refurbishing First Nations schools.
We will invest $50 million in additional annual funding to the Post-Secondary Student Support Program, which supports Indigenous students attending post-secondary education, ensuring the program will keep up with growing demand.
We believe that First Nations' control of First Nations education is vital to achieving improved outcomes,
and we will make these investments as part of a renewed, respectful, and inclusive nation-to-nation process that fully respects Aboriginal and Treaty rights.
MÉTIS NATION
We will work with the Métis Nation to improve the quality of life for Métis individuals and communities.
We will work, on a nation-to-nation basis, with the Métis Nation to advance reconciliation and renew the relationship, based on cooperation, respect for rights, our international obligations, and a commitment to end the status quo.
We will work with Métis people, as well as the provinces and territories, to establish a federal claims process that recognizes Métis self-government and resolves outstanding claims.
We will also make permanent the funding available to provincial Métis communities for Métis identification and registration, instead of it being available year-to-year.
We will review, in partnership with Métis communities, the existing federal programs and services available to the Métis Nation, to identify gaps and areas where strategic investments can be made to improve Métis quality of life.
To expand the economic opportunities for Métis, we will develop a Métis Economic Development Strategy in partnership with Métis communities and existing Métis financial institutions,
and will invest $25 million over five years to implement this new strategy.
MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS
We will immediately launch a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
The disappearance and death of nearly 1,200 Indigenous women and girls is an ongoing national tragedy that must come to an end.
We will immediately launch a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada, to seek recommendations on concrete actions that governments, law enforcement, and others can take to solve these crimes and prevent future ones.
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
We will enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
To support the work of reconciliation, and continue the necessary process of truth telling and healing, we will work alongside provinces and territories, and with First Nations, the Métis Nation, and Inuit, to enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
THE FUTURE WE OWE OUR VETERANS
Veterans and their families have earned our respect and gratitude.
It is time our government lived up to its sacred obligation to them.
Our plan will give back to those who have given so much in service to all Canadians,
and will ensure that no veteran has to fight the government for the support and compensation they have earned.
VETERANS' PENSIONS
We will give veterans more compensation, more choice, and more support in planning their financial future.
We will re-establish lifelong pensions as an option for our injured veterans,
and increase the value of the disability award.
We will ensure that every injured veteran has access to financial advice and support so that they can determine the form of compensation that works best for them and their families.
To better support veterans who have had their career options limited by a service-related illness or injury, we will invest $25 million each year to expand access to the Permanent Impairment Allowance.
We will invest a further $40 million each year to provide injured veterans with 90 percent of their pre-release salary,
and will index this benefit so that it keeps pace with inflation.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
We will honour the service of our veterans
and provide new career opportunities through a new Veterans Education Benefit.
Veterans have proven their ability to work hard and succeed, but many find it difficult to build new careers after their years of service.
To help veterans re-enter the workforce, and to help expand Canada's skilled labour force, we will invest $80 million every year to create a new Veterans Education Benefit.
This benefit will provide full support for the costs of up to four years of college, university, or technical education for Canadian Forces veterans after completion of service.
We will also expand the number of job opportunities available to veterans by ensuring provisions for their employment are included in the Community Benefits Agreements of federal infrastructure projects.
BETTER SERVICE
We will make it easier for veterans to access services, including mental health services.
We will deliver a higher standard of service and care,
and ensure that a “one veteran, one standard” approach is upheld.
To restore access to the support that veterans are due, we will re-open the nine Veterans Affairs service offices closed by Stephen Harper,
and will fully implement all of the Auditor General's recommendations on enhancing mental health service delivery to veterans.
We will hire 400 new service delivery staff, doubling the current planned increase.
This will include much-needed case managers at Veterans Affairs.
We will also immediately hire additional mental health professionals to give veterans the support they need.
Canada must be a world leader in caring for and supporting our veterans, and a Liberal government will budget $20 million to create two new centres of excellence in veterans' care, including one with a specialization in mental health, PTSD, and related issues for both veterans and first responders.
MORE SUPPORT FOR VETERANS' FAMILIES
We will do more to support the families of Canada's veterans.
Veterans have given years of their lives in service to Canada.
So have their families.
We will provide greater education, counselling, and training for families who are providing care and support to veterans living with physical and/or mental health issues as a result of their service.
We will also end the time limit for surviving spouses to apply for vocational rehabilitation and assistance services.
Our investment of $100 million each year will expand the circle of support for veterans' families.
So that surviving veterans' partners do not face a decline in quality of life with the loss of their loved one, we will increase the veteran survivor's pension amount from 50 percent to 70 percent.
We will also eliminate the “marriage after 60” clawback clause, so that surviving spouses of veterans receive appropriate pension and health benefits.
Veterans served Canada with honour and deserve to be treated with dignity when they pass away.
As our final act of respect, we will double funding to the Last Post Fund to ensure that all veterans receive a dignified burial.
KEEPING CANADIANS SAFE
Canada is fundamentally a safe and peaceful nation.
Our plan will keep Canadians safe and protect their rights,
without resorting to the politics of fear or letting ideology trump evidence in decision-making.
PREVENTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
We will give more support to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment,
and ensure that more perpetrators are brought to justice.
For far too many Canadians – overwhelmingly women – sexual violence, sexual harassment, and intimate partner violence are real, and even daily, threats.
Many survivors choose not to report these incidents to police and conviction rates are low.
Working together with experts and advocates, we will develop and implement a comprehensive federal gender violence strategy and action plan, aligned with existing provincial strategies.
We will ensure that no one fleeing domestic violence is left without a place to turn.
We will increase investments in growing and maintaining Canada's network of shelters and transition houses, as part of our broader investment in social infrastructure.
We will amend the Criminal Code to reverse onus on bail for those with previous convictions of intimate partner violence.
We will also specify that intimate partner violence be considered an aggravating factor at sentencing,
and increase the maximum sentence for repeat offenders.
We will work in partnership with provinces and territories
to bolster public awareness campaigns,
and take action to ensure that Parliament and federal institutions – including the public service, the RCMP, and the Canadian Armed Forces – are workplaces free from harassment and sexual violence.
We will review current gender- and culturally-sensitive training policies for federal front-line law enforcement officers to ensure that they are strong and effective.
To help those who are new to Canada, we will change the rules so that spouses immigrating to Canada receive immediate permanent residency – rather than a two-year waiting period.
This will make it possible for spouses – most often women – to work and achieve financial independence.
We will also immediately launch a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
BILL C-51
We will repeal the problematic elements of Bill C-51,
and introduce new legislation that better balances our collective security with our rights and freedoms.
Canadians know that in Canada, we can both improve our security while protecting our rights and freedoms.
We will introduce new legislation that will, among other measures:  guarantee that all Canadian Security Intelligence Service warrants respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
establish an all-party national security oversight committee;
ensure that Canadians are not limited from lawful protests and advocacy;
require that government review all appeals by Canadians on the no-fly list;
narrow overly broad definitions, such as defining “terrorist propaganda” more clearly;
limit Communications Security Establishment's powers by requiring a warrant to engage in the surveillance of Canadians;
require a statutory review of the full Anti-Terrorism Act after three years;
and  prioritize community outreach and counter-radicalization, by creating the Office of the Community Outreach and Counter-radicalization Co-ordinator.
As this legislation is tabled in Parliament, we will launch broad public consultations, to engage and seek the input of Canadians and subject-matter experts.
GUNS
We will take action to get handguns and assault weapons off our streets.
Over the last decade, Stephen Harper has steadily weakened our gun laws in ways that make Canadians more vulnerable and communities more dangerous.
We will take pragmatic action to make it harder for criminals to get, and use, handguns and assault weapons.
We will:   repeal changes made by Bill C-42 that allow restricted and prohibited weapons to be freely transported without a permit,
and we will put decision-making about weapons restrictions back in the hands of police, not politicians;
provide $100 million each year to the provinces and territories
to support guns and gangs police task forces to take illegal guns off our streets and reduce gang violence;
modify the membership of the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee to include knowledgeable law enforcement officers, public health advocates, representatives from women's groups, and members of the legal community;
require enhanced background checks for anyone seeking to purchase a handgun or other restricted firearm;
require purchasers of firearms to show a license when they buy a gun,
and require all sellers of firearms to confirm that the license is valid before completing the sale;
require firearms vendors to keep records of all firearms inventory and sales to assist police in investigating firearms trafficking and other gun crimes;
immediately implement the imported gun marking regulations that have been repeatedly delayed by Stephen Harper;
and  as part of our investment in border infrastructure, invest in technologies to enhance our border guards' ability to detect and halt illegal guns from the United States entering into Canada.
We will not create a new national long-gun registry to replace the one that has been dismantled.
We will ensure that Canada becomes a party to the international Arms Trade Treaty.
MARIJUANA
We will legalize,
regulate,
and restrict access to marijuana.
Canada's current system of marijuana prohibition does not work.
It does not prevent young people from using marijuana and too many Canadians end up with criminal records for possessing small amounts of the drug.
Arresting and prosecuting these offenses is expensive for our criminal justice system.
It traps too many Canadians in the criminal justice system for minor, non-violent offenses.
At the same time, the proceeds from the illegal drug trade support organized crime and greater threats to public safety, like human trafficking and hard drugs.
To ensure that we keep marijuana out of the hands of children, and the profits out of the hands of criminals, we will legalize,
regulate,
and restrict access to marijuana.
We will remove marijuana consumption and incidental possession from the Criminal Code,
and create new, stronger laws to punish more severely those who provide it to minors, those who operate a motor vehicle while under its influence, and those who sell it outside of the new regulatory framework.
We will create a federal/provincial/territorial task force,
and with input from experts in public health, substance abuse, and law enforcement, will design a new system of strict marijuana sales and distribution, with appropriate federal and provincial excise taxes applied.
INVESTING IN OUR CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Canada's stories, shaped by our immense diversity, deserve to be celebrated and shared.
Our plan will protect our important national institutions,
safeguard our official languages,
promote the industries that reflect our unique identity as Canadians,
and provide jobs and economic opportunities.
CBC/RADIO-CANADA
We will reverse Stephen Harper's cuts
and make new investments to support our national broadcaster.
As the anchor to our cultural and creative industries, CBC/Radio-Canada is a vital national institution that brings Canadians together, promotes and defends our two official languages, and supports our shared culture.
By severely cutting its budget, Stephen Harper has jeopardized our national broadcaster's ability to do this important work.
We will protect the interests of our national broadcaster, in the interests of all Canadians.
We will reverse Stephen Harper's cuts
and invest $150 million in new annual funding for CBC/Radio-Canada, to be delivered in consultation with the broadcaster and the Canadian cultural community.
We will review the process by which members are appointed to the CBC/Radio-Canada Board of Directors, to ensure merit-based and independent appointments.
CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
We will invest in our cultural and creative industries to create jobs and grow the middle class, and to strengthen our rich Canadian identity.
Canada's cultural and creative industries are a vibrant part of our national identity and our economy, providing employment to more than one million Canadians.
Unfortunately, these industries have been under attack during the Harper decade, hit by funding cuts that have made it harder for Canadian artists to share Canadian stories, here in Canada and around the world.
We will invest in our cultural and creative industries to help support and grow these nation-building efforts.
Targeted investments will include:  doubling investment in the Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million each year;
increasing funding for Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board, with a new investment totalling $25 million each year;
and  restoring the Promart and Trade Routes international cultural promotion programs cut by Stephen Harper,
and increasing funding in these programs to $25 milllion each year.
As part of our commitment to create 40,000 youth jobs each year, we will increase funding for the Young Canada Works program to help prepare the next generation of Canadians working in the heritage sector.
We will also make significant new investments in cultural infrastructure as part of our investment in social infrastructure.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
We will encourage and promote the use of Canada's official languages.
Canada's diversity is its strength.
That includes our proud tradition of official bilingualism.
Stephen Harper ignores this diversity by appointing unilingual Anglophones to important positions ranging from the Auditor General to Supreme Court Justices.
We will renew the federal government's commitment to our official languages by:  developing a new official languages plan to support English and French linguistic minorities;
ensuring that all federal services be delivered in full compliance with the Official Languages Act;
establishing a free, online service for learning and retaining English and French as second languages;
reinstating the Court Challenges Program of Canada cut by Stephen Harper;
and  making new investments to support CBC/Radio-Canada, a vital national institution that brings Canadians together, promotes and defends our two official languages, and supports our shared culture.
SUPPORTING STRONG COMMUNITIES
Canada's economic success comes from its strong communities, and the exceptional people who live, work, and serve in them every day.
When we support those who make our communities great places to live, we all benefit.
COMMUNITY HEROES
We will offer greater financial security to the families of disabled or deceased public safety officers,
and deliver a new plan to address PTSD.
We ask public safety officers to stand in harm's way to protect Canadians and keep us safe, and they deserve the highest level of support and care when the unthinkable happens.
We will introduce a public safety officer compensation benefit to be paid to the families of fire fighters, police officers, and paramedics killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.
This $300,000 benefit will offer a measure of financial security to families who are struggling with permanently changed life circumstances or the loss of a loved one.
When it comes to post-traumatic stress disorder, the kind of support that a first responder receives should be based on their need, not on where they live.
We will work with the provinces and territories
to develop a coordinated national action plan on post-traumatic stress disorder, which disproportionately affects public safety officers.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
We will restore funding for Canada's four heavy urban search and rescue teams.
Being able to respond swiftly and effectively to emergencies like ice storms, floods, wildfires, and building collapses is in our national interest.
In the past, Canada's four heavy urban search and rescue teams have proven invaluable in keeping Canadians and communities safe.
Under Stephen Harper, funding for these teams has been eliminated, putting our national response capabilities in jeopardy.
To protect Canadians, our oceans, and our coastal economies, we will also re-open the Maritime Rescue Sub-centre in St. John's,
and the Kitsilano Coast Guard Base in Vancouver, which were closed by Stephen Harper.
CHAPTER FIVE
SECURITY AND OPPORTUNITY
OPENING THE DOOR TO PROSPERITY
Canada's story is the story of immigration.
Those who choose to make Canada their new home bring with them their unique cultures, languages, and an entrepreneurial spirit that strengthens our economy.
We need a new plan for our immigration system that is grounded in compassion and economic opportunity for all.
REUNITING FAMILIES
We will make it easier for immigrants to build successful lives in Canada, and contribute to the economic success of all Canadians.
Immigration has always been an important part of Canada's economic growth,
but over the past decade, Stephen Harper has turned his back on welcoming those who want to contribute to our country's success.
We will take immediate steps to reopen Canada's doors,
and will make reuniting families a top priority.
We will immediately double the number of applications allowed for parents and grandparents, to 10,000 each year.
We will also nearly double the budget for processing family class sponsorship.
Wait times will come down – which currently average almost four years for parent and grandparent applications.
We will provide more opportunities for applicants who have Canadian siblings by giving additional points under the Express Entry system,
and we will restore the maximum age for dependents to 22 from 19, to allow more Canadians to bring their children to Canada.
We will also grant immediate permanent residency to new spouses entering Canada, eliminating the two-year waiting period.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AND TEMPORARY RESIDENTS
We will give international students and temporary residents credit for time already spent in Canada.
We will make it easier for international students and other temporary residents to become Canadian citizens by restoring the residency time credit.
We will also make changes to the Canadian Experience Class, to reduce the barriers to immigration imposed on international students.
REMITTANCES
We will make it more affordable for Canadian workers to send money overseas.
We will work with provincial and territorial governments
to better regulate the remittance industry, so that residents of Canada who send money overseas to help family members are not gouged by high fees.
This will include working with Canada's banks to ensure low-cost access to transfer services,
exploring ways for Canada Post to offer remittance services,
and imposing tough new penalties on those who abuse the system and take advantage of vulnerable newcomers to Canada.
HIRING CAREGIVERS
We will make it easier and more affordable to hire caregivers.
Canadian families looking for caregivers to help family members with physical or mental disabilities must pay a $1,000 Labour Market Impact Assessment fee.
We will eliminate that fee.
We will also work with the provinces and territories
to develop a system of regulated companies to hire caregivers on behalf of families.
This will make it simpler for families to hire caregivers,
and protect caregivers by allowing them to change employers in the case of bad relations or abuse.
A MORE COMPASSIONATE CANADA
Canadians are open, accepting, and generous – qualities that should be reflected in Canada's response to those seeking refuge from conflict and war.
Our communities are strengthened when we come together to help those in need.
Canada's government should do the same.
SYRIAN REFUGEES
We will welcome more refugees from Syria to Canada,
and offer more help to those providing aid in the region.
Canadians have been deeply moved by the suffering of refugees in Syria and the surrounding region.
Canada has a strong history of helping those in need, from Hungarian refugees in the 1950s to Ismaili Muslim refugees in the 1970s to those fleeing South East Asia by boat in the 1970s and 1980s.
Many Canadians have already offered to help those fleeing Syria, and it is time for the federal government to offer more help, too.
We have a responsibility to expand our refugee targets and give more victims of war a safe haven in Canada.
To that end, we will expand Canada's intake of refugees from Syria by 25,000 through immediate government sponsorship.
We will also work with private sponsors to accept even more.
To do this, we will invest $250 million, including $100 million this fiscal year, to increase refugee processing, as well as sponsorship and settlement services capacity in Canada.
We will also provide a new contribution of $100 million this fiscal year to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to support critical relief activities in the region.
REFUGEES
We will restore Canada's reputation
and help more people in need through a program that is safe, secure, and humane.
Canada once welcomed refugees openly, but that proud history has faded after a decade of mismanagement under Stephen Harper.
We will renew and expand our commitment to helping resettle more refugees,
and deliver a refugee program that is safe, secure, and humane.
We will:  fully restore the Interim Federal Health Program that provides limited and temporary health benefits to refugees and refugee claimants;
establish an expert human rights panel to determine designated countries of origin,
and provide a right to appeal refugee decisions for citizens from these countries;
and  appoint individuals with appropriate subject-matter expertise to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board.
HELP FOR THE WORLD'S POOR
We will refocus our development assistance on helping the poorest and most vulnerable.
Over the past ten years, Stephen Harper has steadily shifted aid away from the world's poorest countries, particularly in Africa.
We will consult with Canadian and international aid organizations to review current policies and funding frameworks that will refocus our aid priorities on poverty reduction.
As part of rebalancing our priorities, we will ensure that every dollar committed to international development actually gets spent.
We will not allow funds to lapse, as Stephen Harper has done.
We will also ensure that Canada's valuable aid initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) is driven by evidence and outcomes, not ideology.
Closing existing gaps in reproductive rights and health care can and will save lives.
We will cover the full range of reproductive health services as part of MNCH initiatives.
EXPANDING EXPORTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR CANADIANS
Canada's economic success relies on strong trade relationships with our closest neighbours: the United States and Mexico.
Unlike the Conservatives' short-sighted approach, our focus on rebuilding relationships will build a solid foundation for greater trade, stronger growth, and more job creation.
THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO
We will renew and repair our relationships with our North American partners.
For the past decade, Stephen Harper has led a government that is increasingly partisan, suspicious, and hostile when dealing with our closest neighbours: the United States and Mexico.
We will end this antagonism and work with our partners to advance our shared interests.
As a first step, we will immediately lift the Mexican visa requirement that unfairly restricts travel to Canada,
and commit to rescheduling and hosting a new trilateral leaders' summit with the United States and Mexico.
We will work with the United States and Mexico to develop a continent-wide clean energy and environment agreement.
Because Canada relies on international trade to create jobs and grow our economy, we will work to reduce the barriers that limit trade.
With a re-focused Building Canada Fund, we will promote a steadier flow of goods and business travellers by modernizing border infrastructure and streamlining cargo inspections.
To underscore the importance of the United States to Canada, we will also create a Cabinet committee to oversee and manage our relationship.
GETTING CANADIAN GOODS TO MARKET
We will expand export opportunities that benefit Canada.
Trade is vital for our economy.
It opens markets, grows Canadian businesses, and creates good-paying middle class jobs – jobs that pay wages that are 50 percent higher than industries that are not export intensive.
That is good news for the middle class and the communities they call home.
Stephen Harper's approach to trade, however, has failed.
His Conservative government has recorded the largest trade deficit in Canadian history, and Canadians are paying the price in lost job opportunities.
While Stephen Harper may sign trade deals, he walks away from partnering with businesses and entrepreneurs to ensure they can succeed in new markets and create wealth and jobs for Canadians.
Properly negotiated and implemented, free trade agreements are good for the Canadian economy.
We will carefully consider all trade opportunities currently open to Canada,
and explore deeper trade relationships with emerging and established markets, including China and India.
We will develop a new export promotion strategy that will help businesses take advantage of new trade agreements.
RENEWING CANADA'S PLACE IN THE WORLD AND STRENGTHENING OUR SECURITY
Canada's future security and prosperity go hand-in-hand.
Our plan will ensure that Canada's Armed Forces have the equipment they need and the support they require to protect our sovereignty and support peace operations, while also growing local economies and creating jobs.
CANADA'S LEADERSHIP IN THE WORLD
We will restore Canadian leadership in the world.
Canada has a proud tradition of international leadership, from helping to create the United Nations after the Second World War, to the campaign against South African apartheid, to the international treaty to ban landmines.
Unfortunately, under Stephen Harper, our influence and presence on the world stage has steadily diminished.
Instead of working with other countries constructively at the United Nations, the Harper Conservatives have turned their backs on the UN and other multilateral institutions, while also weakening Canada's military, our diplomatic service, and our development programs.
Whether confronting climate change, terrorism and radicalization, or international conflicts, the need for effective Canadian diplomacy has never been greater than it is today.
Our plan will restore Canada as a leader in the world.
Not only to provide greater security and economic growth for Canadians, but because Canada can make a real and valuable contribution to a more peaceful and prosperous world.
PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
We will renew Canada's commitment to peacekeeping operations.
Under Stephen Harper, Canada has dramatically scaled back its involvement in peace operations – a decision that could not come at a worse time.
As the number of violent conflicts in the world escalates, demand for international peace operations has never been greater.
Peace operations are important not only because of the help they provide to millions of people affected by conflicts, but also because they serve Canada's interests.
A more peaceful world is a safer and more prosperous world for Canada, too.
We will recommit to supporting international peace operations with the United Nations,
and will make our specialized capabilities – from mobile medical teams to engineering support to aircraft that can carry supplies and personnel – available on a case-by-case basis.
To help the UN respond more quickly to emerging and escalating conflicts, we will provide well-trained personnel that can be quickly deployed, including mission commanders, staff officers, and headquarters units.
We will prioritize assistance for civilian police training operations, particularly Francophone officers, who are in great demand in French-speaking countries with peace operations.
We will lead an international effort to improve and expand the training of military and civilian personnel deployed on peace operations,
and will insist that any peacekeepers involved in misconduct be held accountable by their own country and the United Nations.
Finally, to better help those affected by war and violent conflict, we will contribute more to the United Nations' mediation, conflict-prevention, and post-conflict reconstruction efforts.
INVESTING IN OUR MILITARY
We will maintain current National Defence spending levels, including current planned increases.
Under Stephen Harper, investments in the Canadian Armed Forces have been erratic, promised increases in funding have been scaled back, and more than $10 billion of approved funding was left unspent.
This mismanagement has left Canada's Armed Forces underfunded and ill-equipped, and the courageous members of the Forces unsupported after years of dedicated service.
We will not let Canada's Armed Forces be shortchanged,
and we will not lapse military spending from year to year.
We will also reinvest in building a leaner, more agile, better-equipped military, including adequate support systems for military personnel and their families.
F-35
We will not buy the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.
We will immediately launch an open and transparent competition to replace the CF-18 fighter aircraft.
The primary mission of our fighter aircraft should remain the defence of North America, not stealth first-strike capability.
We will reduce the procurement budget for replacing the CF-18s,
and will instead purchase one of the many, lower-priced options that better match Canada's defence needs.
ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY
We will make investing in the Royal Canadian Navy a top priority.
By purchasing more affordable alternatives to the F-35s, we will be able to invest in strengthening our Navy, while also meeting the commitments that were made as part of the National Shipbuilding and Procurement Strategy.
Unlike Stephen Harper, we will have the funds that we need to build promised icebreakers,
supply ships, arctic and offshore patrol ships, surface combatants, and other resources required by the Navy.
These investments will ensure that the Royal Canadian Navy is able to operate as a true blue-water maritime force, while also growing our economy and creating jobs.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
We will immediately begin an open and transparent review process of existing defence capabilities, with the goal of delivering a more effective, better-equipped military.
The Canada First Defence Strategy, launched by Stephen Harper in 2008, is underfunded and out of date.
We will review current programs and capabilities, and lay out a realistic plan to strengthen Canada's Armed Forces.
We will develop the Canadian Armed Forces into an agile, responsive, and well-equipped military force that can effectively defend Canada and North America;
provide support during natural disasters, humanitarian support missions, and peace operations
and offer international deterrence and combat capability.
We will continue to work with the United States to defend North America under NORAD,
and contribute to regional security within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
We will ensure that equipment is acquired faster, and with vigorous Parliamentary oversight.
We will put a renewed focus on surveillance and control of Canadian territory and approaches, particularly our Arctic regions,
and will increase the size of the Canadian Rangers.
We will continue to support international peace and security operations, as well as humanitarian support missions with the United Nations or regional partners, on a case-by-case basis.
We will assist in domestic security and natural disaster responses, both at home and abroad.
To help regional and local partners prevent the spread of terrorism and radicalization, we will vastly increase the scope of training assistance missions.
To bolster these partnerships, we will support programs that admit and train partner country military students.
We will conduct a thorough review of existing measures to protect Canadians and our critical infrastructure from cyber-threats.
Most importantly, we will protect the well-being of Canadian Armed Forces members while in service, including a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment,
adequate mental health support services,
and high-quality career counselling and support.
We will also make new and significant investments to meet the sacred obligation that we have to our veterans.
REPORT ON TRANSFORMATION
We will implement the recommendations made in the Canadian Forces' Report on Transformation.
The Canadian Armed Forces' ability to protect Canada's borders and work with our allies overseas should never be compromised.
Threats to its ability to meet future obligations must be addressed head on.
The Report on Transformation made a series of recommendations on how to build a more modern, efficient, and effective military, including reducing the size of administration within government and the Canadian Armed Forces in order to strengthen front-line operations.
COMBAT MISSION IN IRAQ
We will end Canada's combat mission in Iraq.
We will refocus Canada's military contribution in the region on the training of local forces,
while providing more humanitarian support
and immediately welcoming 25,000 more refugees from Syria.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
We will remain fully committed to Canada's existing military contributions in Central and Eastern Europe.
This includes Canada's participation in NATO assurance measures in Central and Eastern Europe (Operation REASSURANCE) and the multinational training mission in Ukraine (Operation UNIFIER).
PLATEFORME ÉLECTORALE PCC 2015  OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN TO PROTECT THE ECONOMY  FOREWORD BY PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER
PROTECTING OUR ECONOMY: OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN
We have a positive plan for the next four years to protect Canada's economy,
create new, well-paying jobs,
and help families and seniors.
BALANCED BUDGET
We balanced the budget last year – one year ahead of schedule – and already have a significant surplus for this year.
A balanced budget is the anchor of our low-tax plan to protect our fragile economy and help Canadian families.
We'll continue to make the right choices to keep our budget balanced and taxes low.
LOWER TAXES
Our low-tax pledge is rooted in our record:
Canadians know that we'll do what we say and that we'll manage taxpayer dollars responsibly.
We're prepared to go even further and entrench our low-tax plan in legislation.
Our ''tax lock'' legislation will back our low-tax commitment – to families, seniors, workers and small businesses – with the force of the law for the next four years.
MORE AND BETTER JOBS
Our number one priority is the economy – creating jobs and economic growth.
Canada has led the G-7 in job creation since 2006 because we've made the right choices.
We've created 1.3 million net new jobs since the depths of the global economic recession,
and our plan will create another 1.3 million new, well-paying jobs by 2020.
EXPANDED TRADE
Canada is a trading nation and we've made historic strides to open new markets for Canadian businesses and their workers.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the largest free trade deal in history.
It provides almost 800 million new customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region for Canadian goods and services.
Membership in this agreement is a good deal for Canada, one that will create jobs and opportunities and protect our economy.
FAMILY HOME
Homeownership is a key way to support Canadian families.
And we're helping more Canadians become homeowners by providing new support to buy and invest in their homes.
Now one in seven Canadian households owns their own homes – one of the highest rates in the industrialized world.
And, under our plan for affordable, responsible homeownership, we'll aim to add more than 700,000 new homeowners by 2020.
SUPPORTING SENIORS
Canadian seniors deserve our respect and gratitude for a lifetime of hard work in service to our families, our communities, and our country.
Our Government has lowered taxes and enhanced benefits to make life more affordable for Canadian seniors.
And, under our plan, single and widowed seniors will get new, major tax relief to help them live their later years in dignity and comfort.
These are our priorities:   Keeping our budget balanced.
Lowering taxes on families, seniors, and small businesses.
Creating 1.3 million new jobs.
Opening new markets for Canadian businessesand workers.
Helping 700,000 more Canadians own their own homes.
This is our positive plan to protect Canada's fragile economy and keep it moving forward for the next four years.
OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR A BALANCED BUDGET AND LOW TAXES
To protect Canada's economy, a re-elected Conservative Government will:   Ensure the federal budget remains balanced
Control government spending
Keep the tax burden low
Continue to reduce Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio
Maintain our balanced budget legislation
Pass “Tax Lock” legislation to prohibit tax increases in the next four years
Budgets don't balance themselves.
Canadian families and small business owners understand that.
So does our Conservative Government.
Keeping Canada's public finances on a solid footing involves hard work and tough choices.
And that's what we've done.
Our Conservative Government has controlled spending, lowered taxes, and kept Canada's debt levels the lowest in the G-7 by far.
This serves as the fiscal foundation for our plan for Canada's economy.
A balanced budget lets us return more money back into the pockets of hard-working families.
The federal tax burden is now at its lowest in over half a century.
A balanced budget lets us maintain our low debt levels.
Low public debt means less taxpayer money dedicated to interest payments and makes it easier for businesses to borrow and invest at a low cost.
A balanced budget lets us make targeted, affordable investments to protect our fragile economy and help families.
This is the basis for our recent enhancement to the monthly Universal Child Care Benefit, our historic infrastructure investment, and the new measures set out in our plan for the next four years.
A balanced budget allows us to protect key programs such as health care and education without having to make deep spending cuts,
like previous Liberal governments.
A balanced budget ensures that we're not passing on a massive debt burden to our children and grandchildren.
It's for these reasons that our Conservative Government has been so committed to balancing the budget.
A balanced budget is the anchor for our low-tax plan that's helping Canadian families and protecting Canada's fragile economy.
We ran a temporary deficit in 2009 to help protect and create jobs in the face of the worst global economic recession since the 1930s.
But as part of our Economic Action Plan, we also set out a clear, credible plan to return to a balanced budget.
And we've been focused on that plan ever since.
Unlike the previous Liberal government,
we've continued to increase transfer payments to the provinces and territories for health care and education as we promised.
And we've kept taxes low.
Instead, we've eliminated the deficit by controlling government spending,
by eliminating waste and duplication,
and by getting rid of outdated or ineffective programs.
Our plan is working.
We returned to balance in 2014-15 – a full year ahead of schedule.
And, according to the Department of Finance, we're on track for the second balanced budget in a row this year.
Canada's sound public finances are the envy of the world, a source of our economic strength, and a re-elected Conservative Government will ensure they remain that way.
Spending beyond our means, as the Liberals and NDP would have us do, would cause structural deficits that would damage our economy,
lead to tax hikes and program cuts,
and burden future generations with heavy debt.
We need only to look around the world at countries like Greece to see the consequences of profligate and irresponsible spending.
That's not our plan, and not the way forward for Canada.
We'll continue to advance our low-tax, balanced budget plan for jobs and growth,
and we'll continue to operate in the black, spending sensibly within our means and keeping the books balanced.
A re-elected Conservative Government will balance the budget every year in the next four years
while keeping taxes low,
increasing transfers to the provinces and territories for health care and education,
and making affordable investments to protect the economy and help Canadian families.
We'll accomplish this by controlling the growth of direct program spending
and maintaining the operating budget freeze for one more year.
These steps will provide the fiscal room to make the affordable investments set out in our plan
and ensure that the budget remains balanced without raising taxes.
Our plan is based on the fiscal projections in the 2015 Budget presented in April.
These projections were based on independent, expert advice from Canada's leading private-sector economists, and include contingencies of up to $3 billion per year to account for the current global economic uncertainty.
Put simply: Canadians can count on us to keep the budget balanced and taxes low in the next four years.
We're so committed to these goals, we'll entrench them in law.
Our balanced budget legislation ensures that the only acceptable deficit is one that responds to a recession or truly extraordinary circumstances.
Deficits outside of these rare scenarios are unacceptable.
A re-elected Conservative Government will follow the Federal Budget Balanced Act to keep spending under control, the budget balanced, and taxes low.
We will also continue to reduce Canada's debt burden to meet our debt-to-GDP target of 25 percent by 2021.
Canada now has the lowest debt levels by far among G-7 countries,
and we'll make sure our children and grandchildren aren't forced to pay the price for reckless borrowing and spending.
Canadians know they can trust us to lower their taxes and keep them low.
This is a major point of difference between our Conservative Party and the Liberals and NDP.
These two parties have promised some combination of higher taxes on individuals, families, seniors, and small businesses
– including taking away income splitting
and eliminating Tax- Free Savings Accounts in whole or in part.
Our low-tax pledge is rooted in our record.
Canadians know that we'll do what we say and that we'll manage taxpayer dollars responsibly.
But unlike the Liberals and NDP, we're prepared to go even further and entrench our low-tax plan in legislation.
A re-elected Conservative Government will pass legislation imposing a “tax lock” that prohibits increases to federal personal and business income tax rates, sales tax rates, and discretionary payroll taxes over the next four years.
This pledge backs our low-tax commitment with the force of the law.
AT RISK
Our Conservative Government is the only party in this election with a clear plan to keep the budget balanced and taxes low.
Not only do we have a clear track record, but we're putting forward new measures to ensure the budget stays balanced and the tax burden continues to fall.
The Liberals and NDP have put forward plans to run large, permanent deficits, hike taxes on workers, families, and small businesses, and leave our economy exposed.
They'll do this by:   Adding billions of dollars in new spending, running ongoing, permanent deficits, and accumulating billions more in debt.
Repealing our balanced budget legislation so they can run deficits without being accountable to Canadians.
Putting important programs like health care and education at risk as a result of their reckless and irresponsible spending.
Eliminating the Family Tax Cut which is providing up to $2,000 in tax relief for 1.7 million families.
Taking away the monthly Universal Child-Care Benefit which is providing nearly $2,000 per year for children under age 6, and more than $700 per year for children aged 6 to 17.
The UCCB goes to all the nearly four million families with children.
Shutting down Tax-Free Savings Accounts which are helping 11 million Canadians save and grow their savings tax-free.
Cancelling Pension Income Splitting which is providing one million senior couples with more than $1 billion annual tax relief.
Hiking payroll taxes – as much as $1,000 per year for someone making $60,000 – on Canadian workers and small businesses.
Driving up the price of everything Canadian families buy – including gasoline, groceries, and home heating fuel – by imposing carbon pricing schemes on the Canadian economy.
OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR A STRONGER ECONOMY
To protect our economy and create jobs, a re-elected Conservative Government will:   Aim to create 1.3 million new jobs by 2020
Cut taxes on small businesses from 11 to 9 percent
Lower payroll taxes on small businesses and workers by more than 20 percent
Implement the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement
Provide new incentives for manufacturers to purchase equipment
and invest in new technologies
Grant tax relief to businesses that hire apprentices
As much of the rest of the world continues to struggle with the fallout from the recent global financial recession, Canada has emerged in a position of relative strength.
We have one of the best job-creation records in the G-7.
Indeed, since the depths of the global recession, 1.3 million net new jobs – mostly well-paying, full-time positions in the private sector – have been created.
That's more Canadians working than before the recession.
That's more Canadians working than ever before in our country's history.
And it's so much more than just a number.
With every job created, there's another Canadian who knows the dignity of supporting his or her family, and another family with a brighter future.
Having a good job is the difference between worrying about today and dreaming about tomorrow – which is why the creation of new, well-paying jobs for Canadians will continue to be our top priority.
The best way to ensure more and better jobs is to create the right conditions for our enterprising businesses to do what they do best.
Businesses create jobs and opportunities that make our economy stronger, and the new products and ideas that make our lives better.
That means continuing with our Conservative plan to balance the budget, keep taxes and debt low,
open new markets for Canadians products,
make smart, affordable investments in the economy,
and support entrepreneurs and small businesses as they hire and grow.
Keeping our budget balanced
and lowering taxes on small businesses is the right way for government to protect Canada's fragile economy and create jobs.
The other parties have a different vision.
The Liberals and NDP believe that they can raise taxes, run deficits, and accumulate more government debt without killing jobs.
But all you have to do is look around the world to see the consequences of that type of high-tax, high-debt agenda.
It saps small business ingenuity and diminishes the reward for innovation and hard-work.
It punishes success and discourages entrepreneurs from entering the market.
It chokes off job creation and, ultimately, wrecks economies.
In Canada, it would mean more Canadians out of work and looking for jobs.
Canadians simply can't afford the high-tax agenda of the Liberals and NDP.
The path forward is clear: only a re-elected Conservative Government will continue to implement its low-tax, balanced budget plan to protect Canada's economy
and create jobs.
This is the right path.
It's working.
And we intend to keep moving forward.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on our job-creation record by implementing a positive plan to create 1.3 million net new jobs by 2020.
KEEPING TAXES LOW
We understand that keeping taxes low helps small businesses to grow and create new, well-paying jobs.
Because of our low-tax, balanced budget plan for jobs and economic growth, Canada has the lowest overall tax rate on new business investment of all the major advanced economies,
and our tax rate on small businesses continues to fall.
Canada is now often cited as one of the best countries in the world in which to do business.
A re-elected Conservative Government will maintain and build on this low-tax record.
We will not raise taxes on the businesses that create jobs for Canadians or on Canadian workers.
Our “tax lock” legislation will prohibit income and sales tax rate increases and discretionary payroll tax hikes on Canadian businesses and workers for the next four years.
Instead, we will carry out our plan to lower the tax rate on small businesses – which we've already lowered from 13 percent to 11 percent – another two percentage points, to nine percent, by 2019.
This is the largest reduction in the small business tax rate in a quarter century.
The Liberals and NDP have promised to raise payroll taxes on workers and small businesses by billions of dollars.
But we know that lower payroll taxes encourage small businesses to hire more Canadians, and to pay them higher wages.
That's why we've worked so hard to keep those taxes down.
Our low-tax record is clear.
We have kept payroll taxes low
and in 2014 we created the two-year Small Business Job Credit to provide more than $550 million in payroll tax relief for 780,000 job-creating businesses across the country.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to lower these taxes.
Beginning in 2017, when the current freeze on EI premiums expires, we will lower them by more than 20 percent – a substantial benefit to Canadian small businesses and workers.
Our small businesses will be able to hire even more workers, and for 16 million Canadian workers, it'll mean a significant salary raise.
We're the only party - the only ones that can be trusted - to keep taxes low on small businesses and their workers for the next four years.
OPENING MARKETS FOR CANADIAN BUSINESSES
From the days of the French and British traders who first laid the foundations of our modern economy, Canada has been a trading nation.
Trade is the lifeblood of our economy.
It accounts for 60 percent of our GDP, and one in five Canadian jobs.
Canadian businesses and workers know instinctively that we can compete with the world's best as long as the playing field is level.
We also know that we're better off when our goods and services can reach global markets without barriers and restrictions.
Yet previous governments failed Canadians when it came to negotiating trade access for Canadian products.
While other countries were busy signing free-trade deals and receiving preferential access to important markets, the Liberals weren't even at the negotiating table.
And Canadian businesses and workers suffered.
Our Conservative Government has reversed this inaction and opened up new markets for Canadian products and services.
When we took office Canada had free trade agreements with only five other countries.
We've now reached agreements with 44, countries, encompassing more than half the global marketplace, including historic trade deals with South Korea and the European Union, with its 500-million person, $18-trillion economy.
These agreements have given Canadian businesses and their workers access to more than half the global marketplace.
Yet there's more to accomplish.
In the past few days we have concluded the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with 11 other founding countries, including the United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
The TPP is the largest free trade deal in history.
It gives  greater access for Canadian goods and services to almost 800 million consumers throughout the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.
It's a great deal for Canada that will significantly benefit our economy and Canadians' prosperity.
The TPP will protect and create jobs,
grow Canada's economy,
and provide financial security to workers and businesses in all regions of the country.
It guarantees preferential access for Canadian goods and services in a range of sectors including agriculture and agri-food, fish and seafood, forestry, metals and mining, and manufactured industrial goods.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a historic agreement that will protect and create jobs, and grow Canada's economy now and in the future.
That's why a re-elected Conservative Government will ratify and implement the TPP.
As part of the TPP negotiations, we've defended and protected Canada's supply management system, as we committed to.
We've limited access to only three and one quarter percent of our dairy market.
And we've announced key programs to ensure Canada's supply-managed sectors -- and the communities that depend on them -- continue to thrive.
To ensure stability for supply-managed farmers through the implementation of our trade agreements, we've established long-term income and quota guarantee programs.
And we're supporting investment in cutting-edge technologies for our processing sector and marketing of world-class Canadian products, which are of the highest quality.
Free trade only works when it's also fair – and this means a modern and effective system of remedy when a Canadian company has been treated unjustly.
A re-elected Conservative Government will take steps to modernize our system and ensure that it's comparable with the practices and policies of our main trading partners.
To this end we'll:   Mandate the Canada Border Services Agency to carry out a full investigation of trade complaints even in cases when preliminary reviews by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal come back negative.
Require the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to carry out an automatic five-year review of every finding of non-compliance, to ensure the conflict has been resolved in a satisfactory manner.
Continue to work with stakeholders such as the Canadian Steel Producers Association to ensure that the system is effective and accessible, and ultimately creates a level-playing field for Canadian businesses.
The federal government provides a wide range of programs and services to firms looking to invest in Canada and to Canadian businesses trying to sell their goods and services abroad.
These initiatives help attract investment and job creation in Canada
and support export-oriented Canadian businesses in their search for new market opportunities and new customers.
There remains, however, room for improvement.
The system can be difficult for small firms to navigate.
Government efforts to attract investment and promote job creation can sometimes be stymied by a lack of coordination.
A re-elected Conservative Government will establish an Investment and Trade Promotion Office with a mandate to coordinate the government's various efforts to encourage businesses in other countries to invest in Canada,
and to promote Canadian exports abroad.
The Office will be a one-stop shop to attract investment and product mandates to Canada
and help growing Canadian businesses enter new markets.
CUTTING RED TAPE
Small businesses should be focused on creating jobs, not filling out paperwork.
That's why our Conservative Government has made it a priority to reduce bureaucratic red tape.
We've passed world-leading “One-for- One” legislation that requires bureaucrats to eliminate a current regulation before establishing a new one.
We've taken steps to harmonize Canadian regulations with those of our major trading partners.
And we've improved the way we consult with small business owners about government policy.
The result of all this is a dramatic change in the culture of the federal government, putting unprecedented emphasis on the needs of Canadian small businesses.
And the benefits so far are clear: Small businesses are now spending $32 million less sorting through regulatory red tape.
That's hundreds of thousands of working hours Canadians are now spending building their businesses instead of filling out forms.
But there's always more that can be done.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on this record by:   Launching a new round of consultations, asking small business owners across the country for feedback on our current reforms and suggestions for future measures.
Expanding the “red tape baseline,” increasing significantly the scope of the red tape burden subject to the One-for-One rule.
And with a more comprehensive baseline, challenging ourselves to reduce the overall burden by 20 percent.
We'll achieve this goal while maintaining the highest standards in all areas, including health and safety.
To achieve our 20 percent target we will take short-term, immediate action to cut red tape in ways that are real, measureable and meaningful to Canadians.
We'll work with the Retail Council of Canada to better harmonize Canada's child car seat regulations with the United States.
This will reduce the red tape burden for our retailers,
and at the same time allow them to offer greater choice and better prices to Canadian parents with young families.
And we'll make life easier for the 1.2 million Canadians who claim home-office expense deductions, 80 percent of whom are self-employed.
Anyone who makes a claim once will be able to use the same cost estimates, adjusted for inflation, in subsequent years.
MANUFACTURING STRATEGY
In a fast-changing world, here's one thing that hasn't changed: Canada's manufacturing sector is absolutely vital to our growing economy.
It accounts for about 11 percent of our GDP, 61 percent of Canadian exports, and provides good, secure jobs to almost 1.7 million Canadians across the country.
Indirectly, it employs many millions more.
Manufacturing firms pay out $1.85 billion weekly in salaries to Canadian workers across the country.
But what is changing is the nature of the work.
It's becoming more skilled, more specialized, and more globally competitive.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau says that manufacturing's time is passed, that it's time for Canada to “transition away” from manufacturing.
Our Conservative Government disagrees.
Manufacturing has played a key role in Canada's economy since before Confederation – and, with the right plan, will continue to sustain high-quality, high-paying jobs and economic activity across the country.
Our Conservative Government has a positive plan to sustain our manufacturing sector.
We're:   Lowering taxes to make it easier for manufacturers to invest in advanced technology and equipment.
Helping Canadians acquire the skills and training they need to take advantage of new opportunities in manufacturing.
Opening new markets for manufacturers to find customers and sell their products.
Making strategic investments to encourage research and development and the creation of new products and technologies.
This is what our manufacturing strategy is all about.
And it's working.
Manufacturing wages are up nearly 20 percent since we've come to office.
But there's more to be done to support what the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters have called our “manufacturing renaissance.”
Manufacturers need to invest in new machinery and equipment to remain globally competitive, expand their businesses, and create good new jobs.
To help with this, we've reduced taxes steadily on these investments.
A re-elected Conservative Government will carry out our ten-year plan to lower the tax burden on Canadian manufacturers that acquire the machinery and equipment they need to succeed.
Canada is attracting high-quality, value-added manufacturing investment.
But more can be done to bolster advanced manufacturing across the country.
A re-elected Conservative Government will support a new Advanced Manufacturing Hub in partnership with employers, our colleges and universities, and other stakeholders to encourage the development of new cutting-edge products and technologies.
The new center, located in Southwestern Ontario, will become a catalyst for high-quality, value-added investment and jobs in the manufacturing sector.
A re-elected Conservative Government will establish a $100-million Manufacturing Technology Demonstration Fund to support large-scale, cutting-edge manufacturing projects in the developmental, pre-commercial stages.
This fund will build on our existing significant investments in science and technology to make Canada a world leader in new manufacturing technologies.
We'll also renew the Automotive Innovation Fund for ten years, beginning in 2018-19, at baseline funding of $100 million per year.
This will help to create a stable, predictable environment for new automotive investment in Canada.
In addition, we'll change the program's parameters in the immediate term to include bricks and mortar as eligible expenses
and offer grants rather than repayable loans for greenfield investments and investments in existing facilities that guarantee a long-term presence and operation.
We still believe the phrase "Made in Canada" translates well around the world: It means high-quality goods built by highly skilled workers, and it inspires confidence that a product is the very best.
And on our watch, Canada will never turn away from this legacy of excellence.¸
SKILLS TRAINING FOR NEW AND BETTER JOBS
A big part of our Conservative Government's agenda has been providing support to those Canadians looking to upgrade their skills for a new job,
enter the skilled trades,
or obtain credential recognition for their international training.
Having the right skills is often the key to finding a new job or getting a pay raise.
As part of this agenda, our Government has always made a priority of supporting apprenticeships and Canadians working in the skilled trades.
These are the people who are literally building this great country,
and one estimate predicts that Canada will need one million more skilled workers by 2020.
One measure we've taken to help young Canadians launch careers in the skilled trades is the Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit.
The program has been a resounding success, with the number of businesses using this tax credit rising six fold – from about 2,000 to almost 12,000 and nearly 68,000 apprentices.
To build on this success, and to encourage more employers to create more jobs for the next generation of skilled workers, a re-elected Conservative Government will take further steps to support those who wish to enter the skilled trades
and to help Canadians wishing to update their skills for a new or better-paying jobs.
These steps include:   Enhancing and extending the Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit – raising the amount employers can claim to $2,500
and extending the credit into the third and fourth years of an apprenticeship program.
Establishing a new Skilled Trades Job Experience Program to help up to 2,000 young Canadians get valuable job experience working in the skilled trades.
Working with the provinces and territories, employers, and interested post-secondary institutions to develop curriculum that better responds to employer and market needs.
Implementing Canada Apprentice Loans to help aspiring tradespeople get the training they need.
Continuing to support skills-training programming such as the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy and the Skills and Partnership Fund to help First Nations participate fully in the economy and find high-paying, high-quality jobs.
Maintaining programs such as the Opportunities Fund and the Enabling Accessibility Fund to help disabled Canadians participate in the job market.
Canada is a beacon of freedom and prosperity to people all around the world,
and attracts countless immigrants every year seeking a better place to raise their families and pursue their dreams.
But too often they find it challenging to pursue their careers here because of difficulties having their professional credentials recognized, leaving them under-employed and unable to maximize both their own potential and their contribution to our country.
In fact, this problem costs the Canadian economy about $2 billion every year.
Our Government has worked hard to help new Canadians in this position.
In 2011 we launched a pilot program that provided loans to support new Canadians who needed help with training and licensing to have their international credentials recognized here in Canada.
It was a significant success, distributing 2,000 loans across the country – and recovering more than 99 percent of the money lent.
So in Economic Action Plan 2015, we made this program permanent.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on this success story by doubling the size of the program,
and setting a goal of providing as many as 20,000 foreign credential recognition loans over the next four years.
We'll also work with the provinces and territories, through the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications,
to improve the service standards for accreditation decisions for target, high-demand occupations under the Framework from one year to 60 days.
The Canada Job Grant is the most important reform to federal skills-training program in decades.
The new Canada Job Grant helps employers train new or existing employees for jobs that need to be filled.
It's providing federal grants of up to $10,000 per worker for skills upgrades, on the condition that the training is tied to new or better jobs.
The program is working.
Nearly 50,000 grants have been funded to date.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support the Canada Job Grant
and consider ways to build on its success in other job-training programs.
OUR WORLD-LEADING IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
Canada is a welcoming country and attracts many of the world's best and brightest who are searching for freedom and opportunity, while continuing our tradition of family reunification and refugee protection.
Our Conservative Government has maintained immigration at historically high levels, attracting newcomers who have the skills and experience our economy needs.
Since 2006, we have welcomed over 2.5 million new permanent residents, including 240,000 refugees,
and have sworn-in 1.6 million new Canadian citizens.
To ensure that newcomers succeed, while growing the Canadian economy,
the Conservative Government has made important reforms, including:   Moving to a fast and flexible immigration system
where the priority focus is on meeting Canada's labour market needs.
Creating the Canadian Experience class that invites foreign students who have graduated from Canadian universities and colleges to stay and obtain permanent residency.
Radically improving the geographic distribution of immigrants across Canada, partly by increasing the Provincial Nominee Programs by tenfold.
Eliminating massive backlogs created by previous Liberal governments that left aspiring Canadians waiting for years.
Establishing a new Expression of Interest system that shifts from a passive processing of applications to fast-tracking of applicants with jobs offers or in-demand skills.
Reforming the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to prevent abuses,
and ensure that Canadians always get the first chance at available jobs.
Increasing family reunification by 10%,
while introducing the popular new ten-year multiple-entry Super Visa for parents and grandparents.
Cutting the Liberals' right of landing fee in half, saving newcomers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Tripling funding for settlement services, like free language classes and job search skills.
Creating free pre-arrival orientation counselling for selected economic immigrants to help them get a head start on credential recognition and finding employment before they get to Canada.
While our government has welcomed a record number of newcomers, we have also strengthened the integrity of our immigration system,
cracking down on those who would abuse Canada's generosity by:   Adopting the Cracking Down on Crooked Immigration Consultants Act,
and designating a stronger new regulatory body for immigration consultants.
Combatting immigration marriage fraud with a two-year residency requirement, which has resulted in a significant decline in commercial marriages of convenience.
Reforming the asylum system to ensure that bona fide refugee claimants get protection, and bogus claimants are removed, in months rather than years.
This has led to a large reduction in the number of unfounded asylum claims being made in Canada.
Successfully combatting human smuggling, through the adoption of the Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act, which has helped to stop dangerous marine smuggling operations from targeting Canada.
Significantly improving immigration security screening through the adoption of a biometric visa requirement, electronic travel authorization for visa-exempt nationals, an entry-exit information system,
and the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act.
These policies are helping to transform Canada's immigration system,
support Canada's economy,
and provide greater opportunity to new Canadians.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to make the immigration system faster, flexible, and more responsive to the needs of Canada's economy.
We'll continue to be a world leader in refugee protection.
We'll increase the intake of applications for the parents and grandparents sponsorship program,
as the backlog and processing times continue to decrease.
SPURRING INNOVATION AND RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The marketplace is dynamic.
Canadian businesses grow and succeed by staying ahead of the competition.
This means adopting new technologies and developing new goods, services, and processes.
Staying ahead means never growing complacent and always innovating.
Our Conservative Government has helped Canadian businesses invest and grow through targeted tax relief,
new financing to develop products and processes,
and partnerships with universities, colleges, and polytechnics to test out new ideas and turn them into the next big technology success story.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to help Canadian businesses adopt advanced technologies and carry out research and development by:   Implementing the $100 million Automotive Supplier Innovation Program to support product development and technology demonstration by Canadian automotive parts suppliers.
Rolling out the $200 million Advanced Manufacturing Fund to support new and innovative products and production methods in Ontario.
Working with Canada's world-leading aerospace industry to develop a national supplier development initiative to ensure Canada's aerospace industry remains a global technology leader and a major source of high-quality jobs.
Continuing our participation in the International Space Station which will mean new opportunities for Canada's space industry,
and expanding support for Canada's satellite telecommunications sector through its partnership with the European Space Agency.
Providing ongoing support to the National Research Council's transformation to better serve the research and development needs of Canadian businesses.
This includes ongoing support for the Industrial Research Assistance Program which is helping small-and medium-sized businesses finance research initiatives.
Expanding our support for the National Optics Institute in Quebec City, to continue its leadership in business-oriented optic and photonic research.
We'll also continue to support research and development at Canada's universities, colleges, and polytechnics.
Our Government has invested over $13 billion in science, technology and innovation since 2006.
And Canada has consistently ranked first in the G-7 for research and development spending in the higher education sector as a share of GDP.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support basic and applied post-secondary research by:   Implementing the $1.5 billion Canada First Research Excellence Fund to support world-leading research projects that create long-term economic advantage for Canada.
Continuing to support the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to finance research infrastructure on university, college, and polytechnic campuses.
We'll provide $1.33 billion over six years, starting in 2017-18, to support the Foundation's ongoing work.
Investing in ongoing support for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
CREATING OPPORTUNITY FOR CANADA'S FARMERS
It's no exaggeration to say that the family farm is the foundation of the Canada we love today.
The products have evolved, the markets have changed, and the technology has advanced, but some things remain constant: From before the sun comes up to long after it goes down, farmers across Canada do the backbreaking work that feeds the country.
The work is hard, and financially risky – but absolutely vital to Canadians.
It's also vital to our economy.
The agriculture and agri-food sectors account for more than $100 billion in economic activity every year,
and employ more than two million Canadians.
The importance of agriculture to our national interest can't be overstated.
And our Conservative Government's support for farmers is unwavering.
A significant part of our support for the sector has been dedicated to innovation and crop science.
Our Government has consistently supported strategic research and development by industry into agricultural technologies, processes, practices and services – research that drives growth and creates jobs and opportunities in the industry by making it more sustainable and more globally competitive.
The projects we are supporting are as diverse as the industry itself.
The Agri-Innovation program, for instance, has been used to develop pest-management tools in the blueberry industry;
to find new and innovative ways to turn food by-products into environmentally friendly, value-added goods;
and to increase the competitiveness of our food-processing industry while making our food better, healthier, and safer.
A re-elected Conservative Government will increase funding to the Agri-Innovation program by $100 million over three years,
and make projects driven by universities and colleges eligible for financing.
Our farmers and their produce can compete with the best in the world.
Our Government has been there to help them enter global markets and find new customers.
We established the Market Access Secretariat in 2009 to serve as a single-window to help Canadian farmers with trade-related issues.
We've hired trade commissioners dedicated to agriculture issues.
And we've co-funded marketing activities with industry to enhance Canada's agricultural presence in priority markets.
A re-elected Conservative Government will increase support for the Agri-Marketing Program to help promote Canada's agricultural and agri-food products around the world, building on our international reputation for excellence
and increasing the visibility of the Canadian brand in important markets.
We'll also continue to expand the activities of the Market Access Secretariat to help Canadian farmers diversify into new markets.
As we open new markets for agricultural products, we'll continue to stand up for Canadian farmers and industries by defending our system of supply management in all international forums and trade negotiations.
We understand that market access also requires a robust transportation system with fair rules and accountabilities.
Our Government passed the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act in May 2014 to provide more certainty and better service standards with respect to grain volumes for farmers and shippers.
We also launched a broader review of our transportation system to determine what policy changes should be made to address key issues facing the transportation sector, including ensuring Canada's supply chains have the capacity, flexibility and resiliency to meet future demands.
The review panel, led by the Honourable David Emerson, will provide recommendations to the government later this year.
A re-elected Conservative Government will take action to improve Canada's transportation network
and support market access for Canadian farmers, based upon the recommendations of the transportation review.
PROMOTING CANADA'S FISHERIES
Commercial fishing has been a pillar of the Canadian economy since the 16th century.
Today, Canada's commercial fishery employs, directly and indirectly, about 80,000 Canadians, and exports about $5 billion worth of fish and other seafood every year.
Our Government has a strong record of supporting Canadians who make their living on the water, and is committed to the continued success of this industry and the prosperity of the Canadians it employs.
Among our accomplishments are:   New measures targeting fish harvesters who are not compliant with the Preserving the Independence of the Inshore Fleet in Canada's Atlantic Fisheries Policy.
Ongoing maintenance and upgrades to Canada's small craft harbours – including more than 250 small craft harbour improvement projects planned over the next two years.
Establishing and expanding the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program to conserve and protect Canada's recreational fisheries.
The program has funded nearly 300 conservation projects across the country to date.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to build on these initiatives with a focus on science,
marine conservation,
and promoting Canadian products in new markets including through the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Canada's most important commercial fishery is lobster, with exports generating more than $1 billion a year.
It has supported Canadian fishing families for more than a century, and plays a substantial role in the economies of coastal communities in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.
Our Government has seen the lobster fishery through good times and bad, including investing significant funds through the Community Adjustment Fund-Lobster Initiative and the Short- Term Transitional Measures Program to help the industry through the global recession.
And the Atlantic Lobster Sustainability Measures Program provided support for restructuring and rationalization,
as well as conservation and stewardship programs to support the long-term sustainability of the industry.
We'll continue these efforts.
A re-elected Conservative Government will fund a new lobster branding initiative to be carried out in co-operation with the Lobster Council of Canada.
This measure will support the Council's work promoting the Canada Lobster Brand both here at home and in export markets around the world.
We'll also pursue new markets for Canadian lobster.
A re-elected Conservative Government will also work in collaboration with the provinces and the University of Prince Edward Island's AVC Lobster Science Centre to pursue biomass research, gaining valuable information that will inform policy decisions affecting the lobster fishery for years to come.
We'll also support the Atlantic salmon fishery by confronting Greenland on the issue of overfishing Canada's Atlantic salmon stock
and increasing the harvest of striped bass to improve the survival of juvenile Atlantic salmon, following receipt of an upcoming Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientific study.
Our sealing industry is of vital importance to many coastal communities, in particular among Canada's Aboriginal peoples.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to pursue new and expanded markets for these products, including establishing a system of certification to demonstrate that products resulting from Aboriginal hunting meet European Union standards.
As part of the completion of the Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement, we've committed to working with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
to provide support for those affected by the elimination of minimum processing requirements (MPRs) in the fishery sector.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to work with the province to provide compensation for losses arising from the gradual elimination of these requirements.
We have set aside $280 million ($93 million per year over 3 years) for this purpose which is intended to be matched 70:30 by the province.
In the event that we cannot reach an agreement with the province to deliver a joint compensation program, we'll compensate workers directly who have been negatively impacted by MPR phase-outs.
SUPPORTING CANADA'S FORESTRY SECTOR AND ITS WORKERS
Our great forests are among the features that define us most as a country, and our forestry industry has been a source of prosperity since before Confederation.
Today, the industry supports more than 200,000 Canadian families, and contributes $20 billion to our national GDP.
And, we're proud to say, our industry sets the gold standard for environmentally-friendly forest managment.
More than 160 million hectares of Canadian forest are managed by companies that have been independently certified for their progressive and sustainable management practices.
In fact, almost half of all the forests in the world that are managed to this standard are in Canada – four times more than our nearest competitor.
And this hasn't gone unnoticed.
A 2014 survey of international wood and wood products buyers found that Canada's forestry industry had the best environmental reputation in the world.
Still, there are some groups who continue to spread falsehoods among our industry's customers about Canadian forestry practices,
sabotaging businesses
and hurting the hardworking Canadians who take pride in their industry.
Mills have closed, and Canadians have lost their jobs because of these actions.
A re-elected Conservative Government will help Canada's forestry industry fight back by establishing a fund to match private-sector contributions to promote Canadian forestry products and our sustainable management practices, and to counter those who are conducting misinformation campaigns.
This new commitment builds upon other steps we intend to take to help support Canada's forestry sector and its workers:   A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to pursue untapped market opportunities to expand and diversify our export markets both here in North America and around the world.
This includes renegotiating an agreement to allow our softwood lumber exports to enter the United States market.
We'll continue to encourage the growth and modernization of the industry through the Forest Innovation Program, which supports research and development.
And we'll continue investing in the Forest Industry Transportation Program, which supports the development of new technologies that make our forestry industry more efficient and more environmentally friendly.
EXPANDING NEW MINING OPPORTUNITIES
Canada is a global leader in the mining sector.
From Yukon's gold to Labrador's iron, the industry provides almost 400,000 Canadians across the country with jobs that, for the most part, are the highest-paying industrial jobs in the country.
It's the main business for 150 communities in rural and northern Canada,
and employs the largest number, proportionally, of Aboriginal Canadians of any industry.
We're committed to ensuring this vital sector remains a source of jobs and opportunity for Canadians for generations to come.
The Mineral Exploration Tax Credit has helped junior mining companies raise more than $5.5 billion for exploration since 2006.
In 2013 alone, more than 250 companies used the credit to raise financing from 19,000 individual investors.
A re-elected Conservative Government will extend the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for three years to support further mining exploration and investment.
Meanwhile, the development of hundreds of potential mining projects in this great, vast country – such as the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario and Plan Nord in Quebec – is challenged by the high cost of working far from transportation routes and supply centres.
Many of these ventures could be economic game-changers for the Canadians living in the surrounding regions.
A re-elected Conservative Government will support economic development in these communities by establishing an enhanced Mining Exploration Tax Credit for northern and remote mining projects.
These new commitments build on our current plan to support Canada's mining sector.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support jobs and growth in the mining industry by following through on our plan to invest further in the Targeted Geoscience Initiative, to promote increased mineral exploration by the private sector.
We'll also expand the eligible costs under the Canadian Exploration Expenses policy to include environmental studies
and community consultations.
RESPONSIBLE RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Canada is one of the world's great energy suppliers, providing the world with everything from oil and natural gas to coal, uranium, and biofuels.
Not surprisingly, then, the energy industry is more than a source of power.
Directly and indirectly providing good jobs for more than 900,000 Canadians,
and accounting for almost one third of our merchandise exports,
it's also a significant source of opportunity and prosperity.
But even those who don't make a living in the energy industry benefit in real, substantial ways from its success.
It contributes billions of dollars every year that governments spend on the programs and services that Canadians depend upon.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support this crucial industry, and the many Canadians who depend on it for their livelihoods.
This means not interfering in the independent project review process,
and making final decisions on individual projects based on the science and recommendations of expert bodies.
Canada is home to vast reserves of natural gas, a resource that holds immense potential for jobs and growth for generations to come if it can be exported to meet the ever-growing demands of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The most efficient way to do this is to transport it in liquefied form, which means establishing facilities to process our natural gas for shipping.
A re-elected Conservative Government will follow through with its plan to support the creation of a Liquefied Natural Gas industry,
helping investors meet their start-up costs by offering an accelerated Capital Cost Allowance on machinery and equipment used in processing facilities.
Our Government has a strong record of co-funding investments in pre-commercial clean technology projects to help bring them to market.
These investments are good for the environment and good for our economy.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support Sustainable Development Technology Canada's work to finance the development and demonstration of new, clean technologies that create efficiencies for businesses and contribute to sustainable economic development.
BUILDING ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE
The founders of Confederation bound our country together with a great railway because they knew a country of this size could not function without significant investments in infrastructure.
It's no different today.
From highways, airports and harbours to subways, bridges and community facilities, infrastructure projects create good jobs for tens of thousands of Canadians,
drive our economy,
improve our quality of life,
and connect us to each other.
More than 95 percent of Canada's core public infrastructure is owned by provinces, territories, and municipalities
but, since 2006, our Conservative Government has made a historic commitment to supporting public infrastructure across the country.
We promised in 2006 “a better approach to fixing Canada's infrastructure deficit,” and we've delivered.
Federal support for infrastructure has increased dramatically under our Government.
Annual federal funding has increased from $571 million a decade ago to over $5 billion this year.
And we have launched the largest, longest-running infrastructure program in Canadian history.
Altogether, our investments in infrastructure for the years 2013-2023 will total almost $85 billion.
This level of investment is without precedent, and we've accomplished it while bringing the budget back into balance and lowering taxes.
Infrastructure is also key to trade, and Canadian products need modern infrastructure to travel efficiently to their final destinations at home and abroad.
Our Government has made historic investments in improving our trade-oriented infrastructure such as ports, harbours, and rail.
Improvements include major projects at Port Metro Vancouver, the Port of Quebec, the Port of Montreal, the Saint John Harbour Bridge, and the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor and Detroit.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support important economic investments such as these across the country.
We'll launch the Quebec Maritime Prosperity Initiative to fund maritime and port infrastructure – including improvements to facilities for cruise ships and tall ships, such as the Quai Alexandra terminal in Montreal, the Ross Gaudreault terminal in Quebec City, and the restoration of Champlain – Foulon sector promenade.
We'll fund key Asia-Pacific Gateway projects in Western Canada to strengthen our transport system and help Canadian businesses, including our farmers, get their products to market.
And we'll support major public transit projects – such as Smart Track in the Greater Toronto Area, Light Rail Transit in Surrey and Ottawa, and Calgary's Green Line – to fight gridlock,
reduce travel times for commuters and businesses,
and support new economic development.
Governing is about making choices.
We have chosen to keep taxes low,
balance the books,
and invest in infrastructure because we know that these things are good for our economy and good for Canadians.
A re-elected Conservative government will continue to invest in core public infrastructure, to keep our economy moving forward, and to make life easier and better for Canadians.
High-speed internet access is not just a quality-of-life issue – it's critical infrastructure that contributes to business investment, job creation, and, ultimately, economic development in rural and remote parts of our country.
Our Conservative Government has put significant effort and investments into extending high-speed broadband access to all Canadians.
Our goal is to ensure that 98 percent of Canadian households have high-speed internet service by 2017, and we're on track to meet this target.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on our record of expanding rural internet access by funding high-capacity backbone – such as fibre optic cable networks or satellite – in hundreds of communities across the country,
allowing people and businesses in northern and rural communities to access the internet at speeds currently enjoyed by Canadians in larger urban centres.
SUPPORTING NORTHERN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Canadians are a northern people; winter blows through our stories, our songs, and our sports.
And the Arctic itself is a key element of our national identity.
Its exploration, by great heroes like Sir John Franklin, is our history.
Its vast geography is our present.
And its limitless promise is our future.
One of the challenges of living in Canada's north is the high cost of healthy food.
The great distance between major shipping hubs and some of our most remote communities drives up prices, making feeding a family a much more expensive undertaking than in the rest of the country.
Our Conservative Government is committed to helping people in Northern communities enjoy the kind of healthy diet all Canadians enjoy,
and has invested significantly in the Nutrition North program, which subsidizes the cost of food shipped to communities in northern Canada.
But the program can be improved.
A re-elected Conservative Government will require that all retailers have a point-of-sale system for the Nutrition North program so that Northern customers can clearly see on their grocery receipts how and when the Nutrition North subsidy is applied.
We'll also extend the Nutrition North Program to 40 additional communities.
A key part of Canada's Northern Strategy is the devolution of power related to lands and resources to northern governments.
In Yukon and the Northwest Territories, which have reached agreements with the federal government to achieve this, significant prosperity, growth and opportunity have followed.
– it's about giving the people of the North more say in their own future, and greater control over their own destiny.
A re-elected Conservative Government will commit to completing the devolution of land and resource powers to the Government of Nunavut over the next four years.
A strong and prosperous North is key to a strong and prosperous Canada.
This is why our Government has worked hard to promote economic development in the North through an unprecedented number of important investments in infrastructure, including airports, marine facilities, and roads.
These investments benefit Northerners in real and significant ways.
First, making it more efficient to transport goods brings down prices, and lower prices make it easier to live, work and raise a family in the North.
Second, investments in infrastructure create new jobs and opportunities for Northerners.
Better infrastructure also improves Northerners' quality of life by making it easier and safer to get around.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on its record of infrastructure investment by improving the section of Highway 5 running through Wood Buffalo National Park and connecting Hay River to Fort Smith, NWT – widening it, replacing drainage culverts, and hard-surfacing the last 68-kilometre stretch that currently remains a gravel road.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support the Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development program to finance economic development projects in the territories.
And we'll also continue to support the Northern Project Management Office to foster a more stable and attractive investment climate for resource development in the territories.
AT RISK
Our low-tax, balanced budget plan has protected Canada's economy in the face of global economic turmoil.
Canada's economic growth and job-creation record has been world-leading but conditions remain fragile and external risks threaten our financial security.
Now is not the time to take our country in the wrong direction – a direction we know would expose our fragile economy,
cost Canadians money,
and put their jobs at risk.
Given the chance, the Liberals and NDP would expose Canada's fragile economy by:   Raising general taxes on job-creating businesses by billions of dollars.
Hiking payroll taxes on small businesses by billions more.
Imposing billions of dollars in carbon taxes on Canadian businesses that will put them at a major competitive disadvantage
and raise the price of everything for Canadian consumers.
Abandoning efforts to open up new markets for Canadian products.
Blocking resource development so that Canada's energy resources will stay in the ground instead of being developed responsibly to generate investment and jobs.
Siding with environmental special interest groups at the expense of Canada's forestry and mining sectors and their workers.
Re-establishing the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly to limit choice and opportunity for Western grain farmers.
Running up budget deficits
and accumulating significant new debt that will undermine investor confidence,
set Canada's economy back,
and impose a heavy burden on future generations.
OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR HARD-WORKING FAMILIES AND SENIORS
To protect our economy and help families, a re-elected Conservative Government will:   Establish a new, permanent Home Renovation Tax Credit
Increase the First-Time Home Buyers' Plan by 40 percent
Aim to add over 700,000 new homeowners by 2020
Double grants for low- and middle-income families saving for their children's education
Provide new tax relief for single and widowed seniors
Expand grants for families with disabled children
Families are the bedrock of our communities, and, by extension, our country.
When families thrive, Canada thrives.
It's always been our goal to make Canada the best country in the world in which to raise a family.
Now raising a family is hard work, and we believe it's work best left to the experts: Mom and Dad.
We believe that in a Canada of low taxes, good jobs, safe streets and the opportunity to prosper, they can do the rest – and that's what we're delivering.
That's why, when it comes to taxes, our Conservative Government is committed to taking as little as possible, and giving back as much as we can – especially to lower- and middle-income families.
In fact, the federal tax burden is now at the lowest level in over 50 years.
This principle has been at the heart of our Conservative Government's agenda since taking office.
It's why we:   Lowered the GST from seven to six to five percent.
Established, and then enhanced, the monthly Universal Child-Care Benefit.
Provided tax relief for families who put their children in sports and arts programs.
Granted tax relief for scholarships, bursaries, and textbooks to Canadian students.
Extended tax relief for public transit users.
Brought in Pension Income Splitting and other new tax relief for Canadian seniors.
Enacted and expanded Tax-Free Savings Accounts.
Introduced the $2,000 Family Tax Cut for families with children.
As a result of our Conservative plan, the typical Canadian family now has more than $6,600 in their pockets every year – real benefits, real relief, that they can count on.
We understand the financial pressure that families face, and we're focused on helping these families make ends meet.
Our plan leaves every family with children with more money in their pockets to spend on their priorities,
and the long-term financial security to pursue those priorities with confidence.
We want every family to succeed,
and we'll help by lowering their taxes and giving them the freedom to choose what's best for them.
And that's what a re-elected Conservative Government will continue to do.
We'll pass legislation imposing a “tax lock” on increases to federal income tax rates and sales tax rates, and discretionary payroll taxes over the next four years.
This pledge backs our low-tax commitment with the force of the law.
THE FAMILY HOME
For most Canadians, the family home is their biggest asset and their most significant investment in their future financial security.
It's also the focus of their lives – where they raise their children, relax with friends and family, and enjoy their golden years.
That's why our Conservative Government believes it's vitally important to help Canadians become homeowners,
to help them maintain and increase the value of their homes,
and to make changes through renovations as their needs and circumstances evolve.
Our plan for affordable, responsible homeownership is working.
Canada now has one of the highest homeownership rates in the world and exceeds that of the United States for the first time in decades.
Homeownership is a key way to support Canadian families.
And there's more we can do to help aspiring homeowners buy and invest in their homes.
A re-elected Conservative Government will set a target to add more than 700,000 new homeowners by 2020.
If this goal for affordable, responsible homeownership is reached, we'll see the number of Canadian homeowners exceed 10 million.
The Home Buyers' Plan allows aspiring homeowners to make tax-free withdrawals from their Registered Retirement Savings Plans to finance the purchase or new construction of their first home.
In 2009, our Conservative Government increased the allowable withdrawal from $20,000 to $25,000 – the first increase since the program was established a generation earlier.
This has become an important method of financing for first-time homeowners, benefiting almost 200,000 Canadians a year.
A re-elected Conservative Government will raise the Home Buyers' Plan limit once again, from $25,000 to $35,000.
With this increase we will continue to help families achieve the pride and stability of having a place to call their own.
The Home Renovation Tax Credit, originally established by our Government in 2009 as a temporary measure, was a resounding success.
About one in every three households took advantage of this program, saving more than three million Canadians, on average, more than $700 each.
It also pumped $4.3 billion into our national economy, in tough economic times.
It was such a success story – so good for Canadian families, and so good for the Canadian economy – that a re-elected Conservative Government will enact a new permanent Home Renovation Tax Credit, available each year for substantial home renovation expenses up to $2,500, beginning in January 2017, and $5,000, beginning in January 2019.
Given the importance of homeownership, our Government wants to make sure it remains a dream within reach for the average Canadian family.
Some reports have suggested that speculative foreign non-resident buyers are a significant factor in driving homes out of the price range of average families, especially in Vancouver and Toronto.
If speculators are driving up the cost of housing to unaffordable levels, that's something the government can and should address.
Other countries, like Australia, have put in place regulations that limit the ability of foreign buyers to purchase existing houses for investment purposes.
A re-elected Conservative Government will compile comprehensive data on the acquisition of Canadian real estate by foreign non-residents and temporary residents,
and, if this is contributing to putting the dream of homeownership out of reach of Canadians, we'll work in coordination with provincial governments to take the appropriate action.
SAVING FOR A CHILD'S EDUCATION
Part of ensuring Canadian children get the best possible start in life is helping their parents begin saving for their future education.
Our Conservative Government has a solid record of making it easier for families to save and prepare for their children's education,
including providing tax relief on scholarships and bursaries,
and targeting student grants to low- and middle-income students.
One of the ways we've helped families is through Registered Education Savings Plans.
These plans allow Canadians to invest money tax-free until it's time to pay that first tuition bill.
Because we realize how important this is, our Conservative Government has contributed significantly to Canadian families' RESPs, through matching grants.
In 2014, we helped 2.59 million children invest in their future, including 900,000 children from low- and middle-income families who received enhanced, targeted grants.
But we want to help even more.
A re-elected Conservative Government will:   Double the enhanced grant for middle-income families from 10 cents to 20 cents per dollar on the first $500 contributed each year.
Double the enhanced grant for lower-income families from 20 cents to 40 cents per dollar on the first $500 contributed each year.
$2,200 more per student or roughly a half year's tuition costs in additional government support, assuming a reasonable rate of return.
This new commitment builds on policies in our Economic Action Plan 2015 that will make life easier and more affordable for post-secondary students and their families including:   Eliminating in-study income from the Canada Student Loans Program assessment so that students can work, earn money, and gain valuable experience while studying without affecting their loan eligibility – helping 87,000 students per year.
Reducing the expected parental contributions from the Canada Student Loans Program assessment to better recognize the financial realities faced by Canadian families – increasing support to approximately 92,000 students.
Expanding the number of low- and middle-income students eligible for the Canada Student Grant program by making these grants applicable to short-term, vocational programs.
SAVING FOR A SECURE RETIREMENT
Canadians know the value of saving, whether it's for a car, for college or university, for a family vacation, or just for a rainy day.
And we believe in encouraging Canadians to save, which is why we've expanded significantly their ability to do so.
No two families are exactly alike, and imposing a one-size-fits-all approach to saving would be wrong for Canada and wrong for Canadians.
Instead, we're making it easier for Canadians to save money in whatever way works best for them and their families.
We want all Canadians to be able to dream big, knowing their hard-earned money will be there for them when they need it.
Saving for retirement is major priority for Canadians.
That's why our Conservative Government has consistently lowered taxes to leave Canadians with more take-home pay and expanded the range of voluntary options for them to save for their future.
Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) have become the single most important personal savings vehicle in decades.
Nearly 11 million Canadians have opened an account and the total value of assets held is about $120 billion.
Low- and middle-income Canadians have have benefited significantly – about half of TFSA holders earned less than $42,000.
Put simply: TFSAs have become a place where almost one in three Canadians keep and grow their dreams.
A re-elected Conservative Government will protect the TFSA and the recent doubling of the annual contribution limit to $10,000 per year.
We'll also take further steps to help Canadians save for retirement and to lower taxes on Canadian seniors by:   Giving seniors significantly greater flexibility in managing their retirement income by reducing the minimum withdrawal requirements for Registered Retirement Income Funds.
Raising the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption from $500,000 to 750,000 to $800,000 and indexing it.
We'll raise it to $1 million for farmers and fishermen to help them with succession planning and their retirement.
Consulting with Canadians on how to supplement the range of savings options with voluntary Canada Pension Plan contributions.
TAX RELIEF FOR SINGLE AND WIDOWED SENIORS
Canadian seniors have earned our gratitude for a lifetime of hard work in service to our families, our communities, and our country.
They have helped make Canada the strong and prosperous country that it is today,
and they deserve to enjoy their senior years in dignity and financial security.
Our Conservative Government has cut taxes and is making life more affordable for Canadian seniors, including single and widowed seniors.
We've:   Introduced Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), which 2.7 million Canadian have now opened.
Income earned and withdrawals from TFSAs don't affect eligibility for the Age Credit, Old Age Security, and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Enhanced the TFSA in 2015 to allow Canadians to contribute up to $10,000 each year, with seniors to receive 60 percent of the benefits from this new contribution limit.
Enacted Pension Income Splitting for seniors to benefit more than 2.2 million Canadian seniors each year, with average federal tax relief of $900 annually.
Improved the rules for Registered Retirement Income Funds to allow seniors to preserve more of their retirement savings.
Increased the Age Credit amount by $2,000, to provide up to $1,055 in annual tax relief for seniors.
Announced the biggest increases in a generation to the Guaranteed Income Supplement to help Canada's most vulnerable seniors.
Doubled, to $2,000, the maximum amount of income eligible for the Pension Income Credit.
Created, in 2015, a new, permanent Home Accessibility Tax Credit for seniors that provides up to $1,500 in tax relief each year.
The results of our low-tax, balanced budget plan for Canada's seniors are clear.
Since 2006, we have cut taxes on Canadian seniors by $3 billion each and every year.
Almost 400,000 seniors have been removed from the tax rolls completely.
And now a single senior can earn at least $20,360 and a senior couple at least $40,720 before paying any federal income tax.
Yet single and widowed seniors are among Canada's most vulnerable citizens and face unique financial challenges.
The cost of living can be high for single seniors living on a fixed income.
And when a senior becomes widowed, he or she can lose access to some benefits their spouse received and can face difficult financial circumstances as a result.
In response, a re-elected Conservative Government will establish an “equivalent-to-spouse” Pension Income Credit for single and widowed seniors.
This $2,000 Single Seniors Tax Credit will extend tax relief to nearly 1.6 million single and widowed seniors.
Through this new tax relief, our Conservative Government is making an affordable, targeted commitment to Canada's single seniors, who deserve our respect and financial support.
HELP FOR CANADIANS WITH DISABILITIES
The moms and dads who care for a child with a disability make incredible sacrifices and carry tremendous workloads in the name of love.
For these families, making sure a loved one with a disability is financially secure is a real concern.
We have a responsibility to help ensure that their kids lead lives as fulfilling as any other Canadian.
That's why, in 2008, thanks to the vision of the late Jim Flaherty, our Conservative Government established Registered Disability Savings Plans.
These plans allow the families of children with disabilities, and those children themselves as they grow up, to set aside money for the future in a place where it can grow with them, tax-free, until it's needed.
Canadians have opened nearly 105,000 of these accounts since then – and through the Canada Disability Savings Grant and the Canada Disability Savings Bond programs, we've added more than $1 billion to their savings.
But we can do more.
A re-elected Conservative Government will increase the maximum annual grant for low- and middle-income families from $3,500 to $4,000.
This means that these families will now receive a matching grant of $4 for every $1 contributed, on the first $500 they contribute each year.
We'll also continue to work with the provinces and Canada's financial institutions to improve the administration of the RDSP program,
and to expand the range of investment options for RDSP holders.
We'll take these additional steps because when your loved one's future is financially secure, you're better able to focus on the important things that matter in the present.
This measure builds on our record of helping Canadians with disabilities fulfill their potential.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support our three-year partnership with the Canadian Association of Community Living to help connect people with developmental disabilities with jobs.
We'll also continue our four-year partnership with the Sinneave Family Foundation and Autism Speaks Canada to expand vocational training programs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
And we'll continue to support the Autism Spectrum Disorder Working Group's work to develop a Canadian Autism Partnership.
We'll be ready to support the initiative in areas of federal jurisdiction once the development work is complete.
SUPPORTING EVERY FAMILY
Families come in different shapes and sizes and have different needs.
Our Conservative Government has consistently supported all families – we think that's real fairness.
This support includes adoptive families.
About 3,000 children are adopted in Canada every year but, at any given time, there are about 30,000 children within this country alone in need of stable homes filled with love,
and thousands of Canadian families waiting to invite them into their hearts and lives.
We recognize that adoption costs can be high and in some cases prohibitive for families.
That's why we've:   Expanded the Adoption Expense Tax Credit.
Extended EI parental benefits to foster parents who choose to adopt.
Cut backlogs and wait times for adopted children as part of our immigration reforms.
We'll continue to support adoptive families in giving children a loving home.
A re-elected Conservative Government will increase our support for these caring Canadians, by increasing the amount eligible for the Adoption Expense Tax Credit from $15,000 to $20,000 per child,
and by making this tax credit fully refundable.
The birth of a new baby is an exciting time for all involved, especially moms and dads.
It's also a period of tremendous change for parents as they adjust their work and home lives to the new responsibilities of parenthood.
Our Conservative Government wants to support parents during this critically important period.
Increasing job flexibility is one way to support moms and dads who want to spend as much time as possible with their babies as they grow and take their first steps.
Some parents also see the transition to parenthood as a good time to pursue their entrepreneurial instincts.
That's why a re-elected Conservative Government will:   Expand Employment Insurance maternity and parental benefits and federal leave provisions to increase flexibility for new parents and encourage those with self-employment goals.
New parents in federally regulated sectors will be provided with job protection to care for a baby up to 18 months of age, allowing workers to take up to 6 months of additional unpaid leave.
Parents can opt to receive their EI parental benefits at the full rate for up to 35 weeks,
or they can extend those payments at a lesser rate up to a maximum of 61 weeks.
When combined with other EI maternity leave, this can provide parents with a stream of income for 18 months while caring for their babies.
A new two-year pilot project will be established to allow parents to earn self-employment income, without impacting EI maternity or parental benefits, up to 100% of the weekly EI maximum insurable earnings threshold.
Women receiving EI maternity benefits will also be able to earn employment income under the Working While on Claim pilot project.
This is currently permitted for those receiving EI parental benefits.
We'll also continue to support choice in childcare and help families make whatever arrangements are right for them.
This is the underlying basis for our monthly Universal Child Care Benefit
and our other support for childcare including the Child Care Expense Deduction.
A re-elected Conservative Government will implement our plan to increase the Child Care Expense Deduction by $1,000, beginning this year.
This means that the maximum amount that can be claimed will increase to $8,000 from $7,000 for children under age seven, to $5,000 from $4,000 for children aged seven through 16, and to $11,000 from $10,000 for children with disabilities.
And, of course, we'll continue to maintain our Universal Child Care Benefit that provides monthly cheques to all parents, up to nearly $2,000 per year for children under age 6, and more than $700 per year for children aged 6 to 17.
Families help each other.
Sometimes Canadians are called upon to care for a gravely ill family member.
Such situations can be challenging financially, and no one should ever have to choose between caring for a loved one and keeping their job.
Our Conservative Government has taken several steps to help families faced with a family health crisis such as enacting the Family Caregiver Tax Credit
and establishing a special 35-week benefit for parents with critically ill children.
But there is more to be done.
When a family member is gravely ill and needs care, Canadians should be free to focus on caring for their loved ones without the added stress of worrying about their financial security.
A re-elected Conservative Government will carry out our plan to extend the Employment Insurance Compassionate Care Benefits period from six weeks to six months.
PROTECTING CONSUMERS
Canadians work hard for their money and rightly expect, as consumers, to be treated fairly when it comes to matters of quality, safety and choice.
We're committed to ensuring that they are.
A re-elected Conservative Government will proceed with several measures to protect consumers' wallets, and their health and safety.
We'll:   Pass legislation that allows the Minister of Transport to issue motor-vehicle recalls and to demand that manufacturers repair defective vehicles as required,
as well as levy significant fines on manufacturers and importers who do not comply.
Continue to take action to create greater consumer choice in the wireless sector, so that Canadians can enjoy lower prices and improved quality when it comes to cellphones, tablets, and wi-fi services.
Pass legislation to grant the federal Competition Commissioner the authority to investigate geographic differences in prices, with the intent of reducing the “price gap” between Canadian and American consumer goods.
Move forward with comprehensive legislation to protect consumers in financial transactions.
This will include banning “pay to pay” practices, in which financial institutions charge their customers a fee for making payments on their mortgages, credit cards, or other loans.
Continue our efforts to assess and manage the risks posed to the health of Canadian families and our environment by new or existing chemical substances.
This will include listing microbeads as a toxic substance under the Environmental Protection Act, effectively banning them in Canada.
Our Government in 2014 passed Vanessa's Law, named after the daughter of Member of Parliament Terence Young.
Vanessa died of a heart attack while taking a prescription drug that was later found to be unsafe for human consumption,
and Terence spent the next 14 years working tirelessly to ensure that this law became his daughter's legacy.
Vanessa's Law is historic legislation that gives the Government stronger powers to force drug recalls,
imposes new penalties on companies that market unsafe products,
requires that health risks be made clear in product labelling,
and requires health-care institutions to report serious reactions to prescription drugs.
Still, Vanessa's Law could go further.
For example, we should impose on health-care institutions a more comprehensive, standardized reporting regime when documenting such reactions.
A re-elected Conservative Government will move forward with making this important legislation even more effective at protecting Canadian families.
These measures build on our past record of standing up for consumers, including:   Supporting Canada's broadcast regulator in compelling satellite and cable companies to “unbundle” TV channels, so that Canadians no longer have to pay for channels they don't want.
Removing the GST from feminine hygiene products.
And continuing to oppose any new “Netflix tax” on on-demand video services.
AT RISK
Our Conservative Government has worked hard to make life easier for Canadians.
Taxes are lower.
Benefits are higher.
And Canadian families have more freedom than ever before to choose their own path to prosperity.
We know that no two families are alike, but all families have this in common: Given the opportunity, they'll make the choices that are right for them.
The other parties don't share our optimism, nor our faith in the sound instincts and common sense of our fellow Canadians.
Given the chance, the Liberals and NDP would put the financial security of Canadian families in jeopardy by:   Running large deficits and raising taxes that will leave our fragile economy exposed,
cost families money,
and put jobs at risk.
Eliminating the Family Tax Cut which is providing up to $2,000 in tax relief for 1.7 million families.
Taking away the monthly Universal Child-Care Benefit which is providing nearly $2,000 per year for children under age 6, and more than $700 per year for children aged 6 to 17.
The UCCB goes to all the nearly four million families with children.
Shutting down in part or in whole Tax-Free Savings Accounts which are helping 11 million Canadians save and grow their savings tax-free.
Cancelling Pension Income Splitting which is providing over $1 billion in tax relief to more than 1 million senior couples.
Hiking payroll taxes – as much as $1,000 per year for someone making $60,000 – on Canadian workers.
Driving up the price of everything Canadian families buy, including gasoline, groceries, and home heating fuel, by imposing carbon pricing schemes on the Canadian economy.
OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR A MORE SECURE CANADA
To keep Canadians safe and secure, a re-elected Conservative Government will:   Enact “Declared Areas” legislation to prosecute foreign fighters
Continue to participate in the broad international coalition against ISIS
Support persecuted religious minorities around the world
Defend Canada's Northern sovereignty
Expand Canada's Reserves and Special Operations Forces
Our Conservative Government understands that protecting Canadians' physical security is as important as protecting their financial security.
The two ultimately go hand-in-hand.
We can't have a strong economy if Canadian communities aren't safe and secure.
And we can't have real security if we don't have the means to pay for our law enforcement agencies or our military.
A strong economy, then, is the basis for our prosperity and our security.
We'll continue to vigorously pursue an anti-terrorism agenda that seeks to disrupt and undermine radical jihadism in cooperation with the countries who share our values.
In addition to Canada's military participation in the global coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS,
we are taking strong action against terrorism at home.
We'll also continue to follow a principled foreign policy and stand up for what's right rather than what's popular.
In a dangerous and unstable world, we need a government that recognizes risks to Canadian interests and our security and speaks with clarity.
And we've done that.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a leader on a wide range of global issues
including standing up for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression,
defending Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state and to defend itself,
and speaking out against the persecution of religious minorities and women and girls around the world.
And it's why we've ensured that the Canadian Armed Forces have the equipment and resources they need to protect and defend our security.
We've made significant investments in Canada's military
following the Liberal “Decade of Darkness”.
We owe the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces our unyielding gratitude and respect,
and we'll continue to make sure that they have the resources to get the job done.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue its efforts to protect the security of Canada and Canadians at home and abroad.
COMBATING JIHADI TERRORISM
Canada and Canadians not just abroad, but at home, that is when we most need moral clarity and tough leadership.
We need to confront and address this threat and call it what it is – a force for evil that seeks to undermine our way of life and the values we hold dear.
This clarity and determination to act to protect our country has been at the heart of our counter-terrorism measures here at home.
Our Conservative Government released Canada's first Counter-terrorism Strategy in 2012, Building Resilience Against Terrorism, designed to counter domestic and international terrorism and protect Canadians and Canadian interests.
In 2013, the Combating Terrorism Act made it a criminal offence to leave or attempt to leave Canada for the purposes of participating in or facilitating terrorist activity.
In 2014, the Citizenship Act was amended to enable the government to revoke Canadian citizenship from dual citizens and deny it to permanent residents who are convicted of terrorism, high treason, treason or spying offences.
The Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act of 2015 gives the Canadian Security Intelligence Service the tools it needs to investigate threats to the security of Canada and ensure our collective safety.
The 2015 Anti-terrorism Act ensures that Canadian law enforcement and national security agencies can effectively investigate and counter those who promote terrorism and take part in terrorist activities,
prevent terrorist travel by air and the efforts of those who seek to use Canada as a recruiting ground,
and disrupt planned attacks on Canadian soil.
Sadly – and inexplicably, to most Canadians – a small number of young Canadians choose to turn their backs on our country, our values, and all the opportunities that living here brings, and travel abroad to connect with known terrorist organizations.
Some participate in the atrocities these groups carry out in foreign lands;
others seek to plot and commit similar horrors on Canadian soil.
Canadians expect real action on the part of the government to prevent such attacks.
We need to protect Canadians here by making sure the “foreign fighters” who travel to parts of the world where terrorists hold sway are not allowed, on their return to Canada, to act on the warped ideologies and deadly skills they've learned.
A re-elected Conservative Government will introduce “Declared Areas” legislation, allowing the Minister of Foreign Affairs to identify any part of the world where terrorists are active as a “no-go” zone for Canadians without legitimate business there.
Travel to designated zones would become a serious offence, carrying a significant prison term,
and would allow Canadian authorities to arrest and detain foreign fighters upon their attempted return to Canada.
To counter terrorism and youth radicalization in Canada through research and education, our Government launched the Kanishka Project in 2011.
Funded projects identify factors that build community resilience and help youth to resist violent extremism.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to address the growing problem of terrorist radicalization and violent extremism among Canadian youth by renewing funding for the Kanishka Project for another five years.
Treason, one of the oldest and most serious crimes on the books, has evolved since it was first codified into English law in the 14th century.
Originally an attack against the reigning monarch, it came to encompass turning against one's own state.
Now, in the 21st century we are witnessing the alarming emergence of a new form of treason.
“Foreign fighters” who are mostly young men, including some Canadians, abandon life in the West to join global jihadi groups abroad in their war against our country and our allies.
Canadians see this as a betrayal of our most deeply held values and, indeed, as an attack on all of us.
There is no greater crime than the betrayal of one's fellow citizens, and our laws need to reflect this.
Our current laws call for life in prison for anyone convicted of High Treason.
A re-elected Conservative Government will modernize the definition of High Treason to include fighting against the Canadian Armed Forces alongside jihadist terror groups.
THE FIGHT AGAINST ISIS
The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – or ISIS – is the greatest threat to Canadian security today.
It wages war daily on everything we hold dear: freedom, democracy, tolerance, and openness.
It seeks to destroy any and all who do not share its perverse, medieval view of the world.
And, with alarming clarity, it has threatened Canadians directly and specifically.
Last year's terrorist attacks in Canada, by killers inspired by ISIS's extremism, are a reminder that we are not immune to these threats.
Canadians did not invent this evil, nor did we invite its hatred, but we cannot ignore it in the hope it goes away.
Indeed, it was because ISIS met with little resistance at first that it was able to establish its so-called caliphate with such alarming speed.
It's now using that territory to launch and inspire attacks around the world; its goal is to replace civilization with savagery, and order with chaos.
We must not allow ISIS to hold a safe haven from which it can pursue an agenda of anarchy and violence.
That's why the Canadian Armed Forces, alongside like-minded allies of all faiths and nationalities, are part of a broad international coalition confronting and disrupting ISIS in the Middle East right now.
We're fighting the jihadists there to protect Canadians here.
We're also a leading contributor of support to the countless men, women, and children forced to flee ISIS's advance.
We don't have to choose, as some have suggested, between fighting the soldiers of ISIS and helping its victims.
In fact, it's imperative that we do both.
And we are.
A re-elected Conservative Government will not cut and run, as our opponents would do.
We will not abandon our allies in the broad international coalition against ISIS.
We will not pull our troops from the fight against jihadi terrorism.
PROTECTING PERSECUTED MINORITIES AROUND THE WORLD
Our Conservative Government has consistently stood up for, and supported, persecuted minorities around the world.
We've made a real difference in the lives of religious minorities and young girls and women.
And we've shown leadership in accepting refugees and providing humanitarian assistance.
This is an important part of our principled foreign policy.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to stand up for those who are targeted because of their faith or gender.
Freedom of religion and belief, and the ability to express that freedom without fear of repercussion or repression, is a basic human right – not just here in Canada, but everywhere.
Our Government established the Office of Religious Freedom in 2013 to promote this belief globally,
and to advocate tolerance and pluralism around the world.
These values have made Canada great,
and our Government takes very seriously the work of advancing them.
However, a world of universal freedom of religion remains elusive, and there is much work left to do.
Almost 75 percent of the world's population lives in countries where religious freedom is highly restricted.
Currently, ISIS has carved out a so-called caliphate extending from Aleppo in Syria to near Baghdad in Iraq – and everywhere they hold sway, innocent men, women and children suffer atrocities daily because they don't share the terrorists' perverted version of Islam.
Christians, Yazidis, Druze, Alawites, Sunni Bedouins and Shia Ismailis all face subjugation, persecution, and, frequently, grisly execution for their beliefs.
Through the Office of Religious Freedom, in partnership with civil society groups and non-governmental organizations, we are able to stand up for these oppressed peoples, and for Canadian values.
Principle demands that we act.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on our record of promoting tolerance and openness, as well as the rights of women and children worldwide, by funding a new three-year program within the Office of Religious Freedom to support persecuted religious minorities in the Middle East,
and to protect their places of worship and priceless artifacts at risk of destruction.
The ISIS reign of terror and the horrific civil war being fought in Syria have taken an immense toll on innocent civilians, creating a refugee crisis of historic proportions.
The Canadian Armed Forces are taking an active and robust role in the fight against ISIS,
but we're also committed to providing comfort and aid to suffering people facing displacement and persecution because of the ongoing violence.
Canada has long been a refuge for people fleeing violence and oppression, from United Empire Loyalists and fugitive slaves from the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, to Eastern Europeans and Vietnamese “boat people” fleeing communism in the 20th.
And in the 21st century, Canada is once again opening its doors to those in need.
We've pledged to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by September 2016, and 3,000 Iraqis this year.
They will join the 20,000 Iraqis who have already arrived on our shores since 2009.
Religious minorities within Iraq are at risk of genocide at the hands of ISIS,
and Canada will provide safe haven.
A re-elected Conservative Government will accept 10,000 more persecuted Syrian and Iraqi refugees fleeing the brutality of ISIS.
We'll also provide further humanitarian assistance through the Syria Emergency Relief Fund to match individual donations from Canadians up to $100 million.
Every year, millions of girls around the world – some as young as five years old – are forced into marriage.
This is far more than just a moral outrage; it is often a matter of life and death.
In the developing world, the leading cause of death among girls between the ages of 15 and 19 is complications during childbirth.
Forced marriage deprives girls of their right to an education,
and condemns them to a life of poverty and dependence.
And forced marriage is also a weapon of war.
Canadians are rightly appalled at reports of ISIS fighters taking young female prisoners as “brides,”
or forcing families to let them marry their daughters in exchange for protection from further ISIS depravities.
Canada has been a leader in improving maternal, newborn and child health,
and protecting women and girls is a key component of our foreign development goals.
It's also in keeping with Canadian values, which we hold to be universal.
Forced marriage is unacceptable in Canada,
and we've taken action to prevent it from occurring on our soil.
But it's equally unacceptable anywhere else in the world, no matter what the misguided advocates of “cultural sensitivity” might suggest.
A re-elected Conservative Government will take further action to support the victims of child, early, and forced marriage, particularly in the “rape camps” and slave markets of Iraq and Syria,
by establishing a new program within the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development to fund efforts to combat these practices.
Improving the health of mothers, newborns, and children around the world has been Stephen Harper's top development priority.
The Prime Minister has been leading the world on this important initiative.
And there's been progress: thanks to Canadian leadership and global action, maternal mortality rates are declining and millions more children are celebrating their fifth birthday.
Yet there's more work to be done.
That's why our Government has pledged significant resources to maternal, newborn, and child health from 2015 to 2020.
We'll continue to rally world leaders to follow Canada's lead in improving women's and children's health in developing countries.
CYBER SECURITY
Advances in technology have led to vast improvements in our standard of living,
but they have also led to our greater dependence on a digital infrastructure that underlies everything from our communications networks to our financial systems to our electrical grid.
And this dependence makes us vulnerable to attacks that could compromise our day-to day living, our personal safety, our economy, and even our national security.
The threat of cybercrime is one with serious consequences for Canadians and our economy.
Our Conservative Government has been focused on strengthening our cyber security to protect Canadians.
Since 2010, our national cyber security strategy has been based on three pillars:   Securing government systems.
Partnering to secure vital cyber systems outside the federal government
And helping individual Canadians and their families enjoy increased online security.
In Economic Action Plan 2015, we announced significant funding to protect our vital cyber systems, including establishing a dedicated RCMP team to investigate cybercrime.
Still, there's more to be done.
Our cyber systems can be targets for foreign military and intelligence services and criminal and terrorist networks.
As more and more Canadians rely on the internet for business and sales, we must ensure that we're protected from cyber-attacks and cybercrimes.
We've proposed legislation that will require operators of vital cyber systems to implement robust cybersecurity plans that meet established standards,
and to report cybersecurity breaches to the federal government.
A re-elected Conservative Government will enshrine this in law by passing the Protection of Canada's Vital Cyber Systems Act when Parliament resumes.
SUPPORTING UKRAINE
Canada stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and will continue to do so.
Our position has been clear: We will never accept Russian President Vladimir Putin's unwarranted and illegal occupation and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula,
nor his continued proxy war in other parts of eastern Ukraine.
The people of Ukraine have left no room for doubt: The future they desire lies to the West, with all the freedoms, opportunities and prosperity that brings.
We, along with our allies in NATO, support them without reservation,
and we stand together in Central and Eastern Europe as a bulwark against the instability Vladimir Putin promotes with his reckless provocations.
With the rest of the Western world, Canadians celebrated the end of the Cold War and the years of peace that followed.
But Vladimir Putin wants to turn back the clock; he wants Russia to bask in the perceived glories of its past, in order to disguise his failures of leadership in the present.
We look forward to the day when Russia returns to the community of nations –
but until then, Vladimir Putin's belligerence must be met with resolve and real consequences.
Under our Conservative Government, Canada has been a leading voice on the world stage in this regard, both in speaking out against Vladimir Putin's unprovoked aggression and in putting pressure on Russia through tough and meaningful sanctions.
Such sanctions are a key tool in our Government's foreign policy, having proven effective against Iran and North Korea, as well as Russia.
A re-elected Conservative Government will toughen Canada's sanctions regime by:   Adding “gross human rights violations” as a new ground for sanctions.
And closing loopholes that allow sanctioned individuals to circumvent travel restrictions.
These measures will reinforce our support for the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom,
as well as strengthen our ability to respond to international crises,
and align our sanctions regime with our broader values.
They'll also reinforce our commitment to standing up for freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law abroad.
To make sure our sanctions continue to be properly targeted, and properly implemented, we need to better track the flow of Russian capital through global markets – in particular capital connected to Russian state-owned enterprises and individuals already under sanction.
A re-elected Conservative Government will establish a financial task force of foreign policy experts and financial analysts to perform this task, ensuring that our sanctions regime maintains its rigor and limits Russian influence in the global economy.
But our support for Ukraine extends far beyond sanctions.
Canada has contributed both Canadian Armed Forces personnel and much-needed equipment to assist the Ukrainian military in its fight to maintain Ukraine's sovereignty.
We're:   Deploying CAF personnel to western Ukraine to develop and deliver training programs for their Ukrainian counterparts.
Contributing an array of non-lethal supplies, including tens of thousands of coats, pants and boots, helmets, protective vests, high-frequency radios, night-vision goggles and ballistic eyewear, medical kits and a mobile field hospital structure, tents, and sleeping bags.
Providing $1 million to the NATO Trust Funds for Ukraine, intended to enhance the country's command and control capabilities.
Deploying military personnel as part of Operation REASSURANCE, including HMCS Regina, HMCS Toronto, and HMCS Fredericton, and participating in military exercises.
Canada continues to stand with Ukraine in the face of Russian provocation and aggression,
and will never accept the Russian occupation of Ukrainian soil.
The measures we have taken to date are robust and meaningful, but there is more we can do.
A re-elected Conservative Government will enter into a defence co-operation agreement with Ukraine.
We'll also add Ukraine to the list of eligible countries for Canadian military and defence exports.
Our Government, as part of our principled foreign policy, has long been a leader in promoting free expression and human rights around the world, and in speaking out against dictatorships for their cruel and undemocratic actions.
The digital world is one more battlefield in that struggle.
Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and illegal occupation of Ukraine has been accompanied by a remarkable propaganda push by Moscow.
Russia has used the internet and other media to manipulate public opinion and spread misinformation and falsehoods.
By spreading half-truths, rumours and outright lies, the Kremlin not only confuses opponents but also sows unwitting and uninformed support for its cause.
Canada can do more to help Ukraine push back against Russian propaganda.
A re-elected Conservative Government will establish a Digital Freedom Fund to support international groups and independent media using digital tools to advance the causes of freedom and democracy around the world.
In particular, the fund will support efforts to counter Russian propaganda in Ukraine and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
SUPPORTING CANADA'S MILITARY
Canada's Armed Forces have been central to the story of our country for more than 200 years – central to our national identity, central to our success as a country, central at times to our very survival.
And in the ever more insecure world in which we are now living, that is as true as it ever was.
We live in an unpredictable world, and the Canadian Armed Forces must be ready to respond immediately to events that threaten the interests of Canada at home and around the world.
Canada's fighting men and women have always been, and remain today, the ultimate guarantors of our values and freedoms.
To ensure that the CAF can carry out its missions, we've:   Re-built the "core military capabilities" of the CAF
following a decade of darkness under the Liberals.
The CAF's air transport, sovereignty surveillance and army combat capacities have all been strengthened.
Taken the steps needed to rebuild the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard through the comprehensive National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy worth some $35B.
With ships now being built in both Halifax and Vancouver, the NSPS engages Canadian industry from coast-to-coast in sustaining RCN and Coast Guard fleets in the decades to come.
Resolutely defended Canada and our friends overseas against a growing terrorist threat by deploying military forces to participate in the military coalition led by President Obama against ISIS.
Taken a firm stand against Russian aggression in Ukraine by establishing a Canadian military training mission there,
and also by supporting deterrence in Europe in conjunction with our NATO allies.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support and stand up for Canada's military because they're the ones who stand up for us.
This support includes an $11.8 billion, ten-year increase to the Department of National Defence's budget to ensure that Canada can continue to field a combat-ready military to serve at home and abroad.
Missions abroad sometimes fall to Canada's Special Operations Forces, who have the agility and adaptability to tackle any challenge, anywhere in the world.
When duty calls, the CAF is always there for us and our allies, and our Special Operations Forces are the sharp end of the spear
Right now, members of the Special Operations Forces are in Iraq, training and advising Kurdish Iraqi forces in the fight against the so-called Islamic State – confronting them there, to protect Canadians here at home.
But no matter what the task, from training allies to carrying out hostage negotiations, from responding to terrorist threats to taking direct action against Canada's enemies, grateful Canadians can count on the men and women of the Special Operations Forces to stand up for Canada when the need is greatest.
To help the Special Operations Forces maintain their top operational capacity, a re-elected Conservative Government will expand their size, bolstering their ranks by nearly 35 percent by 2022.
The military reserves have a long and proud history in Canada, dating to before the War of 1812, serving with distinction in every conflict in which Canada has been involved.
When the Primary Reserve and the Supplementary Reserve are combined with the Canadian Rangers and Cadet organizations across the country, Canada has 24,000 men and women ready, willing and able to answer their country's call.
The reserves are a vital part of our military structure, supplementing the Regular Forces and providing “surge” capacity when required.
Reservists accounted for one in four of our men and women who served in Afghanistan, and some have already served in our mission against ISIS in Iraq
The reserves are also an important part of our communities; they're the pride of more than 100 cities, towns and villages from coast to coast to coast.
And they've always been there for Canadians when duty calls at home, including providing emergency response to natural disasters like floods, forest fires, and ice storms.
Their service to our country is indispensable, and to ensure the Reserves have the numbers necessary to carry out the many duties asked of them, a re-elected Conservative Government will increase the number of reservists by 15 percent, bringing the Reserves' total strength to 30,000 in the next four years.
We'll also streamline and shorten the current reserve recruiting process,
improve training opportunities for reserve personnel,
and broaden the eligibility criteria to include permanent residents in order to tap into this significant pool of possible recruits
and facilitate their path to full Canadian citizenship.
STRENGTHENING OUR MILITARY ASSETS AND INSTITUTIONS
Supporting Canada's military means ensuring that they have the assets, training, and resources needed to do their jobs safely.
Our Conservative Government has made major investments to upgrade and improve our military's readiness
after the Liberal Decade of Darkness, with its budget cuts and neglect that imperiled our military and left Canadians less safe.
We won't let that happen again.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to invest in Canada's military and support the men and women who put their lives on the line for their fellow citizens.
The College began granting university degrees in 1985.
But it fell victim to Liberal cuts to defence spending, and closed ten years later.
Our Government partially re-opened the College in 2008 as a CEGEP organized to prepare Quebec Cadets for post-secondary education – in particular studies at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario.
But we want to see the College once again achieve its full potential, and do more to encourage a new generation of Francophone military officers.
If re-elected, we'll honour Quebec's historic and present-day contributions to the Canadian Armed Forces by re-establishing Royal Military College Saint-Jean as a full, degree-granting post-secondary institution similar to RMC in Kingston.
We'll work with the Government of Quebec to fulfill this promise.
HMCS Discovery – located adjacent to Stanley Park – was constructed in World War II from the Vancouver Half Company of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve.
Its initial purpose was for the recruitment and training of almost 8,000 personnel during the war.
Discovery continues to serve an important role in training, and as the headquarters for several Reserve and Cadet Units.
Our Conservative Government recently announced enhancements to the facility that will expand the Navy and Coast Guard's capacity to conduct search-and-rescue operations as well as oversee response to marine pollution incidents in the Vancouver Harbour area.
If re-elected, we'll build on these efforts by rebuilding and expanding Royal Canadian Navy reserve division base HMCS Discovery in Vancouver, positioning it to become a major Maritime joint operations centre for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard.
HMCS Discovery has a proud history with the RCN, and this construction will respect the current facility's historic architecture.
The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River aren't just iconic in terms of geography – they're defining elements of our history, and part of the reason for Canada's growth into a great trading nation.
With the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, they became our gateway to the world.
Now, commercial vessels make more than 2,000 trips through the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway system every year.
They generate a staggering $34 billion in economic activity in Canada and the United States, and support more than 200,000 good, stable jobs.
Given the vital importance of this system to our national economy, and the access it provides to our most populated areas as well as Canada's industrial heartland, it's imperative that the Royal Canadian Navy have a presence on these waters.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on our commitment to our national security by commissioning four Royal Canadian Navy patrol vessels, to be dedicated to the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
This investment will allow for training on the Great Lakes and help with recruitment and retention in the Naval Reserve and Sea Cadets.
Presently about half their membership is based in the Saint Lawrence- Great Lakes region, in Ontario and Quebec.
NORTHERN SOVEREIGNTY
The North has achieved immense geopolitical significance, and corresponding increased interest from foreign powers, demanding a Canadian presence to back up our legal and historic claims to its lands and waters.
We have taken important steps to date, including expanding the Canadian Rangers,
establishing an Arctic Training Centre in Resolute,
modernizing patrol aircraft and expanding our air transport fleet,
procuring Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships,
and launching the contruction of the John G. Diefenbaker polar icebreaker.
Still, there is more to be done.
Our Conservative Government will continue to make protecting our Northern sovereignty a major priority.
The choice is to "use it or lose it," and that lies at the heart of our Arctic foreign policy:
In the North, exercising our sovereignty through effective military capability,
active diplomacy,
and sustainable economic development is our number-one goal.
Since the end of the Second World War, the Canadian Rangers, as part of the Canadian Armed Forces reserve, have been our eyes and ears in the North, serving in national security and public safety capacities. (Their apt motto is Vigilans, which means “The Watchers.”)
For all those years, the Rangers have been issued No. 4 Lee-Enfield rifles.
The Lee-Enfield's history of service to the Canadian military is matched only by its sturdy reliability under Arctic conditions, but the time has come for its replacement.
That's why our Government is replacing the Rangers' Lee-Enfields with new rifles over the next four years.
The Lee Enfield has taken on iconic status, a proud symbol of both Canada's distinguished military history and our sovereignty over the Arctic – much like the Rangers themselves.
When the new, modern firearms are issued, a re-elected Conservative Government will honour the Canadian Rangers and their long service by transferring ownership of the Lee- Enfields to the Rangers they have served for so many years.
The Junior Canadian Rangers program, in which Canadian youths aged 12-18 learn camping, navigation and firearms training as well as a greater appreciation of traditional Northern culture and lifestyles, is approaching its 20th anniversary.
Permanently established in 1998, there are now more than 135 Junior Canadian Ranger patrols in remote and isolated communities across the North.
Our Government increased the number of Junior Rangers participating in this popular and worthy program from 3,400 to more than 4,200 in 2008.
If re-elected, we'll increase their number yet again, to 5,000, in time for the organization's 20th anniversary.
AT RISK
Our Conservative Government has made Canada safer and more secure in a troubled and dangerous world.
We recognize the threat posed by jihadi terrorism and have made the choices and investments – including supporting the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces – to protect the country.
Prime Minister Harper's principled foreign policy also means that Canada walks tall in the world and stands up for what's right and just.
The Liberals and NDP would take the country down a much different and more dangerous path.
They would undermine Canada's security by:   Taking away the tools that we have granted our law enforcement agencies to protect Canadians from terrorist threats.
Pulling out of the broad international coalition against ISIS that's keeping the fight against this deadly group outside of our borders.
Returning to a “Decade of Darkness” of defence spending cuts that would hurt the Canadian Armed Forces and weaken our national defence.
Abandoning our principled foreign policy that stands up for Israel and other allies such as Ukraine in exchange for a “go-along-to-get-along” approach that weakens our country and diminishes our moral standing.
OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR SAFE STREETS
To keep Canadian streets safe, a re-elected Conservative Government will:   Enact “Life Means Life” legislation to ensure the worst criminals never get a chance at parole
Expand our National Anti-Drug Strategy
Crack down on criminal gangs
Protect seniors from financial fraud
For too long, Canada's system of justice had its priorities backwards: it focused on the so-called “rights” and concerns of criminals, while victims and their families were left on the outside looking in.
We've worked hard to reverse that, in particular by bringing into force our ground-breaking Victims Bill of Rights.
Now victims and their families are back where they belong – at the heart of our justice system.
Never before has a government made victims' concerns such a priority.
Add to that a substantial list of other measures from our ambitious law-and-order agenda – to protect our children from predators and drug dealers,
to keep dangerous criminals behind bars and off our streets,
and to keep illegal guns, gangs, and drugs out of our communities – and it's no wonder that the crime rate is going down.
Justice is a fundamental Canadian value, and Canadians expect it to be administered fully, fairly, honestly and transparently.
So do we.
But the Liberals and NDP don't.
Justin Trudeau's only criminal justice priority is to change the law to allow the sale of marijuana in corner stores, making it more accessible to our children.
And the NDP has a dangerous, ideology-driven criminal justice policy that puts the so-called “rights” of criminals ahead of the rights of victims.
The soft-on-crime NDP have consistently opposed serious penalties for dangerous offenders.
Canadians can count on our Conservative Government to put their security first.
We share the common-sense beliefs of law-abiding Canadians, and we will continue pursuing new measures to crack down on criminals and support victims.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to make safe streets and communities a top priority.
NATIONAL ANTI-DRUG STRATEGY
One vitally important part of keeping our streets and communities safe is keeping them free from drugs, and from the organized gangs that prey on addicts and profit from drug abuse.
Our Conservative Government's National Anti- Drug Strategy set out to reverse years of inaction by previous governments – indeed, in some cases, years of making the problem worse.
We've taken a three-pronged approach, focusing on prevention, treatment, and enforcement.
To this effect we've:   Toughened penalties for serious drug producers and dealers,
including mandatory minimum prison sentences for some offences.
Introduced legislation to reduce drug trafficking and abuse in our prisons.
Increased the resources for law-enforcement and justice officials to investigate drug crimes and prosecute offenders.
Worked hard to raise awareness, especially among young Canadians, of the dangers of drug use.
And provided significant support for treatment, to help people who've fallen prey to addiction.
We renewed funding for the National Anti- Drug Strategy in 2012, and in 2014 expanded the Strategy's focus to include the abuse of prescription drugs.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on this record by expanding the National Anti-Drug Strategy to:   Create a national toll-free help line to provide parents with advice and guidance,
including how to recognize the signs of drug use and how to prevent their children from using drugs in the first place.
And increase funding to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Clandestine Laboratory Teams, which investigate drug labs and target organized crime.
There is evidence of a strong link between mental illness and drug use: 30 percent of people diagnosed with a mental disorder also have a history of substance abuse at some point in their lives.
A re-elected Conservative Government will ask the Mental Health Commission of Canada, as part of its new, 10-year mandate announced in Economic Action Plan 2015, to work with the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse to further integrate initiatives involving mental health and substance abuse.
Mental illness is a challenge that touches the lives of millions of Canadians.
One in five will feel its effects in any given year; one in three will experience it at some point in their lifetime.
The effect on Canada's economy has been estimated at close to $50 billion a year.
The cost to individuals and families can only be measured in heartache and despair.
That's why, in 2007, our Government established the Mental Health Commission, with a broad 10- year mandate to improve Canada's mental health system,
and to increase awareness of mental health issues, and it's why we are committed to renewing that mandate in 2017.
Along with a new focus on the intersection of drug abuse and mental health, a re-elected Conservative Government will set out other priorities for the Commission.
Nearly 4,000 Canadians take their own lives every year.
Suicide is the second-most common cause of death among teens, and the leading cause of death among Aboriginal Canadians under the age of 44.
More than 90 percent of people who commit or attempt suicide are struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse, or both.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada will study community suicide-prevention programs, including in First Nations communities, to test their effectiveness.
The Commission will also prioritize working with groups who, for a number of reasons, experience mental illness at a higher level than the rest of the country, including veterans and members of Canada's First Nations.
TARGETING CRIMINAL GANGS
Youth gang crime is a serious concern across the country.
It poses an obvious danger to law-abiding Canadians, but the damage is even further-reaching.
Young Canadians who get involved in criminal gangs risk seeing the recklessness of youth become a wasted adulthood in our prison system, if they survive at all.
Our Conservative Government has been clear: Our first priority is the safety and security of our streets and communities, and anyone who puts that in jeopardy must face the full force of the law.
To this effect, we've established an extensive legislative record targeting youth gangs, and organized crime more generally.
We've legislated mandatory minimum penalties for gang-related drug crimes and offences involving firearms.
We've amended the Criminal Code so that all murders connected to organized crime are automatically first-degree murders,
and we've created a new offence targeting the reckless criminal use of firearms, in particular drive-by shootings.
And we've passed a law establishing tougher penalties for criminal gang recruitment.
It's a criminal offence to belong to a gang and to participate in gang activities.
But there's no established list of gangs in Canada, meaning the existence of particular gang as a criminal organization must be proven anew in every case.
Parliamentary committees have recommended that we establish a gang listing system – similar to the way we deal with terrorist groups – and the Government of Manitoba has recently listed the Hells Angels as a criminal organization.
We think this idea has merit.
A re-elected Conservative Government will establish a criminal gang listing process to help crack down on gangs and speed up the justice system.
We are also working hard to prevent young people from joining gangs in the first place.
In 2006 we launched the Youth Gang Prevention Fund, to support organizations that intervene directly with at-risk youth.
These organizations steer youth away from joining gangs or, in some cases, support them as they get out.
The funds from this program, which we made permanent in 2011, are put to a wide range of uses, from renting space and training staff to mentoring, counselling and skills development, and more.
A re-elected Conservative Government will increase resources to the Youth Gang Prevention Fund by 25 percent, to allow it to help even more young people avoid a life of crime.
PROTECTING SENIORS FROM FRAUD
The email says they've won the lottery – but they need to pay a processing fee up front to collect their winnings.
That new friend they met over social media, who eases their loneliness, would love to visit in person – but needs money to buy a plane ticket.
The voice on the phone claims to be a grandchild who's hit a rough spot while backpacking in Europe and needs cash in a hurry.
The number of tricks con artists have used to separate seniors from their hard-earned savings is bewildering and distressing.
And when you combine scams like these with other types of fraud – from business swindles to identity theft – Canadians lose an astonishing $10 billion to $30 billion to fraudsters every year.
The RCMP, in co-operation with the Competition Bureau and the Ontario Provincial Police, funds the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre to combat these types of crime.
But as technology becomes more sophisticated, it also becomes more and more challenging to keep on top of the problem.
To combat fraudsters who target Canadians, a re-elected Conservative Government will provide more resources to the Canadian Anti- Fraud Centre to bolster its intelligence and disruption activities, in particular online fraud targeting Canadian seniors.
We'll also toughen the punishment for con artists who steal money from Canadians.
In 2011, our Government passed the Standing Up for Victims of White Collar Crime Act, which imposes a mandatory minimum prison sentence of two years for criminals who commit fraud involving more than $1 million.
It also instructs judges to consider restitution when handing down a sentence.
In 2013, we passed the Protecting Canada's Seniors Act, which makes the age of the victim or victims an aggravating factor at sentencing time.
But jail time for the perpetrator doesn't make the victims financially whole again.
The most important thing to them is that they get their money back.
A re-elected Conservative Government will amend the Criminal Code to make any financial fraud over $5,000, with multiple victims, carry a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, unless the offender makes full and complete restitution to his or her victims.
LIFE MEANS LIFE AND OTHER JUSTICE PRIORITIES
Like most Canadians, we hope for the successful rehabilitation of people who have fallen into a life of crime.
But our first priority is the safety and security of Canadians and the communities where we live, work, and raise our children.
There are some criminals so dangerous that, once imprisoned, they must never again walk the streets among us.
Currently, a life sentence – even for the most violent killers – comes with the chance of parole after 25 years.
When these criminals are given the opportunity for parole, Canadians' faith in our justice system is shaken,
and the families of victims are forced to relive the horror of their loss all over again.
Our proposed Bill C-53, the Life Means Life Act, will ensure that offenders who are convicted of the most heinous murders or those who are convicted of high treason will be imprisoned for the rest of their natural lives with no access to parole.
This includes murders involving sexual assault, kidnapping, terrorism, the killing of police officers or corrections officers, or any first degree murder of a particularly brutal nature.
A re-elected Conservative Government will make passing the Life Means Life Act its top criminal justice priority when Parliament resumes this fall.
And while reintroducing and passing the Life Means Life Act is our top justice priority, it is just one of several measures our Government is proposing to further protect the safety of Canadians and the security of our communities:
The Dangerous and Impaired Driving Act will reflect the gravity of this offence in the minds of most Canadians,
and make the letter of the law match its spirit by limiting the use of technical defences in impaired driving cases and simplifying proof of blood alcohol concentration.
It will also make the punishment match the severity of the crime for a wide range of transportation-related offences, including increased penalties for drunk drivers.
The Removal of Serious Foreign Criminals Act will make it easier and faster to deport dangerous foreign nationals who commit serious crimes in Canada;
to transfer these foreign criminals back to their home countries;
and will make foreign criminals ineligible for a pardon.
The Penalties for the Criminal Possession of Firearms Act will restore mandatory minimum penalties for the illegal possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm, such as fully automatic weapons, sawed-off rifles, or handguns, for the purpose of committing a serious offence or in a place where there is a real risk of harm to innocent bystanders.
This will apply the full force of the law to offenders who engage in serious criminal behavior while exempting law-abiding gun owners who store their weapons legally.
The Protection of Communities from the Evolving Dangerous Drug Trade Act will allow the Government to respond quickly and effectively to the emergence of new illicit substances appearing on Canadian streets;
broaden existing criminal laws related to the possession, production, or sale of substances or equipment intended to produce illegal controlled substances;
and enhance the inspection, monitoring, and regulation of legal controlled substances to prevent their diversion for illegal ends.
The Victims Rights in the Military Justice System Act builds on our historic Victims Bill of Rights by ensuring that victims of service offences within the military justice system have the same rights as are contained in the civilian Victims Bill of Rights.
A re-elected Conservative Government will reintroduce these measures in Parliament and make sure they become the law of the land.
And we'll continue to do more to protect Canadians, including taking new action to address the problem of habitual, chronic offenders.
In addition, we'll build on our record of ensuring offender accountability and the principle of earned parole.
We're committed to helping most inmates in Canadian prisons prepare for successful reintegration into society after their release by offering opportunities for vocational training.
For those offenders who show that they're ready for reintegration we'll help provide marketable skills prior to release that encourage rehabilitation and lessen the chance that they'll re-offend.
Since 2012, a partnership between Correctional Services Canada and Habitat for Humanity has been a success on both fronts.
More than 350 inmates have volunteered to work on more than 20 housing projects, ranging from work on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities to full construction of pre-fabricated homes.
Encouraged by these results, a re-elected Conservative Government will expand the partnership between Correctional Services Canada and Habitat for Humanity, doubling the number of projects over the next four years.
PROTECTING CANADIANS AND SUPPORTING VICTIMS
Our Conservative government has done more than any previous government in Canadian history to protect children and support victims of crime.
Upon taking office in 2006, we inherited a system that was concerned more with criminals than with victims.
It had to change.
And that's what we've been doing.
Some of our concrete steps to protect children include:   Supporting Child Advocacy Centres and Child and Youth Advocacy Centres to coordinate the investigation, prosecution and treatment of child abuse and to help child victims with counselling and other services.
Passing the Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act to combat child sexual exploitation.
Bringing in the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act to protect Canadians, and in particular youth, from online exploitation and cyberbullying.
Increasing penalties for sexual offences against children and creating two new offences aimed at conduct that could facilitate or enable a sexual offence against a child.
Strengthening the sex offender registry.
And investing $14.2 million a year to protect children from predators through the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet.
But we can do more by working with victims' advocates such as Sheldon Kennedy to protect children and help those who have been victimized by crime.
A re-elected Conservative Government will double funding for Child Advocacy Centres and Child and Youth Advocacy Centres,
and will dedicate resources to help existing Centres provide satellite services to communities outside of urban centres and those without a Centre.
We'll also set aside funding for research into the “invisible” economic and social damage inflicted upon victims of crime.
These investments in front-line support for victims and children will help those who have been impacted by crime and ensure that they have the support and assistance they need.
High-profile cases of human trafficking and cyber and sexual violence against women and girls are reminders that we must ensure that Canada is safe for all Canadians.
Our Conservative Government has a strong record of protecting Canada's women and girls from violence and providing support for those affected by it.
This includes:   Making a $100 million, 10-year investment to prevent, detect, and combat family violence and child abuse.
Launching the Action Plan to Address Family Violence and Violent Crimes Against Aboriginal Women and Girls.
Strengthening our justice system by passing the Protecting Victims from Sex Offenders Act, to protect all Canadians, including women, from repeat, violent or sexual offenders,
and the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, which aims to protect girls and young women from early and forced marriage.
Nearly doubling support to end violence against women and girls, through community-based projects as part of the Women's Program under Status of Women Canada.
These concrete, practical steps are helping to protect women and girls so that they can pursue their dreams and opportunities.
But unfortunately there's more work to be done.
Human trafficking is a global blight that ensnares an estimated two million people every year – with some estimates putting the number of victims, mostly women and children, at as many as 15,000.
Frequently, victims are drawn into forced labour or prostitution.
This terrible crime is an affront to Canadian values, stripping from its victims their freedom, their basic rights, and their human dignity, most often under threat of violence or death.
Our Conservative Government has worked closely with law enforcement officials, civil society organizations, and community and religious groups to combat human trafficking.
We've passed legislation to restrict significantly the sex trade in Canada, including the scourge of child prostitution.
We've established mandatory minimum prison sentences for child trafficking.
We've raised the age of consent from 14 to 16.
And we've provided substantial funding for the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, which co-ordinates and supports efforts to bring traffickers to justice and to provide comfort and assistance to their victims.
But we can – and we will – do more.
A re-elected Conservative Government will:   Renew the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking when it reaches the end of its current mandate in 2016.
Increase funding to efforts to help women escape the sex trade.
Establish February 22 as Canada's “Anti- Human Trafficking Day” – the anniversary of the unanimous decision by Parliament in 2007 to condemn all forms of human trafficking and slavery.
And, using the team of human trafficking investigators led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Montreal as an example, establish similar police teams in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver.
In Canada, men and women are equal under the law.
It's one of the values that makes Canada a land of opportunity and prosperity, a country that attracts countless immigrants from all around the world.
Sadly, there are some newcomers who embrace the promise of Canada, but not those values that make this country great, and who import certain brutal practices – most often affecting women and girls – that have no place here, or anywhere.
The tragic truth is that certain practices, such as female genital mutilation, so-called honour killings, polygamy, and early and forced marriages, are taking place within some cultural communities in Canada.
That's why our Government was proud to pass legislation that enshrines our aversion to these practices, and gives law-enforcement officials the power to prevent many of them from occurring on Canadian soil.
But these cruelties too often are carried out in the shadows, out of sight of the authorities.
And members of Canada's cultural communities who expose these practices risk ostracism, or worse, as a result of coming forward.
A re-elected Conservative Government will establish a tip line allowing Canadians to alert the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to suspected cases of female genital mutilation, so-called honour killings, polygamy, and early and forced marriages.
And we'll mandate the integrated teams of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver to investigate these cases.
AT RISK
Our Conservative Government is committed to keeping Canada's streets and communities safe for Canadians and their families.
Since 2006, we've introduced and passed over 60 substantive pieces of legislation to help keep criminals behind bars, protect children, put the rights of victims ahead of criminals, and crack down on drugs, guns, and gangs.
The result is that our streets are safer, our children are better protected, and victims are where they belong – at the center of our criminal justice system.
The Liberals and NDP don't share our vision.
They make excuses for criminals and think incarceration – for public safety reasons, or even as punishment – is rarely warranted.
The Liberals' top justice priority is to change the law to allow the sale of marijuana in our corner stores, making it more accessible to our children.
Given the chance, the Liberals and NDP would:   Get rid of mandatory minimum penalties for violent repeat offenders.
Stop our Life Means Life Act to remove the possibility of parole for the most brutal and violent criminals.
Establish so-called “safe” injection sites in our communities, bringing serious drugs into our neighbourhoods and closer to our children.
Legalize marijuana and prostitution and the criminal underground that they fuel.
OUR CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR STRONG COMMUNITIES
To strengthen Canada's communities, a re-elected Conservative Government will:   Implement our historic investment in public infrastructure
Provide tax relief for those who belong to service clubs
Continue to support Canada's universal, publicly-funded health care system
Fund cutting-edge health research
Support conservation and economic development in rural Canada
Continue to strengthen Canadian citizenship
Impose a moratorium on Senate appointments
Our Conservative Government shares the pride all Canadians feel in living in the greatest country in the world.
We're committed to building a future of hope and opportunity for our children and grandchildren.
We know that a strong economy is the foundation for strong communities and a strong and prosperous country.
As a government we have taken real action to protect our economy and promote an enviable quality of life in all communities – cities, towns, and rural areas.
We're:   Making historic investments in community infrastructure, to support economic development and local recreation and activities.
Providing significant new resources to support Canadian veterans who are affected by disability or injury, and those who wish to transition back into civilian life.
Promoting charitable giving, community partnerships, and voluntarism because we know Canadians are generous people and that local challenges are often best solved by community action.
Celebrating Canada's rich history and culture to give us a powerful sense of national accomplishment, shared sacrifice, and collective aspirations.
Promoting arts, culture, and sport to bring vitality and economic development to our communities.
Providing unprecedented financial support for Canada's universal, publicly-funded health care system.
Supporting critical research on health issues that touch all Canadians such as cancer and diseases that affect the brain.
Partnering with Canada's outdoors community to conserve our country's unique natural environment.
Taking practical, effective common-sense steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Undertaking important reforms to help Canada's First Nations participate more fully in Canada's economy.
Strengthening Canadian citizenship to protect and reaffirm its value.
And protecting our democracy and improving our public institutions.
These important steps have protected our economy and contributed to a more prosperous, more dynamic, and more united Canada.
We're proud of what we've accomplished together.
But there's much more to be done.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support Canadian communities according to their unique needs and priorities.
NEW BUILDING CANADA PLAN
You've been hearing a lot of talk about infrastructure spending lately – but it's a conversation our Conservative Government has been leading for years.
Everybody else is finally catching up, in recognition of the fact that good infrastructure is vital to our country, our communities, and our day-to-day quality of life.
What was true at the time of Confederation remains true today: ambitious investment in infrastructure is key to protecting our economy and moving it forward.
Investing in infrastructure is about more than roads and bridges, ports and public transit, or water treatment facilities and community recreation centres.
It's about building healthy and prosperous communities.
It's about making it easier for hardworking Canadians to get to work, to do business, and then to get home to their families again.
And it's about creating countless good jobs.
But while the other parties are talking, our Government has been acting.
We took the federal Gas Tax Fund, doubled it, indexed it, and made it permanent.
We established the Building Canada Plan,
and expanded and extended it into the New Building Canada Plan.
Combine all this with spending on federal infrastructure and the Public Transit Fund announced in Economic Action Plan 2015, and our investments in public infrastructure are unprecedented in Canadian history and are three times higher than under any previous federal government.
In fact, Canada has led the G-7 in infrastructure investments since our Conservative Government took office.
And we're positioned to invest more than $80 billion in federal, provincial and municipal infrastructure over the next 10 years.
As a result of our investments in infrastructure, we have brought the average age of Canada's core public infrastructure down from a peak of 17 years in 2001 to an estimated 14.7 years in 2013.
It's now lower than the historical average over the last 50 years.
That doesn't matter to our opponents.
They're telling you they'll spend even more.
But what they won't tell you is how they'll pay for it.
The real answer is that they don't know, and don't care.
They'll raise your taxes.
Or run up debt.
Or both.
We have made historic investments in infrastructure, but we have done it without crippling our economy and hurting Canadian families.
In fact, we've done it while lowering taxes and balancing the books.
And we'll continue to make these crucial, historic investments, through our ten-year, $84 billion New Building Canada Plan and federal infrastructure investments to support community infrastructure – without saddling our grandchildren with the bills.
STANDING UP FOR CANADA'S VETERANS
The men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces do us proud, day in and day out, and they deserve all the gratitude and support we can give them.
But that doesn't end when they leave military service.
Every Canadian veteran deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.
As the needs of our veterans evolve, so must our response to those needs – whether it's helping them transition back to civilian life and work, or navigate the health care system.
Veterans risked all to give us the peaceful, prosperous country we enjoy today, and that's a debt we can never begin to repay.
That's why our Conservative Government has made significant improvements to the New Veterans Charter to improve programs, benefits and services for the men and women who have worn our military's uniform so proudly.
These improvements include:   Opening new, frontline mental health clinics across the country.
A new Retirement Income Security Benefit for veterans over the age of 65.
A new Family Caregiver Relief Benefit.
A new Critical Injury Benefit.
A new and better Permanent Impairment Allowance.
Enhancing the Earnings Loss Benefit.
Hiring new case managers and new employees to improve processing times.
In fact, we've increased the amount spent per veteran by 35 percent – and we'll continue to make investments to improve frontline service for Canadian veterans.
We've also provided more assistance to veterans making the transition to civilian employment,
and more support for those who have suffered disabilities in the course of their service to Canada.
But we can do more.
The Earnings Loss Benefit is a taxable monthly entitlement paid out to injured veterans who are either participating in a rehabilitation program or are unable to find suitable employment due to the nature of their injuries,
to ensure that their income remains at least 75 percent of their gross pre-release military salary.
There are currently 1,860 veterans receiving this benefit.
Any outside income earned by a veteran who cannot be suitably employed once he or she finishes a rehab program is currently clawed back dollar-for-dollar – a real disincentive for veterans who would otherwise want to take on a different kind of work.
This limitation deprives them of the challenge and dignity of a job and their communities of the benefit of their skills and talents.
A re-elected Conservative Government will allow veterans receiving the extended Earnings Loss Benefit to earn up to $10,000 in employment income annually without affecting their benefit.
The record-of-service card – the NDI 75 – is issued to members leaving or who have left the Canadian Forces with 10 or more years of service.
The card is proof of previous military employment and can be used as proof of service with the Department of Veterans Affairs and for companies and service providers that offer special benefits for former service members.
A re-elected Conservative Government will issue a new Canadian Veteran Card to all Canadian Armed Forces members who complete basic training.
This will reduce red tape for those seeking veterans services and make it easier to receive veteran benefits.
The Canadian Veteran Card will also serve as official government identification.
VOLUNTARISM AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Our Conservative Government has a strong record of supporting charitable giving and civic engagement.
We know that there's more to our communities and our country than government and so we're helping Canadians give back to their communities and support one another.
We've introduced the First-Time Donor's Super Credit,
made it easier to donate stocks and real estate,
provided tax relief for volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers,
and established the Prime Minister's Volunteer Awards to recognize Canadians who have made invaluable contributions to their communities.
We will continue to support voluntarism, because we know it's such a source of strength for Canada and our communities.
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians devote countless hours to their communities through membership in various service clubs active in Canada.
From the Lions to the Elks, from the Knights of Columbus to the Royal Canadian Legion, over the years these public-spirited organizations have been the backbone of big cities and small towns across the country, raising millions of dollars for worthy causes and providing services for the less fortunate here and abroad.
We admire their tradition of commitment to their communities, and want to encourage a new generation of Canadians to take up their banners.
A re-elected Conservative Government will allow service club members to claim their membership fees under the Charitable Donations Tax Credit to help sustain their public spiritedness from coast to coast to coast.
Canadians take immense pride in the fact we are a nation of immigrants, and rightly so.
That so many people around the world want to live here – that so many aspire to Canadian citizenship – is testament to the hard work generations of Canadians have put into building the greatest country in the world on a foundation of values that resonate all around the globe.
It's no surprise that one reputable study just this year declared Canada the most admired country in the world.
The remarkable truth of it is that one out of every five Canadians was born elsewhere.
Not many countries in the world can say that.
None of our friends and allies in the G-7 group of major industrialized nations can.
Many of these new Canadians maintain close ties with the lands of their birth, socially, culturally, and economically.
These Canadians are our greatest ambassadors in a globalized world, and Canada and their home countries are stronger and better for their efforts.
A re-elected Conservative Government will recognize these bridge-builders by establishing a new “Maple Leaf” designation to honour extraordinary Canadians who cultivate these links.
“I do think it's helpful, and I think it's probably recognizing the benefit (of service clubs) to society overall by giving volunteers a break.”   David Hetherington, President, Rotary Club of Toronto, (August 23, 2015).
COMMEMORATING CANADIAN HERITAGE AND CULTURE
In times of great change, the lessons of the past often light our path into the future.
Our Government considers celebrating Canada's history and keeping alive the memory of the people and events that have made this country what it is today, an important way of restating and recommitting to the principles that animate us as Canadians.
From our large national institutions to the smallest community historical societies, Canada's museums carry out the noble and vital task of preserving our collective past.
They're the guardians of our national memory, the vaults where our national stories are kept safe.
Meanwhile, Canadians are still making new discoveries about our history, like last year's discovery of HMS Erebus.
Our museums great and small, and the modern-day explorers still uncovering the secrets of our past, must have our continued support – as must the Canadian communities from coast to coast to coast planning to celebrate our history as we approach the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
Our Conservative Government has an ambitious plan to celebrate Canada 150.
We'll invest $150 million through the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program to support up to 1,800 projects across the country that provide community and cultural benefits to Canadians.
And we'll provide $210 million through the Canada 150 Fund to support community initiatives that leave a legacy for the future.
John G. Diefenbaker was a tireless advocate for freedom and human rights, and an early and powerful champion for Canada's North and Northern peoples.
First elected to the House of Commons in 1940, in 1957 he became Canada's 13th Prime Minister.
As Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker introduced the landmark Canadian Bill of Rights, which enshrines in law fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and religion; freedom of assembly and association; the equality of all people; the right to life, liberty, security of the person, and the enjoyment of property; and the guarantee of fair and just treatment in our legal system – values that continue to define Canada and Canadians to this day.
A re-elected Conservative Government will honour this important figure in our history,
and ensure his contributions to our national life and identity are remembered and understood by future generations, by purchasing John G. Diefenbaker's childhood home and establishing it as a historic site to be operated by Parks Canada.
The Canada Cultural Investment Fund, operated by the Department of Canadian Heritage, helps not-for-profit, professional arts organizations raise money to create or expand endowment funds by matching, up to a dollar for every dollar, amounts raised by private donors.
By giving arts groups the help they need to diversify their revenue streams and the stability to plan for the future, this program supports the long-term sustainability of the arts in our communities.
Our local museums play an equally important role in our communities, especially with the Canada 150 celebrations fast approaching.
A re-elected Conservative Government will establish a similar endowment incentive program to benefit local museums, to ensure that these vital institutions are supported now and into the future.
“The beauty of what this incentive is [that it] helps museums become more engaged with their community to build longstanding bonds, to encourage philanthropy. And I welcome that. In order to get the $15 million, the museums are going to have to raise $15 million.”   Canadian Museums Association, (September 6, 2015).
PROMOTING ARTS AND CULTURE AND SPORT
Arts and culture help define who we are as Canadians.
They express Canada's diversity and strengthen our national identity.
They're also important economic drivers in communities across the country.
The arts and culture sector employs over 640,000 Canadians and is worth almost $450 billion yearly to our economy.
Our Conservative Government has been proud to support the creation, presentation, publishing, and marketing of arts and culture.
In fact, we were the only G-7 country that didn't cut direct funding to artists during the recovery from the global economic recession.
Instead we established permanent funding for several key arts and culture programs and organizations.
This includes:   Making permanent federal funding for the Canada Council for the Arts.
Establishing ongoing funding for the Canada Cultural Investment Fund and the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund.
And providing permanent, ongoing support for the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Music Fund.
These investments are promoting Canadian art and culture and contributing greatly to the Canadian economy.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support Canada's arts and cultural communities and their immeasurable contributions to our country.
Our national languages are a part of Canada's past, present, and future.
Our linguistic duality is one of the things that makes Canada special.
Our Conservative Government recognizes that French- and English-speaking communities contribute to our country's cultural, social, and economic vitality.
That's why, in 2013, we launched the new, five-year, $1.1 billion Roadmap for Official Languages, the most comprehensive investment in Canada's national languages in our country's history.
The Roadmap focuses on three key pillars – education, immigration, and communities – to continue to build the strength and vigour of minority language communities in Canada.
Our commitment to Canada's national languages is unwavering.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to implement our historic Roadmap for Official Languages
and support minority language communities in Canada.
The Governor General proclaimed 2015 the “Year of Sport” in Canada.
And for good reason.
Sport makes us strive for excellence.
Sport brings us together as Canadians.
Our Conservative Government has been a proud supporter of youth and amateur sport in Canada.
We established and expanded the Children's Fitness Tax Credit to support parents who choose to put their children in sports.
And each year we have provided significant support – over $190 million to date – to fund sport development and excellence.
This represents a funding increase of approximately 40 percent since we took office in 2006.
And it's working.
Canada set a world record for gold medals at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and we earned 217 medals at the recent Pan-Am Games in Toronto.
With the Olympics coming up in 2016 and 2018, there's plenty of opportunity to continue to showcase Canada's athletic prowess.
A re-elected Conservative Government will deliver on its plan to increase funding by $20 million over four years for Canada's future Olympians and Paralympians.
We'll also establish an expert panel to study the potential scope of the Adult Fitness Tax Credit, to support Canadians of all ages in making healthy and active choices.
SUPPORTING CANADA'S UNIVERSAL, PUBLICLY-FUNDED HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
Our Conservative Government is committed to a universal public health care system and the Canada Health Act, and the right of the provinces to deliver health care within their jurisdictions.
We've increased transfers to the provinces and territories for health care to historically high levels.
In fact, no government in Canadian history has provided more funding for health care, and it continues to grow.
Unlike the previous Liberal Government, who cut health care funding after running years of deficits, we have increased health care transfers to the provinces and territories by nearly 70 percent to all-time record levels.
The Canada Health Transfer is projected to grow from $32.1 billion in 2014–15 to $40.9 billion in 2019–20.
This represents a projected total additional investment of $27 billion over the next five years.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to support Canada's universal public health care system
and increase health care funding to the provinces and territories.
Palliative care is an important aspect of our health care system that addresses a number of issues of great significance to Canadian families – providing comfort and dignity for a person nearing death, and for his or her loved ones, through pain management and emotional, spiritual, cultural and psychological support.
A 2013 poll found that a large majority of Canadians see palliative care as an important priority for governments.
Our Government has supported the establishment of a more robust system of palliative care across the country,
supporting health care professionals and policymakers in their efforts to develop a national approach to palliative care,
and funding training in palliative care for front-line health care workers.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on this record by funding further research into how palliative care is best provided to Canadians.
This research, carried out in conjunction with the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, will focus on veterans, through the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research at Queen's University, and First Nations, through the Improving End-of-Life Care in First Nations Communities project at Lakehead University.
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Canadians living with extreme pain and suffering have the right to end their lives with the help of a doctor.
This is an extremely sensitive issue and there are many considerations, including the protection of freedom of conscience, that must be part of the discussion.
We established a panel of eminent Canadians in July to consult with medical authorities and with interveners in the Supreme Court case to assist the government in formulating a legislative response to the court's decision.
The panel is scheduled to provide its final report by late Fall 2015.
A re-elected Conservative Government will consider the panel's report as it determines how best to respond to the Supreme Court decision.
Any legislation will be subject to a free vote in Parliament.
We live in a time of rapid technological advances.
Dramatic breakthroughs in medical testing and diagnosis mean we have unprecedented access to the information stored in our genetic code.
The availability of this deeply personal data, combined with a similar revolution in our ability to store, analyse and use it, rightly gives many Canadians reason for concern regarding its security, and the potential for abuse.
A re-elected Conservative Government will reintroduce legislation to amend the Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic testing.
The legislation will also amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Privacy Act to put strict conditions on the collection, use and disclosure of genetic information.
From Alzheimer's to ALS, from Parkinson's to MS, from autism to epilepsy to PTSD, neurological disorders will affect millions of Canadians during their lifetimes, but the inner workings of the brain remain one of science's greatest mysteries.
In 2011, our Government established the Canada Brain Research Fund, earmarking $100 million to support Brain Canada's own fundraising by matching it dollar-for-dollar.
The fund has supported cutting-edge research into new diagnostics, treatments, and cures for neurological diseases.
We'll build on our support for Canadian research excellence and Canadian families affected by brain disease by renewing the Canada Brain Research Fund when it expires in 2017, with another $100 million over seven years.
FINDING A CURE FOR CANCER
Cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada, and four out of every ten Canadians will be diagnosed with some form of the disease in their lifetimes.
Unfortunately, most Canadians have seen someone they love be forced to confront this terrible disease.
But the number of people who survive a cancer diagnosis is constantly rising, thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of medical professionals and researchers in Canada, and around the world.
Our Conservative Government is committed to helping Canadians in their fight against cancer, investing significantly over the years in research through the Canadian Institute for Health Research which funded $166 million in cancer research in 2012-13 alone.
The Canadian Partnership against Cancer is an independent organization that oversees the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control.
Its efforts include a diverse range of cancer-related initiatives, including prevention, screening, data gathering, research, guideline- and standard-setting for governments and medical professionals,
and support for cancer patients and survivors.
Our Conservative Government established the Partnership in 2006 and renewed our initial support in 2011.
A re-elected Conservative Government will renew the mandate and funding of the Canadian Partnership against Cancer again in 2017, so it can continue its important work of saving Canadian lives.
The Canadian Cancer Society has been a major supporter of cancer-related research over its 76-year history.
Its hard work and financial support has significantly accelerated the impact that research has had on our understanding of the causes of cancer and what steps can be taken to reduce its incidence.
The society has developed a plan to establish a unique national centre of excellence in Vancouver to support world-leading cancer research.
We'll support it.
A re-elected Conservative Government will provide capital funding to help establish the Canadian Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Centre, in conjunction with other levels of government and donors.
And we'll also match contributions to the Terry Fox Foundation up to $35 million, with the combined funds going to establish a network of designated comprehensive cancer centres across the country.
PROTECTING CANADA'S WEST COAST
Canada's West Coast is a marvel of beauty
and a source of dynamic economic activity.
Our Conservative Government has taken steps to promote and protect our coast,
and also to encourage the investment and job creation that makes British Columbia a major economic driver in our country.
There's more we can do to protect our coastal regions and support marine safety.
Derelict boats that have been abandoned by their owners pose a serious challenge to Canada's coastal communities.
Currently, such vessels are removed by the Coast Guard or Ministry of Transportation if there is an imminent risk of environmental damage or if they are obstructing navigation.
But otherwise, they sit – or drift – and rot, potentially causing longer-term environmental damage,
endangering other craft on the waters,
and creating an eyesore in some of Canada's most beautiful places.
According to the Department of Transport Canada, there are currently 245 such vessels in Canadian coastal waters.
It is important that boat owners take responsibility for these vessels.
MP John Weston of British Columbia has introduced a Private Member's Bill that makes it a criminal offence to abandon a boat, subject to jail time and fines of up to $100,000.
A re-elected Conservative Government will commit to supporting MP Weston's bill, and also set aside funds to cover one third of the cost of removing priority derelict vessels.
The 2014 case of a Russian cargo ship losing power and potentially running aground on the West Coast was a powerful reminder of the importance of coastal protection.
A re-elected Conservative Government will increase maritime protection by acquiring greater tugboat capacity on the West Coast.
CONSERVATION AND RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Canada is a land of great beauty and great bounty.
Our identity, our geography and our prosperity are interwoven in a vibrant Canadian tapestry.
Through careful stewardship, our natural heritage has been a source of pleasure and pride for generations of families.
At the same time, it has led to great opportunity and reward for countless hard-working Canadians.
Indeed, farmers, landowners, hunters and anglers were Canada's first conservationists, and remain its most passionate.
Government schemes and celebrity activists come and go, but the true, patriot love ordinary Canadians hold for our great country is eternal.
For many Canadians – and for many visitors to this country – hunting and fishing are more than longstanding Canadian traditions and pleasant ways to experience the great outdoors.
In communities in all regions of the country, particularly rural areas, they are vital contributors to the local economy.
In fact, the countless hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy the Canadian wilderness have turned these recreational industries into businesses worth billions of dollars every year.
And for the men and women who make their living in these industries, conservation is key to prosperity.
That's why we launched the National Conservation Plan: to support the efforts of Canadians to conserve Canada's lands and waters while promoting increased biodiversity;
to restore degraded ecosystems and protect species at risk;
and to connect Canadians with our natural heritage,
fostering a love for the outdoors in future generations, including urban Canadians,
and cultivating a “community of stewards” from coast to coast to coast.
And that's why we established the Hunting and Angling Advisory Panel: to make sure that federal conservation policy is informed by Canadians who know and love our lands and waters best;
Canadians whose livelihoods are, in many cases, inextricably linked to the sustainability of our conservation efforts.
Our Conservative Government is committed to continuing our partnerships with the people who love our land, who protect and preserve its natural spaces and the health of our environment, and who create jobs and opportunity.
To this end, if re-elected, we'll:   Create a Wildlife Conservation and Enhancement Program to fund community projects that improve habitat for species harvested by hunters and trappers, such as moose, deer, wild turkey, and migratory birds.
Commit new funding to helping Destination Canada promote conservation and heritage industries, in particular angling, hunting, and snowmobiling.
Enact new migratory bird regulations to establish a family hunting permit and remove other unnecessary barriers and irritants to hunters, in time for the 2017 hunting season.
Ensure the approval of more firearms safety instructors by using powers in the recently-passed Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act.
And continue to fight any back-door efforts to bring back the failed long-gun registry.
As part of our Conservative Government's conservation efforts, we've partnered with the Pacific Salmon Foundation to ensure the sustainable future of wild Pacific salmon and their habitat.
It's been a productive partnership and, if re-elected, we'll work with the Pacific Salmon Foundation to:   Restore estuaries in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.
And preserve the lower Harrison River and its tributaries as a salmon “stronghold” by completing salmon spawning and rearing habitat, along with other conservation measures.
Conservatives do not believe that conservation and recreation have to be contradictory; indeed, we believe Canada is strongest when they are complementary.
And we believe that prudent management applied in the context of a conservation ethic will ensure that Canadians and our environment thrive in concert for generations to come.
PRESERVING OUR NATURAL HERITAGE
Our Conservative Government has made it a priority to increase the amount of Canadian territory, both land and water, set aside for conservation purposes, and for the enjoyment of Canadians for generations to come.
We've expanded the Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories sixfold.
We have added territory almost twice the size of Vancouver Island to the list of federal protected areas, including the world's first protected area extending from mountain peaks to the sea floor – the Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site – and the world's largest protected freshwater area, the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area.
We've protected more than 4,500 square kilometres of land and sea in Nunavut, by creating three national Wildlife Areas.
We've created three New Marine Conservation Areas, one in each of Canada's oceans.
And we've created, and expanded, Rouge National Urban Park.
Rouge Park is the first of its kind in Canada, and one of the largest urban parks in the world – 13 times the size of New York's Central Park, and 33 times the size of Hyde Park in London.
A re-elected Conservative Government will build on this record of conservation and preservation by moving ahead with plans to expand our network of protected wilderness places.
We'll establish the Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area between the British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island, in consultation with the Government of British Columbia.
We'll take final steps to complete the creation of Thaidene Nene National Park on Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories.
And we'll complete the protection of the globally unique sponge reefs off the coast of British Columbia, by establishing the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area.
Canada is host to 17 exceptional World Heritage sites which represent some of humanity's most outstanding achievements and nature's most beautiful and ecologically important landscapes.
These sites range from Nahanni National Park Reserve in Northwest Territories to the Historic District of Old Québec and present Canada's stories of international significance to the world.
Currently Canada's Tentative List for World Heritage Sites, which is an inventory of candidate sites to be considered for designation by the World Heritage Committee, only has seven potential sites on it and has not been updated in over a decade.
A re-elected Conservative Government will launch a Call for Proposals so that Canadians and communities across the country can nominate their unique and exceptional places for consideration as future World Heritage sites.
TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE
Canadians are committed to an effective approach to climate change, and so are we.
We support an approach that benefits both the environment and the economy.
The solution to the climate change challenge must come from innovation, not deprivation – through technology and Canadian ingenuity, not by closing down our vital natural resources industries or imposing job-killing carbon taxes.
And our approach is working.
Canada has become a global leader in clean energy,
and we are the first government in Canadian history to achieve an absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through responsible sector-by-sector regulation.
In 2012, Canada was the first major coal user to ban the construction of traditional coal-fired electricity generation units.
And we've committed to ambitious greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030, in advance of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris later this year.
But we cannot go it alone.
Canada is responsible for less than 2 percent of global emissions.
The solutions to climate change must be global, enacted in concert with our international partners.
That's why we've invested significantly in supporting developing nations as they find ways to reduce their emissions.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue to balance what's best for our climate with the needs of our economy, recognizing the importance of both the environment and our economy to all Canadians.
We'll continue with our plan for careful, well-designed regulations
and support for companies and researchers to develop new, cleaner technologies.
And our low-tax, balanced budget plan to strengthen and grow Canada's economy will create the conditions for this type of cutting-edge innovation.
SUPPORTING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ABORIGINAL CANADIANS
As Canada's first peoples, Aboriginal Canadians must share in the successes of our modern-day nation.
We have taken steps toward that goal, but it's an ongoing journey.
We believe the path forward lies in creating stronger, more self-reliant communities through improvements in economic development, land management strategies, and education.
The opportunity is there.
For example, in our natural resource industries, a labour shortage looms and highly trained and skilled Aboriginal Canadians are an important part of the solution.
First Nations people should be able to claim a future as promising as any other Canadian, and we're working to make it happen.
To this end, our Conservative Government has taken significant action to promote the economic and social well-being of Canada's First Nations.
This includes:   Increasing investment in Aboriginal education by 25 percent.
Constructing 41 new schools and funding over 500 schools.
Increasing health funding by 31 percent.
Enacting the First Nations Financial Transparency Act to increase accountability and transparency of First Nations governance.
These practical steps and important investments are improving the lives of Canada's First Nations.
But there is more we can do to help our Aboriginal communities thrive and flourish.
Some First Nations have expressed an interest in exploring the possibility of legislation that would allow private property ownership within current reserve boundaries while preserving existing governance and tax policy structures.
The Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band, near Kamloops and Clinton in BC, has asked that the government move ahead with legislation that would allow it to establish a property ownership regime.
A re-elected Conservative Government will enact legislation that allows this specific band to move forward in this way.
If other First Nation bands also choose to pursue this option on a voluntary, opt-in basis, we'll proceed with similar legislation for them.
As part of Prime Minister Harper's historic apology to the former students of Indian Residential Schools, we established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to educate all Canadians about the Indian Residential Schools system
and to offer recommendations on how to improve the well-being of Canada's Aboriginal population.
While we don't yet have the final report, a re-elected Conservative Government will take immediate action to address some of the key themes set out in its preliminary recommendations including:   Mandating the Mental Health Commission of Canada to focus on addiction and suicide prevention with particular attention on Canada's First Nations communities.
Targeting palliative care research funding to focus on services in First Nations communities.
Supporting rural broadband expansion with a particular focus on First Nations communities to promote economic development.
Expanding anti-gang programming to help at-risk youth who are drawn to urban gangs.
Increasing funding to support the preservation and promotion of traditional Aboriginal languages.
These practical, common-sense policies build on Economic Action Plan 2015's support for Aboriginal education and skills-training including:   New funding for Aboriginal labour market programs such as the Skills and Partnership Fund to provide skills development and training for Aboriginal peoples, in partnership with businesses.
Ongoing support for Aboriginal post-secondary bursaries in partnership with Indspire, an Aboriginal-led national charity dedicated to helping First Nations students receive post-secondary education.
Our Conservative Government introduced the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act to improve K-12 educational outcomes for First Nations students.
The legislation was rooted in a historic agreement with the Assembly of First Nations and was backed by significant new funding for core education programming, including language and cultural programming.
A re-elected Conservative Government remains committed to working with willing First Nations partners and provinces to improve First Nations educational outcomes so that students living on reserve are better placed to reach their full potential.
STRENGTHENING CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP
Our Government has always made it a priority to strengthen and protect the value of Canadian citizenship, making clear that citizenship comes not just with rights, but significant responsibilities.
That's why we committed additional resources to the RCMP and Citizenship and Immigration officials to investigate cases in which individuals obtained Canadian citizenship through fraudulent means, including some who had never even set foot in Canada.
Then, last year, we made the first comprehensive reforms to the Citizenship Act in a generation, moving to speed up the process of attaining citizenship for people who have earned it,
while modernizing requirements to ensure that new citizens are fully capable of participating in Canadian society.
This legislation also allows the Government to revoke citizenship from dual citizens who are convicted of terrorism, high treason, or spying, or who take up arms against Canada,
and to streamline the process of removing citizenship from individuals who obtain it under false pretenses.
Because of this streamlined process, Citizenship and Immigration officials have the capacity to deal with such cases going forward.
But, due to the onerous process for revocation under the previous legislation, there remains a backlog of cases needing to be processed.
A re-elected Conservative Government will provide increased funding to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to clear this backlog over a two-year period.
In 2014, 3,121 citizenship ceremonies were held across Canada, welcoming more than 262,000 new citizens.
This is the largest number of new Canadians welcomed in a single year in the history of Canada, and double the number welcomed in 2013.
Canada has one of the highest naturalization rates in the world: more than 85 percent of permanent residents eligible for Canadian citizenship become Canadians.
The Oath of Citizenship is a solemn declaration in which citizenship candidates promise to obey Canadian laws, while fulfilling their duties and responsibilities as Canadian citizens.
The Oath recognizes that Canadian citizenship confers both rights and responsibilities.
A majority of Canadians believe that new citizens should be seen and heard at the moment they join the Canadian family.
That's why, this past June, our Government introduced a bill requiring all individuals seeking to become Canadians to show their faces while taking the Oath of Citizenship.
We believe it's critically important that, at the moment an individual joins the Canadian family, they do so freely and openly, rather than hiding their identity.
A re-elected Conservative Government will reintroduce and pass the Oath of Citizenship Act requiring citizenship candidates to be seen and heard when reciting the Oath in community with others, to confirm their commitment as new citizens to Canada's laws and values.
PROTECTING CANADA'S DEMOCRACY
Canadians are proud of our democracy and our democratic institutions.
They're the foundation of our system of government and one of the reasons for our country's prosperity and success.
Canada has one of the most accountable and transparent governments in the world.
From its founding moment, our party has been relentless in its pursuit of increased accountability in government.
And, if re-elected, we'll continue our efforts to protect and strengthen Canada's democracy.
An unelected Senate is simply not acceptable in a modern democracy.
Stephen Harper has fought long and hard for Senate reform.
We've sought to advance legislation to impose term limits
and establish a democratic process for electing senators.
Yet the Supreme Court has blocked these reforms by ruling that they must be initiated and supported by the provinces.
We continue to believe that the Senate must be reformed.
If it can't be reformed, it should be abolished.
Our Conservative Government has made no appointments in the last two and a half years.
The result is 22 vacancies and $6 million in savings for taxpayers so far, relative to 2010.
A re-elected Conservative Government will continue this policy.
We'll do nothing further to entrench an unelected, unaccountable Senate.
Instead, we'll impose a moratorium on further Senate appointments until real reform is achieved.
This election is about protecting our fragile economy in a global economy that's weak and in turmoil.
But both the Liberals and the NDP are focused on other things, including sweeping changes to how governments are elected.
The Liberals have even said they'd make it one of their first priorities if elected.
The Liberals and NDP would make these changes to our democratic system and impose them on Canadians without consultation because when Canadians are asked – as they have been in Ontario, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island – they've chosen the status quo.
We believe our Westminster-style democracy has served our country well for almost 150 years,
and that any decision that would lead to a fundamental change must reflect the clearly expressed will of Canadians.
A re-elected Harper Government will introduce legislation enshrining this principle in law, requiring any future government to hold a referendum on major electoral reforms.
Our Government is firmly committed to Canadian federalism.
We're the only party that respects the jurisdiction of provinces
and we have provided unprecedented funding to provinces and territories to help them deliver on their responsibilities in health care and education.
Our vision of federalism respects provincial jurisdiction while recognizing Quebec as a nation within a unified Canada.
We have taken steps to keep Canada united while preserving Quebec's culture and linguistic values,
including granting the province its own seat at UNESCO.
We know that Canadians are not interested in re-opening the Constitution, and neither are we.
The Conservative Party understands this more than any other party
and will continue to focus on the real concerns of Canadians – creating jobs and protecting and strengthening our economy.
AT RISK
Our Conservative Government understands that protecting Canada's economy and creating jobs is the basis for strong, dynamic communities.
Our Government has been focused on creating economic opportunities and jobs in communities of all sizes, from major urban centres to rural towns.
A strong economy means strong families and strong communities.
The Liberals and NDP would run deficits, hike taxes and leave our economy exposed to instabilities elsewhere in the world.
This would cost families money and put jobs at risk.
And, in addition, both the Liberals and the NDP have made promises that would hurt communities and set families back.
They'll do this by:   Running deficits that will ultimately necessitate massive tax hikes and spending cuts to key programs Canadians depend upon such as health care and education.
Driving up the price of everything Canadian families buy – including gasoline – by imposing carbon pricing schemes on the Canadian economy.
Threatening Canada's economic prospects by shutting down responsible resource development.
Bringing back the costly, wasteful, and ineffective long-gun registry to penalize law-abiding hunters instead of criminals.
Repealing our important reforms that have strengthened Canadian citizenship and reaffirmed Canadian values.
1. To give the country a stable government and to restore national confidence and morale  2. To cancel out the harshes., effects of the coalition Budge' by maintaining food subsidies at existing levels mnd eliminating the. new 18% VAT on clothing and rootwear,lwhile fully implementing the social welfare provisions.  3. To tackle the record high level of 141,000 unemployed through programmes of investment in industry agriculture arid' inr-tructure; and by vigorous,  tion, in co-operation with workers to fight factory closures  and to provide job opportunities and training for all our young people.  4. Actively to defend the common agriculture policy of the 'European Community; to secure, the maximum benefit, including special assistance measures for Irish farmers, and to restore as rapidly as pos,tble confidence) and acceptable levels of income in Irish farming.  5. To impLmcnt our policy of decentralisation and to reverse the Coalition's economic withdrawal from the regions.  6. In pursuance of our fundamental national aim, to continue with the Anglo-Irish initiative, inaugurated at the Dublin Summit, in December, 1980, as the only  way forward to en acceptable solution of the Northern Ireland problem.  7. To restore to parents the right to send their children to s hool at four years of age.  8. To eliminate discrimination against single people, and specifically in relation to hdusinf  9. To develop and improve ou. welfare pc)licies with particular care for she old, he disabled the deprived mnd the handicappcu.  10. Tao undertake an urgent national campa;en to defeat crime ;and vandalism o as to guarantee the security of our citizens in their homes) and on the streets tnd in particular to provide the resources required by the Gardai and to review the operation of the criminal law.
Section 1: A Vibrant Green Economy
Energy
The Energy policy we adopt today will affect the quality of life
that our children and grandchildren enjoy in years to come.
We must take that long-term view into account as we balance the three basic requirements: a cheap,
clean
and secure energy supply.
We now face significant increases in energy prices as a consequence of having failed to develop our renewable energy supplies
and energy conservation measures.
We are now dependent on imported fossil fuels for 90% of our energy needs
and are wholly unprepared for the imminent peak in global oil production
including our international climate change commitments.
The Green Party will:
seek an all-party approach to cut Ireland’s carbon emissions by 3% annually;
put in place an annual budgetary process that will rectify any slippage in meeting these reductions;
change the Social Partnership process to include a third sustainability pillar putting energy targets at the centre of the national economic planning process;
introduce new national building standards to require that new housing has 60% lower heat energy demand than existing building standards,
and that 30% of that demand is met from renewable sources
(This has already been achieved by Green councillors on Fingal County Council);
create a ‘distributed’ energy grid where power is generated locally and used locally by a large number of small scale centres;
introduce new feed-in fixed price support mechanisms
for offshore wind wave and tidal power supplies;
encourage investment in a European off-shore electricity transmission grid connecting off-shore wind farms from the west of Ireland to the Baltic sea;
remove limits on the fixed price tariff for wind farms, biomass and anaerobic digester power plants;
require that current diesel users who enjoy excise exemptions (agricultural users and public transport) switch to plant oil or bio-diesel;
require biofuels used in transport to comply with new environmental certification system looking at
their impacts on biodiversity and the amount of carbon reduction they achieve.
Science and Technology
In a global economy where capital can move freely to low-cost countries outside Europe and the U.S., the best way for Ireland to retain employment is to establish an international reputation for Research and Development.
The Green Party will:
replace the current amalgam of isolated, remote units of innovation with regional Science and Technology Parks,
that bring together concentrated networks of innovation including universities, public bodies and industry;
establish a Central Coordination Unit within Enterprise Ireland to absorb the City and County Enterprise Boards as well as coordinating the innovation activities of
Technology Ireland, EI, the IDA and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) placing the commercialisation of new technologies at the centre of policy;
redirect funding away from start-up venture capital toward in-firm capability development, commercialisations, and academic research and innovation partnerships;
graduate tax credits depending on the R&D being undertaken,
for example a 50% credit, up to a value of €500,000 for original technology; a 25% credit up to a value of €250,000 for improving existing technology; and for engaging in R&D not of a sufficient scale to fully avail of these credits make them refundable to a value of €100,000;
reform the mandates of Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to include support for firms likely to reduce fossil fuel imports into the country;
amend the remit of Science Foundation Ireland to include sustainable energy research as a third category area where they could fund cutting edge academic research.
Promoting Enterprise
The Green Party recognises that Ireland’s future economic success lies in the ability of our small to medium sized businesses to grow and compete on a national and international level.
We need to move away from an over-reliance on foreign direct investment and increase the development of our home-grown enterprises.
The Green Party tax policy will promote enterprise.
Specifically, reducing taxes on employment, including employers’ PRSI,
reducing VAT and replacing commerical rates with a new Site Value Tax (see Taxation and Social Policy).
In addition, the Green Party will:
increase the VAT audit exemption limit;
establish a specific Financial Advice Agency for SMEs.
Insurance
Although premiums have fallen in recent years, insurance costs remain volatile and wholly unpredictable, and the profits of the five largest insurance companies rose from €518 million in 2003 to €755 million in 2004.
The Green Party will:
implement the outstanding Oireachtas recommendations for reform in the Irish insurance market,
including actions to reduce the number of fatalities in the workplace,
the level of awards in personal injury cases and the costs of legal actions;
fully support and advance the work of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.
Banks and Financial Services
Ireland has one of the highest interest rates in the Eurozone.
We will implement the recommendations of the Competition Authority to ensure that customers are given accurate, reliable and understandable information on alternative banking products.
The Green Party will:
reform legislation to make the Financial Regulator and the Competition Authority more accountable;
grant greater powers to investigate, regulate prices, lift entry barriers and penalise malpractices;
appoint a Registrar of Credit Unions as an independent officer with a view to increasing credit union penetration of the financial services market.
The Cost of Living and Consumer Rights
We will seek to bring down and maintain the rate of inflation to the euro zone average.
We will reform the remit and constitution of the National Consumer Agency so that it is more representative of consumer and retail interests.
Specifically, we will:
reform the current funding mechanism, so that the Agency operates fully independently of government;
accord the Agency similar status as the Ombudsman so that it can act freely and fairly as a watchdog and defender of consumer rights;
empower the Agency to focus not just on the private sector but also State and State commercial enterprises;
redistribute the appointments to the Agency’s governing board so that it is more representative of consumers and retailers.
Agriculture
Irish agriculture is at a crossroads.
With the CAP and GATT reforms the sector is facing severe job losses.
It is important to enhance the flexibility and diversity of agriculture
and to sustain the family farm.
Above all, it is important to safeguard the land for future generations,
and encourage young people into farming.
The Green Party will:
lobby for changes in the World Trade Organisation to protect domestic agriculture from being undercut by imports that are not subject to the same quality, health and environmental standards;
streamline the payment of money under grant schemes so that farmers do not have to pay all the costs up front before being refunded 40% by the Department of Agriculture at a later stage which often necessitates expensive bridging loans;
research strategies to maximise the economic value of agricultural produce through value-added food products;
promote the clean green image of Ireland abroad creating a ‘green Ireland’ brand for food products;
ensure Ireland becomes a GM-free zone
and ban farming of cloned animals;
provide more direct sale from farmer to consumer through farmers’ markets etc;
require planning authorities to designate ‘market spaces’ within all towns;
reduce the dependence on chemical inputs by the majority of farmers;
support sustainable farming
by favouring small farms;
fund the Irish Seed Savers Association which is dedicated to the preservation of traditional varieties of fruit and vegetables.
Section 1: A Vibrant Green Economy (continued)
Food
The Green Party will:
ensure that food products are clearly labelled with all products displaying country of origin and carbon ratings so that customers can compare for different foods;
set up a single agency to take over the monitoring of food hygiene regulations to avoid conflicting stipulations being given to producers, as is so often the case;
ensure that all food production regulations take account of small producers who should not be put out of business by unrealistic requirements;
Promote and support a comprehensive national nutrition strategy encouraging healthy eating for all.
Organic Farming
The Green Party will:
set a target for 5% of national acreage to be organically converted by 2012;
provide a simpler, easy to use free advice service for farmers,
helping them convert to organic, keeping them up to date on current trends;
impose strict penalties on those who label their produce as organic when it is not.
Forestry
Woodlands and forests play an essential role in providing us with fresh air, clean water, fertile soil and climate stability.
Trees help prevent soil erosion, drought and flooding yet only 4% of our land area is tree covered.
From the functional and economic point of view, trees are one of the most important renewable and sustainable resources available to this country.
Trees are also of great aesthetic value and contribute to the lives of all of us.
The Green Party will:
increase the Forestry Premium by 40% with a new emphasis on native trees;
introduce an afforestation programme designed to promote a sustainable ‘Continuous Forest Cover’ with the immediate introduction of a minimum of 30% broadleaf to be planted annually;
review the 1988 Forestry Act restructuring Coillte so that it gives equal consideration to the social,
recreational
and environmental objectives necessary for a sustainable forestry programme;
implement an immediate restructuring programme of existing plantations to address the problems that are now apparent after following a policy of planting non-native fast growing conifer monocultures;
set up a research project to identify the range of broadleaf species with economic potential.
Rural Enterprise Development
The 2004 Fitzpatrick Report on rural enterprise
stated that rural development policy should focus on support for indigenous enterprise rather than Foreign Direct Investment.
The Green Party’s programme envisages the development of appropriately scaled enterprises in close proximity to areas of agricultural production
or in new rural enterprise zones located in towns.
The Green Party will:
establish a new Programme for Rural Enterprise Development to allow for the emergence of a strong alternative indigenous sector;
introduce a new Planning Code to support the development of alternative and indigenous enterprise in rural areas focussing on renewable energy and agri-enterprise;
establish a single Rural Enterprise Agency to offer a more streamlined service, acting as a ‘one-stopshop’ for advice on grant supports etc…;
undertake an enterprise audit reviewing existing provision and all redundant agricultural buildings and manufacturing plants in rural areas – e.g. possible use of Carlow and Mallow sugar factories as bio-fuel plants.
Marine
We will mainstream environmental considerations into all policies impacting on the marine and freshwater environment.
The Green Party will:
license particular fisheries in conjunction with the industry to favour small scale,
less environmentally damaging vessels and fishing methods;
ensure the introduction of technical conservation methods,
(e.g. square mesh panels in fishing nets to allow escape of juveniles and small non-target species), and the phase-out of destructive gear
(e.g. beam trawls, suction dredges, monofilament nets) in conjunction with Government assistance to help fishing communities;
designate marine protected areas around the coast,
with the involvement of all user groups to allow regeneration of stocks;
demand an independent observer presence on a random basis on all fleets operating in Irish waters to monitor and measure cetacean by-catch;
introduce a programme of instant electronic logging and tagging of all catches and landings made by fishing vessels in Irish waters so they can be traced from a shop-counter back to the trawler.
target supports for sustainable
shellfish aquaculture and low density,
high value fish aquaculture processing;
Section 2: Taxation and Social Policy
invest in an offshore multi-purpose towing vessel able to tow the largest international merchant vessels to ensure full protection of the coastal environment
and ensure safety of fishermen;
reform the Foreshore Act 1933 to bring it into line with land-based planning laws;
introduce a system of Integrated Coastal Zone Management.
Tourism
The Green Party want to develop a tourism industry
that places greater emphasis on activity holidays such as cycling, walking, angling, sailing, horse-riding
– a policy that promotes the very essence of Irish country living.
The Green Party will:
devise a new plan for farm-based
rural tourism;
promote the concept of Common Interest Zones within rural towns and village areas;
launch a ‘Proud Cities’ Programme, involving projects such as
major new parks, traffic-free areas and eco-communities to demonstrate the benefits of sustainable living.
introduce an all-Ireland Walking Development Plan,
that will map out infrastructural needs and routes,
devised in consultation with farmers, landowners, local authorities, NGOs and other relevant interest groups;
make the listing, mapping and signposting of existing rights of way mandatory;
legislate to have traditional walking routes confirmed as public rights of way after a number of years without challenge by a landowner and give freedom to roam over areas of rough grazing (mostly in the uplands);
create a number of new regional/national parks in areas of high amenity including a Liffey Valley national park.
Employment Rights
There are over 40 pieces of primary employment legislation that employers must deal with, irrespective of whether the company employs 1 or 1,000 staff.
The Green Party will:
consolidate the existing body of employment law in order to reduce red tape
and statutory requirements on employers;
strengthen our redundancy and unfair dismissal laws to prevent job displacement and a ‘race to the bottom’ in wages and working conditions;
support the EU Directive on manning conditions for ferry services to guard against the use of flags-of-convenience ships in Irish ports;
make redundancy payments tax free;
introduce legislation to assist whistleblowers ensuring that employees who expose illegal activity are protected.
Section 2: Taxation and Social Policy (continued)
The Irish taxation system is unfair and inefficient.
Many of the wealthiest in society continue to pay minimal or no taxes while tax reliefs that could potentially stimulate valuable social and entrepreneurial activities have been misused by successive Governments.
The Green Party believes that, in addition to raising revenue, the taxation system should be used to encourage and reward activities with positive economic, social and environmental effects.
As such, the burden of taxation should be shifted away from socially constructive activities, including labour,
and onto socially, economically and environmentally damaging activities.
If the central elements of this strategy are implemented, the Green Party, in accordance with the decision of its Annual Convention in March 2006, commits itself to leaving rates of corporate and income tax unchanged for the foreseeable future.
Ireland spends a modest share of its wealth on social protection in comparison with most other EU countries.
The Scandinavian countries continue to demonstrate that high levels of public social expenditure retain the support of taxpayers and employers and do not impede economic performance.
Combating tax avoidance
It is clear that the only beneficiaries of some tax reliefs are wealthy individuals, while the taxpayer, the economy, the environment and society bear the costs.
The Green Party has repeatedly demanded that tax residency rules be revised to ensure that those who benefit from Irish society also contribute to Irish society.
The Green Party will:
establish a system for regularly and rigorously assessing, auditing and reviewing tax expenditures including cost/benefit analysis for all tax reliefs;
discontinue reliefs that are costly, unproductive and unjustifiable;
review the terms of the cap on tax relief annually on the basis of its projected effects in the coming year;
examine the viability of introducing rules to ensure that high-earners do not continue to avoid tax through residency loopholes.
Income Taxes
The Green Party will:
index-link tax credits and bands to provide workers
with protection from the effects of inflation and to avoid taxation by stealth;
reduce employers’ and employees’ PRSI contributions
and fund this with the revenue generated by levies on pollution;
introduce refundable tax credits where possible so that those who do not use some or all of their tax credits receive the equivalent in a cash payment from the State;
increase the standard rate of Capital Gains Tax from 20% to 25% to reduce the inequity
whereby those who benefit from capital gains pay less tax than many of those who work and pay tax on their earnings.
Value Added Tax
Last year VAT, which disproportionately affects low earners,
accounted for over 30% of total revenue.
We will fund VAT reductions
with revenue generated by levies on pollution.
The Green Party will:
reduce both VAT rates by 1%;
reduce the 21% VAT rate on activities with environmental
benefits and on certain essential goods and services,
e.g. where it affects the ill, elderly or those with a disability;
ensure that reduced VAT rates are passed on to customers;
give charities a refund on VAT paid on donations in order to support their positive contribution to Irish society.
Business and taxation
The Green Party believes that the Irish economy must develop its indigenous base
and that tax reliefs
for businesses should be structured so that the establishment of strong indigenous enterprise is rewarded.
Capital allowances cost the Exchequer €1.6bn in 2002 (the latest year for which a figure is available at time of writing) in tax foregone.
In many cases, their value to society in economic, social and environmental terms is dubious.
The Green Party will:
structure corporate tax reliefs and capital allowances in such a way that Research and Development,
employment-generating activities,
socially responsible activities,
and sustainable and environmentally-friendly activities are rewarded;
replace commercial rates with a Site Value Tax (see below);
reintroduce the Bank Levy for 5-year period capped at €200m per annum
since banks have benefited disproportionately from Ireland’s economic development at the expense of individuals and indigenous enterprises
– the two biggest banks currently make about €3 billion a year.
Encouraging efficient land-use
At present, a decision to rezone land can generate large sums of money for the landowner.
At the same time, local authorities
and, increasingly, local businesses and the ordinary taxpayer
are left to bear the expense of creating and maintaining the services and infrastructure that give the site its value.
The Green Party will change this.
The Green Party will:
replace commercial rates with an annual Site Value Tax on all land, except primary homes, agricultural land and State property that is used for non-administrative purposes, based on the value that a particular piece of land would have if there were no buildings or improvements on it;
establish a Windfall Tax on development land, as recommended by the Kenny Report,
to ensure that part of windfall gains made by owners of development land as a result of rezoning and service provision by local government will be returned to the community on the sale of a site.
Reducing carbon emissions
Under the Kyoto Protocol, the taxpayer will pay over €500m for carbon credits between 2008 and 2012,
largely due the Government’s failure to take measures to reduce carbon emissions.
The Green Party will:
introduce a carbon levy - on the basis of current emissions levels, a €20 per tonne levy would raise at least €510m in revenue and reduce Ireland’s financial liability under the Kyoto Protocol;
use this revenue to reduce PRSI contributions of employees and employers,
to reduce VAT and to increase social welfare provision
to counteract “fuel poverty”;
investigate introducing personal carbon allowances to replace the carbon levy;
replace Vehicle Registration Tax and motor tax with an Environmental Charge, based on emissions standards, fuel efficiency, size and weight,
and an Environmental Levy on fuel;
provide support, including tax relief for the development of Ireland’s renewable energy industries
to develop Ireland as a Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy technologies
Social Inclusion
Social exclusion has a broader meaning than just poverty as it points to exclusion of people from activities, goods and services considered normal to the society in which they live.
Their exclusion can be, but is not always, related to their level of income.
The Green Party will
provide more resources for the Office for Social Inclusion;
ensure that public policies for social inclusion are integrated into the wider policy framework;
provide additional resources for reformed poverty impact assessment procedures;
commission further data collection on levels and risk of poverty and the development of indicators
to measure relative and consistent poverty trends establish social inclusion units
in all local authorities.
Welfare Reform
Ireland is exceptional within the EU for the high proportion of social spending that is means-tested
- just over a quarter.
An integrated taxation and social welfare system
would permit transparent access to information regarding income levels
and would therefore eliminate the high reliance on means-testing.
In 2004 there were 119,159 “qualified” adults, i.e. without a social welfare payment depending on another adult who is receiving a social welfare payment,
and 95% of these were women.
The Social Welfare system continues to be based on the male breadwinner model
which denies women full independence.
The Green Party will:
combine the tax and social welfare systems fully to allow for more efficient data and money transfer mechanisms;
abolish means-testing of the carers’ allowance and work towards abolishing it for other primary payments such as unemployment assistance;
review means-testing as a method of assessment for secondary benefits,
working towards replacing it with a needs based assessment procedure based on the integrated revenue/social welfare system;
pay qualified adult payments at 100% of the full adult rate and pay this directly to the qualified adult;
abolish the limitation rule which reduces the total payment to households where both adults have eligibility for social assistance in their own right by 15%;
implement a regular review process of rates of entitlements;
index-link all entitlements on an annual basis as per consumer price index increases.
Fighting Poverty
While Ireland is now the second richest country in the world per head of population the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2006 reported that 6.8% of the population and 9.9% of children are living in consistent poverty.
A significant minority of poor individuals are in households where the household head is in work.
There are many types of work in the social economy that the market economy fails to recognise.
Women in particular are affected by this reality
- six out of every ten carers of disabled and elderly relatives are women.
The Green Party will:
develop a new increased payment for carers which combines the carers’ allowance and benefit and is therefore available to all;
introduce an additional refundable tax credit for carers;
benchmark the lowest social welfare payment for a single person at 50% of per person average household income;
make personal tax credits refundable to people over 18 and under 65 who have a track record of an average of 8 hours paid employment per week and are not claiming an income maintenance payment;
undertake a feasibility study into the gradual phasing in of other credits currently available to tax payers that are not refundable;
advance the work which has been carried out to amalgamate Child Dependent Allowances and Family Income Support;
replace Rent Supplement with a Housing Benefit which would act as a direct payment to the house seekers,
allowing them to negotiate rents themselves thereby dampening housing market inflation.
Access To Entitlements
The Green Party will
undertake a review of all social welfare payments with a view to standardising payments and reducing differences which currently exist between meanstested and non means-tested rates of entitlements;
Section 2: Taxation and Social Policy (continued)
introduce a tapered withdrawal system for all payments whereby they are linked by percentage to increases in income limits;
make child benefit a universal entitlement for all,
not just EU citizens.
Extended Social Insurance Benefits
The Green Party will
lower the contribution levels needed to access benefits;
allow retrospective credits for all women
who have lost out on cover due to civil service marriage bar;
introduce reforms recognising carers for the purpose of social insurance contributions;
recognise spouses of self-employed/farmers for social insurance contributions;
reform the two year rule, which means that a person with no social insurance record for more than two years must have 26 paid contributions before credits can be rewarded,
by enabling a re-entry for women wishing to re-enter the labour market.
Section 3: Transport and Communications
The Green Party in Government will fundamentally change transport planning in Ireland in order to reduce deaths from traffic accidents and air pollution,
cut damaging emissions,
lessen our reliance on fossil fuels,
provide greater accessibility,
mobility and choice for all
and tackle the congestion
which is seriously affecting the economic and social well-being of our country.
We will set three targets to measure our progress:
halve the number of road deaths within our first full term in office;
reverse the recent 6% per annum increases in oil consumption to an annual average 2% reduction  to  meet  the  climate  change  challenge
and to match the annual reduction in world oil supplies following a peak in global oil production;
As a long term target we want to halve average commuting distances which have almost trebled over the last twenty five years due to bad planning.
The Green Party will work within the spending parameters of Transport 21
but will shift the spending priorities within the budget to promote public transport,
walking
and cycling
modes and more balance regional development.
We will progress the main public transport projects designated in the Transport 21 plan including the Dublin Metro,
the Western Rail Corridor,
the Spencer Dock to Heuston rail interconnector
and the Luas extensions to City West,
Cherrywood and the Point Depot.
However, we then want to go further and in the following additional projects:
Rail Services
The Green Party will:
connect the two existing lines in Dublin City centre via College Green and immediately provide extensions to Finglas and Rathfarnham;
introduce a new East-West Luas line from Lucan to the Poolbeg peninsula;
design the metro extension south from Cherrywood to follow a direct route to Bray;
rather than diverting to the west of the N11 as is being proposed
fast-track the rail interconnector between Spencer Dock and Heuston Station and the electrification of the Kildare and Maynooth Lines;
extend the Metro north to Donabate and south from St Stephens Green to connect at Beechwood
from where Luas and Metro trams would then share Luas Line B to Bray;
extend the proposed orbital Metro eastwards from Ballymun to Baldoyle to serve this rapidly developing northern fringe area of the city;
conduct a feasibility study and cost benefit analysis for the widening of the rail line north of Connolly Station to allow for more commuter, Dart and intercity rail services and examine the continued use of level crossings on busy rail lines;
proceed with the immediate construction of the Navan rail line;
upgrade the South East Rail Line between Dublin and Rosslare;
build a light rail line running from Mahon to Ballincollig via Cork City Centre;
promote a  Galway Luas from Barna to the City centre and from there to Oranmore;
Section 3: Transport and Communications (continued)
reopen the Western Rail Corridor between Sligo and Tralee on a phased basis, beginning with connections to Shannon and Tuam;
provide new commuter rail services on the existing lines into Limerick with new stations;
introduce high-speed direct services from Dublin to Shannon to increase the catchment area of Shannon Airport;
introduce a rail freight subsidy on a per tonne basis for materials that are transferred from existing road freight onto rail freight.
Bus Services
The Green Party will:
ensure the bus regulator carries out a full review of all existing bus services in cities and sets a new ‘route and service level’ structure for all operators;
publish a new Passenger’s Charter to guarantee standards;
make major investment in new quality bus corridors to ensure that the turn-around time of buses
improves thus radically increasing capacity from the existing fleet;
introduce fast and frequent long distance commuting bus services in the regions around the main cities providing key sections of bus lane on all the congested points en route to the city centres;
provide a simple one, two and three euro charging system for city bus services;
ensure all public buses and State vehicles run on bio-fuels;
provide park and ride facilities outside all cities and larger towns.
Walking
The Green Party will:
introduce new 30kph speed limit areas for traffic in most city centre locations
and improve the green time given to pedestrians at traffic crossings;
introduce a national Safe Route to School programme within the lifetime of the next Government;
extend special pedestrian promenades along the seafront in Galway and Dublin, the Shannon in Limerick and city centre in Cork;
allow the pedestrian become the dominant mode in city centres by extending pedestrian areas and providing access-only streets and traffic calming measures;
introduce a Central Pedestrianisation Fund that Local Authorities could draw from to pedestrianise portions of county towns.
Cycling
The Green Party will:
introduce a new national cycle network to promote both local and long distance recreational cycling and providing safe commuting routes in urban centres;
Provide funding for Cycle Safe programmes in all primary and secondary schools;
Investigate the introduction of same liability protection for more vulnerable road users as exists in other European countries;
set requirements for the carrying of bicycles on new modes of public transport.
Roads
The Green Party will:
respect existing road contracts but, where there is concern about potential damage to communities, environment or heritage,
will investigate how this can be minimised within the scope of the contract or through renegotiation;
upgrade and maintain existing road stock, where necessary providing bypasses;
give greater priority to road freight vehicles on the M50 and other National Primary Routes ;
NRA to set a new roads investment policy with priority given to road safety,
environmental and urban planning measures.
use road tolling to manage traffic rather than increase revenue, so tolls could be nil at off-peak times;
Road Safety
The Green Party will:
reduce the blood alcohol limit to 50mg/100ml and support random breath testing;
invest adequately in enforcement so people who speed or drink drive know they will be caught;
introduce fixed and mobile speed cameras;
introduce road safety skills and initial driver training lessons onto school curriculum
implement a new three-stage process of driver training
Institutional Reform
To have an efficient transportation system planning, regional development and transportation have to be closely integrated.
The Green Party will:
create a new National Transport and Land Use Authority with a strategic planning, regulatory, procurement and a design role;
allow the Public Transport Regulator
within the National Transport Authority to ensure greater integration between all transport services including integrated ticketing and timetabling;
amend Compulsory Purchase Order regulations to ensure that land acquired for new transport projects is assessed on its existing use value rather than hope value;
Section 3: Transport and Communications (continued)
provide cost benefit analysis and publish prior to any contract being signed on new projects;
ensure that the cost benefit analysis for all infrastructure projects includes measures
of the climate change and social costs resulting from the development.
Rural Transport
The Green Party will:
ensure that rural public transport schemes are co-ordinated by the National Transport Authority, liaising closely with local county councils, communities and providers;
provide for the development of an Integrated Rural Transport Network combining rural bus services  and frequent city and inter-town train services;
expand and properly fund Rural Transport Initiatives (RTI)
incorporate existing school bus programmes into a wider network of rural bus services;
encourage the clustering of residential development near existing villages.
Accessibility
The Green Party will:
introduce 100% wheelchair accessible taxi fleets in our cities;
ensure that low floor and accessible buses become the norm;
abolish the student travel card,
which represents a form of double taxation on students, and replace it with a free student ID card which will entitle students to the same level of discounts.
Air Travel
The Green Party will:
develop new routes from Cork, Shannon and Belfast
and provide proper public transport links to these airports,
rather than construct a second terminal in Dublin;
phase out the subsidy to internal flights;
support proposals from the French government to put an EU-wide tax on aviation fuel.
Sea Transport
Shipping plays a vital role in connecting Ireland with the world.
It is a very energy-efficient form of transportation.
As they are a vital strategic asset and are currently well run, Ireland’s ports should not be privatised.
Our proposed Public Transport Regulator will ensure that timetabling of ferry and rail services is efficient and rational.
Communications
The Green Party will:
carry out a feasibility study into the State re-taking control of Eircom,
divesting any commercial operation,
and maintaining the fixed-line network as an open access infrastructure to all operators;
set the mobile phone operators, cable companies and Eircom
into direct competition to get cheaper, faster and more integrated broadband services;
review the Government’s rollout of metropolitan area networks to resolve the issues of the delivery of ‘back-haul’ connections
and the ‘last mile’ connection to the consumer;
consolidate post offices into local community internet/broadband facilities;
introduce a proper policing and monitoring system for the operation of mobile phone masts;
establish a new unified broadcasting regulator and the similar reconstitution of the RTE Authority to ensure its future independence;
develop an all-island digital ‘free to air’ broadcasting service carrying RTE 1 & 2, TG4, TV3 and the Northern Ireland BBC/ITV public service main channels.
Section 4: Housing and Development
Increasing prices are a major problem for young homebuyers
and those who need to move to larger homes.
The increasing number of those on housing lists and of those in receipt of the rental supplement shows that the property boom is not delivering for the needs of ordinary people.
Practices such as land speculation and the hoarding of zoned land have distorted the housing market
and impeded the provision of affordable housing.
The Green Party will:
enshrine in law the principle of housing as a right, as has been done in France;
set up a Housing Authority,
under the auspices of the Department of the Environment, whose objective will be to shape and influence the development of housing policy through research, market analysis and information and advice;
ensure that local authorities will compulsorily purchase development land prior to rezoning, at agricultural or existing use value plus 25%, for the purpose of providing social or affordable housing or for sale at full market value to private developers;
review existing stamp duty rates
and abolish stamp duty for older persons who are ‘downsizing’ and extend relief for first-time buyers who wish to purchase the same property;
shift the tax burden from labour
to ‘smart’ taxes on the site value of land excluding agricultural land and primary homes (see “Taxation and Social Policy”);
give pre-emption rights to local authorities to purchase property at point of sale and make more active use of existing compulsory purchase powers;
empower local authorities to designate ‘brown field’ sites in need of redevelopment;
Social and Affordable Housing and Homelessness
Ireland is producing markedly less social housing today than in the past.
In 2002 social housing accounted for only 10% of total housing output.
The Green Party will
ensure the delivery of 10,000 social and affordable housing units a year,
until the housing waiting lists are cleared,
by insisting on up to one third social and affordable housing provision within new developments;
limit developers from using land or financial transfer to opt out of building social housing units within new residential schemes;
integrate local authority housing
for people with disabilities into as many housing schemes as possible;
reduce from 50% to 25% the contribution made by home owners in local authority estates undergoing regeneration if they wish to avail of the upgrade to the exterior of their house, in particular when this leads to greater energy efficiency;
meet the demands and timescales of the Make Room campaign in addressing for once and for all the scourge of homelessness in Irish society.
Management Companies and Taking Estates in Charge
The Green Party will
guarantee that local authorities will not allow the creation of management companies as part of the planning permission conditions for traditional estates;
create a regulatory body to oversee the use of management companies;
ensure that management agents are strictly policed by the National Property Services Regulatory Authority;
introduce new procedures for taking estates into charge by local authorities,
including penalties on developers if they fail to bring the estate up to the necessary standard within the prescribed time.
Private Rented Sector
The Green Party wants to see renting in the private sector come to be regarded as a legitimate and sensible housing choice .
The Green Party will:
give tenants security of tenure of one month for every five month’s occupation;
encourage institutional investors such as pension funds, trade Unions, credit unions, etc. to become involved in the sector;
require landlords to register with our proposed Housing Authority with their properties having to reach minimum standards before a licence will be issued to rent a dwelling;
shorten the period over which landlords can claim tax back on renovating their properties from 8 to 4 years;
limit rent increases to a 5% increase above inflation; target all new tax incentives on not-for-profit housing and allow the not-for-profit sector to compete with the private sector for tenants.
Section 4: Housing and Development (continued)
Joined-up Thinking in Urban Planning
The Government continues to set the agenda for a developer-led approach to planning that ignores the social, economic and environmental consequences of rising private transport dependence and energy consumption.
The current urban planning framework is disjointed.
The Green Party will:
require local authorities to have Masterplans to specify the forecasted transport, education, community service capacity requirements
and to inform the Department of Education of new zoning decisions and changes to County Development Plans that have implications for future educational needs;
amend the Planning Act to guarantee the provision of educational facilities within new growth areas by requiring developers to either supply the necessary land,
pay development contributions to finance schools or build the necessary schools as a condition of planning permission;
create a Strategic Planning Unit within the Department of Education to coordinate the development of new and existing schools
and place a statutory obligation on the Department to review its school building programme each time a local authority rezones land or gives planning permission to a residential development;
require local authorities to zone specific areas within their Development Plans in locations that will gain from Transport 21 investments to establish a clear link between additional private gains, such as higher house prices,
and to give local authorities an additional income stream to fund supporting infrastructure and services;
require businesses to take responsibility for their own transport problems with Mobility Management Plans becoming a key requirement for planning approval in all urban areas;
amend the Planning and Development Act 2000 to allow County Development Plans lay down standards on energy efficiency and the use of renewables;
revise the Open Space Standards so that all green spaces provide social and ecological benefits, e.g. events, meetings and play;
make it an explicit element of the planning framework that environmental consequences
must be factored into decision-making, e.g. Development Plans, zoning decisions;
provide urban micro-forests in all large open spaces within new residential areas
and ensure that landscaping plans enhance biodiversity;
give local authorities licencing powers over sex shops and lap dancing clubs .
Planning for People
This Government has put limits on public participation in the planning system that did not exist before.
This has resulted in distrust of the planning system.
The Green Party will:
establish a new National Planning Advisory Agency,
as a counter balance to the Strategic Infrastructure Bill,
to inform the public about large planning applications in their local area and provide technical services on national and local planning policy to the public;
remove the €20 Planning Participation Fee and all administrative rules that act as a barrier to open participation in the Irish planning system;
ensure the focus of residential planning is to create long-term sustainable communities;
produce new Residential Guidelines based on good urban design principles
allow appeal to An Bord Pleanála of proposed developments by State or local authorities.
Landscape Planning
The Green Party will implement the terms of the European Landscape Convention, ratified by Ireland in March 2007, by developing the following policies and legislation in cooperation with the Heritage Council and other stakeholders in the professional and NGO spheres.
A National Landscape Policy and a Landscape Ireland Act
A Policy and Act on Urban Parks and Green Spaces
Create parks and landscape services in all local authorities on a phased basis
Integrate landscape management into the NDP 2007-2013.
Rural Planning
The Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines are fraught with difficulties
and show that the Government does not take seriously either the problem of rural transport or the impact of development in areas without sufficient local water or waste water treatment services.
The Green Party will:
encourage local authorities to buy or to Compulsorily Purchase land-banks around villages and provide serviced sites at cost to residents so that shops, schools, etc., are located within walking distance;
promote rural planning policies
that give preference to those who make an economic contribution to the rural community in which they wish to live;
amend the planning provisions in relation to Occupancy Agreements to require that deed or mortgage evidence is provided on an annual basis to stop speculation in the sale of housing to non-rural buyers so that rural people have the opportunity to build and live in the rural areas where they work ;
increase spending on capital investment for sewage treatment infrastructure in key towns and villages under development pressure;
introduce a new septic tank servicing subsidy for rural home owners to reduce water pollution and kick-start better monitoring of tanks;
provide new guidelines on site suitability assessments for all development in rural areas which will propose limitations on development in close proximity to watercourses, in areas with regionally important aquifers, EU designated areas SACs/SPAs, Natural Heritage Areas and in areas of high visual amenity;
increase the budget for the CLAR Programme, which went towards bridging the investment deficit in rural areas, to include additional activities.
Section 5: Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Crime Prevention
The Green Party will focus on both the causes of crime
as well as dealing with the consequences of crime.
While  recognising  that  there  is  no  one  solution,  there is considerable evidence, not least in terms of the socio-economic  profile  of  criminals,
which  suggests that social exclusion is a key factor in crime rates.
Low  family  income,
inadequate  housing,
low  educational achievement,
and access to social and recreational facilities  are  areas  that  must  be  tackled  by  Government in order to redress the marginalisation experienced by too many communities in Ireland.
These issues are dealt with in other sections of this manifesto.
Tackling Anti Social Behaviour
Anti-social behaviour results in the destruction of community facilities,
the undermining of law and order
and the generation of a degree of fear in householders,
especially the elderly.
However the Green Party does not believe that Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s)  address the real issues behind such behaviour
and we will repeal the sections of the Criminal Justice Act that provide for the introduction of ASBOs for both adults and children.
Effective methods of dealing with anti social behaviour are already in place
but due to a lack of Government investment resources have not been made available to make them work.
The Green Party will fully implement and resource the following alternatives to ASBOs:
The Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme: almost 90% of children admitted to the programme do not come to the notice of the Gardaí again before their 18th birthday.
Promote the 64 Garda Youth Diversion Projects;.
Resource conferencing which brings together the child, parent(s), Gardaí, educational and social services.
Encourage Community sanctions for young offenders and Parental sanctions, e.g. pay compensation, undergo treatment for alcohol, substance abuse;
Properly resource community policing.
Tackling Organised Crime and Trafficking
In the past five years Ireland has seen a phenomenal rise in organised gang-related crime which has resulted in a dramatic increase in gun related murders.
The Green Party will:
establish an Organised Crime Agency similar to that in the UK;
bring into law the EU Council decision on combating trafficking in human beings which obliged all member states to legislate to criminalise human trafficking;
adopt and implement a comprehensive strategy to combat trafficking
in women and girls.
Garda Reform
An Garda Síochána has proudly served the people of Ireland for almost a century.
However in recent years it has experienced a number of extremely damaging incidents including the corrupt and dishonest policing in County Donegal,
the shooting of John Carthy at Abbeylara,
and the handling of ‘Reclaim the Streets’ demonstration in 2004.
Section 5: Justice, Equality and Law Reform (continued)
In order for An Garda Síochána to regain its position as a respected and trusted protector of the peace the Green Party will:
provide for a systematic increase in Garda numbers on an annual basis until numbers are in line with population growth – we believe that at least 15,000 are currently needed;
increase civilian staffing to free members from excessive desk work;
provide continued professional training and education
including multi-cultural relations and anti-homophobia training;
implement new discipline regulations, new promotion regulations and a whistleblowers’ charter and act on the findings of Justice Morris;
ensure that the recommendations made by Justice Barr arising from the Abbeylara incident are implemented;
draw up a charter for placing human rights at the centre of policing in Ireland.
Supporting the Victims of Crime
Victims of crime more than often find themselves having to deal with an adversarial criminal justice system, while simultaneously attempting to deal with the trauma of the crime itself.
We believe that the victims of crime in Ireland must be afforded access to the support services that will in some way ease the difficulties of engaging with the system.
It is estimated that up to one in five women experience domestic violence.
The criminal and civil justice systems consistently fail to recognise the complexities of domestic violence and address the safety of the victim or hold offenders accountable.
Every year the Women’s Aid National Freephone Helpline receives over 8,000 calls but statistics for 2005 recorded 10,504 missed calls.
The Green Party will:
implement guidelines to require the judiciary to provide explanations for sentences;
afford victims of crime the same access to legal representation and court access as the accused, and ensure that costs are automatically awarded to victims;
increase funding to Women’s Aid to ensure that phone calls do not go unanswered;
provide multi-annual funding for the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency;
take a proactive approach to tackling the root causes of domestic violence and to invest in preventative measures;
open additional sexual assault treatment units outside Dublin as recommended by a national review in 2006 with facilities to store forensic evidence safely;
increase funding for support services for men and their children who are experiencing domestic violence such as provided by Amen in Navan;
restore funding to allow for the re-establishment of the Missing Persons Helpline and the advertising of its service.
Access to Justice
Access to all the traditional professions is difficult for those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds due to barriers of cost, connections and opportunity.
At present, obtaining free legal aid in civil cases remains difficult and subject to severe restrictions regarding means testing.
The Green Party will:
review the cut-off levels currently used when means-testing free legal aid for civil cases;
increase funding for FLAC and existing community law centres;
examine the expansion of community law centres;
address barriers to access to the legal professions specifically among disadvantaged , minority communities.
Reform of the Penal System
The Green Party believes that the Irish penal system is in dire need of reform at the most fundamental level.
The recurring problems of recidivism, overcrowding and psychiatric issues need immediate addressing:
The Green Party will:
re-open the Curragh Prison to deal with overcrowding;
establish a Working Group on Penal Reform to develop alternatives to custody;
abolish plans to relocate Mountjoy to Thornton Hall
and instead review options to refurbish and extend the present buildings;
legislate to place the Inspector of Prisons on a fully independent and statutory footing;
introduce an Ombudsman for Prisons;
ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) to ensure  national monitoring of places of detention is effective and independent;
double the resources of the Probation and Welfare Service to allow for greater numbers to receive community based sanction programmes,
also to ensure supervision and support of young offenders on re-entry into the community;
develop an after-prison support system, i.e. supports for accommodation, education, employment.
Marriage and Partnership Rights The Green Party will:
The Green Party fully recognises the vital role marriage plays in our society.
We agree that the special position of marriage should be maintained within our Constitution.
We also believe that giving recognition to other forms of family life
which provide support to society does not in any way lessen the importance of marriage.
The Green Party will:
establish ‘Family Centres’ to assist in pre-marriage courses, marriage counselling, mediation and arbitration;
seek legislation that would remove all gender specific terms from current legislation and regulations governing the granting of marriages
to allow same-sex couples enjoy the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage;
recommend the creation of a new category of ‘civil partnership’, an institution that could be created and dissolved with more ease than marriage.
This would be available to both heterosexual and same-sex couples;
increase protections for unregistered cohabiting couples.
Traveller Community
The Green Party will:
recognise Travellers as a minority ethnic group;
establish action plans on a statutory basis to tackle Traveller accommodation
and help integrate local housing strategies and Traveller programmes;
review outcomes of current investment in Traveller Education in consultation with Traveller groups,
creating benchmarks for Traveller education against the general standards;
ensure that Travellers have greater access to counselling
and to Mental Health services to help tackle the extremely high rate of suicide amongst young men in the community;
develop a strategy for Travellers and work including
promotion of “affirmative actions” among employers;
consider sanctions against local authorities
that fail to deliver and implement Traveller Accommodation Programmes.
Disability
At present, people with disabilities,
1 in 12 of the population, have had their right to be full citizens compromised, whether it be access to employment
(where up to 80% are  unable to get jobs), public transport or housing.
ensure that at least half of the National Disability Strategy will be implemented by 2010;
introduce a Cost of Disability payment of approx.  €40 per week;
ensure a rights-based approach to disability issues;
support all-encompassing legislation on disability, eg./ ‘Americans with Disabilities Act’;
give official recognition to Irish Sign Language;
address the shortfall in places for people with intellectual disabilities in need of respite and day-care services;
provide more funding to initiatives which provide financial incentives to employers
to recruit disabled people for over 20 hours a week,e.g. FAS Wage Subsidy Scheme, Workplace Equipment Adaptation Grant (WEAG);
increase access by disabled people to the workforce by allowing them to earn over €120 per week without losing the Disability Allowance;
ensure that all State and local authority buildings are made accessible within 5 years;
promote Early Intervention Services for all children with special needs;
fund Pre School Support Workers for children with complex needs to allow them attend Pre School;
increase funding for services for physically disabled persons
over 18 years;
provide Medical cards for all children with disabilities up to 18 years.
Section 6: Environment
Coordination between environmental, planning and health agencies
The Environmental Protection Agency currently operates in a vacuum and has failed to make the necessary connections with other bodies responsible for planning and human health.
The EPA has explicitly said human health considerations are the responsibility of the Department of Health.
However, the Health Service Executive does not take responsibility for assessing health impacts of major pollution-risk projects
and An Bord Pleanála is still precluded from considering health in relation to projects requiring EPA approval.
The Green Party will:
require that the EPA report on all planning applications
where pollution control is an issue prior to the relevant planning authority making a decision;
ensure that a review is conducted on the lack of cooperation between the EPA and An Bord Pleanála and identify any resource needs;
amend the EPA Act to clarify that the EPA as the license issuing body should be held accountable for human health effects of environmental decisions;
call upon the EPA to draft, with public participation,
a National Environmental Action Plan with short, medium and long-term targets to be approved by the Dáil and the social partners;
place much greater emphasis on coordinating the activities of the EPA and the Environment and Heritage Service, Northern Ireland and of local authorities on both sides of the border;
give the EPA Advisory Committee much greater powers to set priorities and strategy of the Agency and the power to approve and to reject all EPA strategy statements, reports;
ensure that the majority of Advisory Committee members are drawn from specialist fields,  environmental, legal and medical organisations.
Licencing, appeal and enforcement functions
Under the current Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) licensing system no ‘independent’ form of redress or appeal is available.
Also the Office of Environmental Enforcement (OEE), which was set up as an office within the EPA, raises questions about how separate the processes of license allocation and license monitoring and enforcement are in practice.
The average fine imposed by courts where the EPA successfully prosecuted offenders in 2005 was only €2559.
The Green Party will:
establish an appeal function for the terms of waste and IPPC licenses and incorporate this into the remit of An Bord Pleanála;
completely separate the EPA / OEE to ensure that environmental monitoring and enforcement are conducted in a more effective and impartial fashion;
improve coordination between the OEE and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure more polluters are indicted ;
amend legislation so that environmental fines are based on company turnover and reflect any financial gain made by not fulfilling environmental obligations;
enact the provision in the Environmental Protection Act to subject local authorities’ sewage treatment activities to an EPA licensing regime;
introduce annual ‘local authority environmental performance’ audits;
provide real-time information on-line on air and water quality.
Environmental Rights and Justice
Ireland has signed but not ratified the Aarhus Convention.
This UN convention grants strong rights in areas of access to environmental information, rights to participate in environmental decision-making and access to justice on environmental issues.
In this regard, an issue that most be urgently addressed is that of financial cost for those who wish take legal action to protect their local environment.
The Green Party will:
transpose the European Directives on access to information on the environment
and on participation in environmental decision-making;
reform the judicial review procedure to ensure that judges have a range of measures - legal aid or other instruments
– by which to financially protect those who pursue judicial review cases with clear public interest motivations;
appoint more judges to deal with environmental cases;
produce legislation to deal with the established practices which have insulated expert agency decisions from legal scrutiny ;
establish a study group within the Constitutional Review Group to examine the feasibility of introducing a constitutional right
to a clean, healthy environment at local, regional and national levels.
Reducing Waste
The latest figures show that we are now European leaders in waste generation, landfill and waste exporting.
The Government’s main waste campaign ‘Race Against Waste’ is targeted against householders despite the fact that household waste made up only 2% of the total waste generated in 2004.
The Green Party will:
set up a National Zero Waste Agency to achieve Zero Waste within 20-years;
establish a Zero Waste fund and brand, financed by waste levies,
and made available to businesses that directly contribute to achieving agreed Zero waste targets;
ensure that reuse will become a key component of product engineering and design;
establish new waste collection service systems that will prohibit flat rate charges
and introduce volume or weight-related charges nationally;
establish a strict code of “Green Purchasing” within government departments, local authorities and all public agencies;
provide tax relief to companies who switch over to Clean Production systems;
require local authorities to publish an annual inventory of waste generation
and recycling submitting annual progress reports to the National Waste Agency.
Leading the Way in Waste Management
The Green Party believe that the Zero Waste model will work to put Ireland in the forefront of Waste Management technology.
•  set high environmental and waste elimination standards with inbuilt flexibility in the early years
but, becoming progressively tighter over time;
•  introduce market and incentive supports to promote waste enterprises
so that companies  can turn waste into profit instead of paying for costly exporting;
•  develop environmental, waste production and management regulations in harmony with other countries, or ahead of them,
maximising export potential and competitiveness in industries and services dedicated to pollution control and environmental management.
Establishing Integrated Waste Infrastructure
The Government is hell bent on promoting incineration and landfill as the solution to our waste management crisis.
The Green Party will:
continue to oppose incineration of municipal waste
and actively seek alternatives to the incineration of toxic and hazardous waste;
ensure the full and timely implementation of all EU waste management targets;
introduce new waste separation laws to prohibit the disposal of mixed wet and dry waste;
introduce “cleanfill” sites that only accept inert and sterile waste;
phase out existing landfills, those remaining will be restricted to residual dry waste that cannot be recycled;
roll out a large network of recycling collection centres across the country;
provide free composters to all households and  offer financial supports for start-up commercial composting facilities, in suitable sites.
promote Anaerobic Waste Digestors to turn biodegradable food and waste into energy;
ensure that nutrient management planning will have an important role in determining the level of individual farm waste available to supply digesters across the country;
require alkaline hydrolysis for all slaughtering waste;
Supporting the recycled goods market
Ireland processes a mere 26% of all recyclable goods collected here.
The Green Party will:
establish a Market Development Unit within the National Zero Waste Agency to promote recycling by initiating a national ‘Buy Recycled’ campaign;
increase municipal recycling waste targets from the current 35% to 50% by 2013;
introduce new production materials regulations ensuring a higher proportion of products are made from recyclable/reusable material;
promote the use of returnable containers through a deposit refund system and a levy on nonreturnable containers/packaging;
introduce a requirement for recycling and reuse plans for demolition and construction projects;
set up a National Recycling Taskforce targeting each sector of business/industry and to establish agreements with key industries.
amend the Planning & Development Act 2000 to provide that buildings demolition and dismantling methods ensure a maximum reuse capability of waste materials;
change the legislation so that all public works contracts contain an obligation for the re-use of construction waste materials;
Section 6: Environment (continued)
require all firms to take back the packaging on request from consumers, segregate the packaging waste and comprehensively engage in re-use,
return and/or recycling of same;
remove the present system whereby certain companies with high waste volumes can opt out of this requirement by voluntary participation in a compliance system under the Repak ‘green dot’ scheme;
Promoting Community Participation
The Green Party will:
revoke sections of the 2001 Waste Management (Amendment) Act and the Protection of the Environment Act 2003 so that decisions on waste are taken by democratically elected representatives rather than City and County Managers.
provide financial assistance from local authorities and Government
for small-scale not-for-profit and community-based re-use, repair and recycling enterprises;
introduce ‘smart purchasing’ education campaigns and new eco-labelling so that individuals can make more informed choices;
provide for a “one-stop shop” in each local authority to deal with the scourges of illegal
dumping, litter and graffiti.
Water
The Green Party will deliver a sustainable water policy based on a commitment to restoring and maintaining water quality and the associated ecosystems, notably wetlands.
The Green Party will:
introduce a radical new programme of water monitoring and enforcement and for nutrient management planning on a river catchment basis;
encourage the use of reed beds to treat sewage;
set up an independent study into the total fluoride intake of the Irish population, as called for by the Oireachtas Health Committee, and if the study shows excess levels we will stop the current fluoridation of drinking water;
ensure that the role of wetlands in the water cycle and the functioning of aquatic systems is recognised in current water management strategies;
ban the use of phosphates and replace with safe alternatives.
Noise Pollution
All of us have experienced problems with neighbourhood noise at some point in our lives yet noise has not received the same attention as other forms of pollution.
The Green Party, which produced a Noise Bill in the final term of the 29th Dáil, will continue to push for the passing of this Bill
which will provide for an effective “one-stop shop” for noise complaints.
Animal Welfare
The Green Party asserts the rights of animals to humane treatment and living conditions,
and the responsibility of the human being to care for his/her fellow species.
The Green Party will:
set up an Animal Welfare Agency to investigate animal cruelty and exploitation;
provide increased for support animal welfare organisations and sanctuaries,
ban systems that fail to meet the welfare needs of animals, e.g. fur farming;
promote substitutes for all products where production or testing of these products involves cruelty to animals
and seek a public enquiry into animal experimentation.
continue its campaign for a prohibition of the animal fur products trade;
promote a national network of local abattoirs
and value-added meat processing in Ireland to minimise live animal transportation,
seek to phase out live exports over time;
ban blood sports with heavy penalties for organisers of, and participants in, illegal blood sports,
introduce an annual audit of Irish zoos and circuses by an independent expert group.
Section 7: Health
Primary or community health has the capacity to meet up to 90 per cent of health needs, but our current system discriminates in favour of hospital care.
Hospital care is free to all, but the majority have to pay for primary care.
This approach is both costly and wasteful and, in the longer term, unsustainable.
Access to appropriate healthcare is a basic human right.
General Practitioner care
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) estimates that 250,000 people cannot afford general practitioner visits: they may defer them, or, alternatively, attend a hospital casualty unit.
The Green Party will:
expand the medical card system as outlined below;
address the current shortage of GPs in socially-deprived areas
by building or converting premises into primary health centres incorporating minor injury units, leased to GPs and other medical practitioners at reduced rates;
require GPs to provide an agreed level of out of hours cover as part of their GMS contracts;
reform the GP co-operative system, so that each GP need cover only a realistic area.
Human Resources
If primary health is to become central to our healthcare system, a significant increase will be needed in the number of various primary care practitioners.
The costs involved will be saved many times over, as better health requires less hospitalisation and fewer pharmaceuticals.
The Green Party will
implement the Fottrell Report recommendations on undergraduate places in medicine;
increase the number of places for GP training;
abolish the compulsory retirement age of 65 for GMS contract-holders;
introduce financial incentives for midwives wishing to establish their own practices.
Hospitals and Accident & Emergency Units
We are undergoing a major crisis in the Irish health services, with the Minister for Health labelling the conditions in A & E as a ‘national emergency’.
A number of issues have to be addressed, including:
Our two-tier health system
which discriminates between insured and uninsured patients;
The lack of community supports for patients no longer in need of acute care in hospital;
The need for reform in the running of our hospitals;
The necessity for a partnership approach between   hospital staff and hospital management, with   greater flexibility and innovative work practices   being agreed.
The Green Party will:
reopen immediately any available public long-stay facilities;
review bed capacity (currently 27% below the EU15 average) with a view to expanding acute bed capacity in a planned manner;
provide an additional 400 acute beds and 400 step-down beds per annum over the term of Government;
increase community-based beds and community support structures in line with the 2001 Health Strategy;
expand long-stay and community facilities for the aging population;
establish acute medical units (AMUs) in all acute general hospitals;
open  loca l 24-hour  primary  care  centres  consisting of community-based multi-disciplinary health  clinics  staffed  by  GPs,  nurses,  midwives,  specialist  practitioners
and others, as proposed in the Government’s abandoned Primary Health  Care Strategy;
fully implement the guidelines for the control of MRSA with the additional staffing necessary to tackle this;
introduce measures to curb the prescribing of antibiotic in general practice and hospitals.
Health Service
The Green Party believes that implementing aspects of the Hanly Report is the best way to achieve reform in medical staffing
and recognises the genuine fears felt by many who see increasing numbers of services leaving their locality with little hope of their replacement.
If the appropriate sections of the Hanly Report are fully and correctly implemented, it will ensure Ireland’s compliance with the European Working Hours Directive, relieve pressure on junior doctors
and result in safer and more effective hospital care.
The Green Party will:
subsume the National Treatment Purchase Fund into the Health Service Executive and make it subject to the controls of the Department of Health;
phase in Social Health Insurance over a period of 10 years;
introduce a Patient Safety Bill and a Whistleblowers’ Bill;
Section 7: Health (continued)
ensure that the HSE is as fully accountable to members of the Oireachtas as Ministers are through parliamentary questions;
establish governing boards to administer each hospital network;
provide funding for transport to and from regional hospitals;
explore the possibility of cross-border co-operation in acute patient care;
lift the cap on public health employment to allow increased staffing;
ensure Health Care Assistants are given mandatory training
and are under nurse supervision;
increase the number of consultants by 1,500 in line with the Hanly recommendations;
appoint a Chief Dental Officer
and address the dental personnel shortfall by increasing the domestic supply of dentists;
address fully the problems in the Dental Treatment Services Scheme which is now under serious threat;
ensure that there is equity
in the availability, access and performance of cancer services throughout the country;
implement the key recommendations within the 2006 National Cancer Strategy without delay;
prioritise the development of hospice services
under the recently agreed Social Partnership Agreement and the National Cancer Strategy;
commit to helping voluntary organisations dealing with conditions such as autism, Down Syndrome, cystic fibrosis etc.
;
require the HSE to facilitate training and support for the recruitment of additional basic grade Allied Health Professions including, Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists into direct frontline patient care.
Health Funding
In order to encourage acceptance of the “social solidarity” model of healthcare,
rather than the free market model, the Green Party believes that the purchaser-provider system of health funding should be considered, as is the case in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
This will improve efficiency and allow for freedom of choice.
The Green Party is not opposed to private hospitals per se.
They can have a vital role to play in the provision of elective care and straightforward procedures, and could provide such facilities to the public sector on a not-for-profit basis.
Private development could also be contracted to build capacity for the public sector.
The Green Party will:
increase current and capital expenditure on health needs in a planned and phased manner in the context of the Hanly Report;
review the 2001 Health Strategy in light of recent population growth and undertake comprehensive planning of health spending for the next ten years;
scrap immediately the decision to subsidise building of private hospitals on public land;
withdraw tax reliefs from private hospitals and reallocate them to public healthcare provision;
oppose the Minister's scheme to convert the VHI to a Publicly Limited Company;
implement an advisory charter of patients' rights.
Medical Cards
Traditionally, medical cards have been available to 3538% of the population.
At present, however, less than 26% of the population are in receipt.
Ultimately, the Green Party supports the introduction of a system of Universal Health Insurance,
to ensure universal health coverage for all in accordance with their needs.
In the short to medium term, it is more practical to return to the historic level for granting medical cards.
The Green Party will:
introduce medical cards for children under 6 within the first term of government,
extend to under-18s in the following term, with free primary health care for all by 2017;
index-link medical card guidelines to average earnings.
Voluntary Insurance
Risk equalisation ensures that health insurance companies may not demand a higher premium from older customers than they do from younger customers.
To compensate, insurers with lower-risk membership (BUPA, Vivas) must transfer funds to insurers with a higher-risk membership (VHI).
The Green Party supports risk equalisation which is both equitable and ensures an efficient market.
Health Promotion
More resources should be made available for preventative measures
that would make for a healthier population and produce savings in the long term.
The Green Party will
significantly increase the budget for health promotion and support public immunisation programmes;
initiate a comprehensive health promotion
and cancer prevention plan which would incorporate nationwide screening for certain cancers, where appropriate;
support the extension of health screening programmes to all parts of the country;
require energy-dense foods, such as crisps, to carry a health warning
and ban their marketing in schools and third-level colleges;
ban fast food advertising on television directed at children;
implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Alcohol;
support specific measures to deal with the increasing problem of allergies.
Regulation of Health Care
The Green Party will:
introduce controls on the use of inducements offered by drug corporations to doctors and others;
require voluntary organisations in receipt of support from pharmaceutical companies to declare their sources;
make certain therapies such as acupuncture, Chinese medicine and osteopathy reimbursable under the General Medical Services Scheme in certain, appropriate circumstances;
support cost-effective, drug-free treatments, such as counselling and cognitive behavioural treatment for depression;
introduce measures to regulate alternative practitioners.
Maternity care
The Green Party will
follow the European model of community / midwifery, maternity aides, local birth centres and maternity units in order to ensure high-quality maternity care and minimise risks;
enact public information campaigns encouraging expectant mothers to breastfeed.
Mental health care
General Practitioners are currently the backbone of primary mental health services but in deprived areas GP services are often unavailable.
Our proposed primary health care centres will have multi-disciplinary teams including psychiatrists, therapists and social workers.
The Green Party will
ensure a minimum of 12% of the health budget will go to mental health (currently 6.6%);
develop community mental health teams
as alternatives to psychiatric inpatient care;
fund a significant increase in postgraduate training places for clinical psychologists;
implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Suicide’s report on suicide;
run a Government media campaign to remove the stigma of mental illness in Ireland;
•  oppose moving the Central Mental Hospital to the proposed new site in North County Dublin.
Care and Carers
There are about 150,000 people in Ireland providing
unpaid care to friends or family members with disability.
While caring can be rewarding, carers can also suffer physically, psychologically and financially from their duties.
The Green Party will
develop a National Strategy for Carers within 12 months, giving particular attention to the specific needs of older carers, and a National Carers Register to identify needs;
develop legally enforceable levels and standards of care provision for all caring contexts,
introduce an independent inspectorate for public, private and community care facilities;
introduce various measures outlined under “Taxation and Social Policy” to improve the financial security of carers.
Drugs
The Green Party will:
make available additional funds for the development of local drug services, particularly outside the Dublin region in recognition of the increased drug use in such communities;
make available an immediate budget to resource the recommendations of the Rehabilitation Working Group;
fully implement and resource the National Drugs Strategy;
provide additional detox and drug-free residential places;
commit to working in full partnership
with local communities on tackling the drugs crisis.
Section 8: Education, Arts and Sport
Funding
Irish schools have become dependent on charity following years of neglect by successive governments.
If people want to donate money to schools, it should be purely voluntary.
The Green Party will:
invest €1 billion in additional current and capital funding for education for the first year of the next Government's term of office, to front-load educational priorities;
draw up a 10-Year Priority Funding Plan;
increase investment in the school building and refurbishment programme by €269m over 2007 figures;
ensure that all new school buildings will be multi-use facilities;
Primary Education
Class size is absolutely key to the quality of education.
Investment at this level will save on many problems further down the line.
The Green Party will:
introduce a guaranteed statutory maximum class size of 25 over the term of Government;
ensure an average class size of 20, prioritising under-9s by providing 1,200 extra teachers;
review all existing pilot schemes and plan a general rollout of the successful projects
such as Early Start, Breaking the Cycle, Home School, Community Liaison;
provide €28 million annual funding for the National Education Welfare Board so that it can roll out the necessary staff under the National Education Welfare Act;
establish an Integrated Resources Mobile Unit, i.e. Speech Therapist, Social Worker, EducationPsychologist and Public Health Nurse .
Teacher training supports
The Green Party will:
provide additional supports and training for teachers,
especially in relation to discipline;
introduce incentives encouraging experienced teachers to remain in teaching to reduce turnover figures.
Second Level
A good Leaving Certificate and progression to college has been assumed to be the standard route to success
but we wish to provide more alternatives in order to ease pressure on students and tackle drop-out rates.
The Green Party will:
provide an additional 1,200 teachers to reduce class sizes;
promote a new alternative route to the Leaving Certificate and LC Applied, including promoting skill-based training currently available in Further Education Colleges;
split the Leaving Certificate with 5th year and 6th year exams and review Transition Year;
request the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to assess the inclusion of a Computer Studies subject and a single Science subject at senior level.
Physical Education
The Green Party will:
provide increased investment in physical education at primary and second level;
increase grants for equipment and training;
implement the National Taskforce on Obesity’s recommendation of  a minimum requirement of two hours PE per week
introduce a comprehensive physical education programme for second level;
introduce PE as a compulsory subject for Junior Cert and optional for Leaving Cert.
Students and Parents as Partners in Education
The Green Party will:
review the Education Act 1998 to strengthen the role of parents as equal partners in their child’s education;
ensure that all second level schools have student councils with representatives on boards of management and at all VEC levels;
reform Boards of Management to ensure equal opportunity and access to the decision-making process for parent/student representatives;
support increased access to information for parents on their schools and children but ensure that league tables cannot be collated as part of any Whole School Evaluation;
implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Student Behaviour.
Third Level and Post-Leaving Cert
Everyone has a right to access post-secondary education in some form.
Financial considerations should not be an impediment to accessing appropriate third-level education.
The Green Party will:
maintain free fees which are important in making third level education accessible to all;
rationalise the student financial supports maze and introduce baseline funding for underrepresented groups;
implement the recommendations of the McIver Report on Further Education;
provide a €110 million of support loans and grants for part-time and full-time students.
Equality
Education is a lifelong process.
We believe in the rights-based approach to education for all.
The Green Party will:
introduce legislation to ensure access to lifelong education as a fundamental right, / regardless of age, gender, ability or creed and equality-proof all curricula;
promote and fund lifelong learning and re-establish the National Adult Learning Council;
amend the Education for Persons with Special Needs Act 2004;
ensure state support for existing Applied Behaviour Analysis schools for children with autism with continuance of education for autistic students over 18;
implement the recommendations made by Barnardos in its ‘Making the Grade’ campaign.
Schools and the Community
The Green Party will:
support measures to reduce the education costs to parents by identifying solutions to textbook, uniform and ancillary costs, particularly in areas of disadvantage;
work to ensure that parents have greater choice of school type in each community;
make the school bus system safer and more efficient;
draw up a list of policies and guidelines as proposed by the Commercial Free Education Campaign.
Arts, Culture and Heritage
We recognise that arts, culture and heritage are of fundamental importance to society, particularly where quality of life is recognised as central to physical and mental health.
The Green Party will:
examine tax breaks and encourage other opportunities to ensure that those working in the arts make a decent living;
promote an appreciation of and engagement in the arts/culture at all educational levels;
expand the Arts Council to ensure greater representation from relevant groups;
encourage greater partnership between local authorities, central government, relevant local community groups and the Arts Council with a view to funding arts locally;
reinstate Dúchas and reunite the heritage functions of the OPW and Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government;
control access to sensitive sites from mass tourism.
An Ghaeilge
We believe that the Irish language is central to the cultural and social ecology of our country and would encourage its use as a priority in a future Green government.
The Green Party will:
reinstitute the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Irish Language;
place greater emphasis on local activities involving Irish,
granting wider powers to local authorities and Údarás na Gaeltachta;
require local authorities to prioritise the promotion and development of Irish
when considering future development schemes;
establish a fund to market language tourism to the Gaeltacht;
request that the Higher Education Authority make available a training course in Irish translation that will be readily acknowledged across the EU;
examine the needs of education in Irish speaking areas, including the possibility of establishing a specific Education Board to deal with such matters;
introduce on a phased basis ‘immersion education’ in an all-Irish college as part of the mainstream teacher training process at primary level;
set out the realistic boundaries for Gaeltacht areas with measures to help non-Gaeltacht areas to become Gaeltacht areas in future, with a proper strategy to support a healthy development of Gaeltacht communities and a separate recognition for Breacghaeltactaí.
Sport
The Green Party will:
increase the funding, role, and powers of the Irish Sports Council in its promotion of sport and physical activity
including a closer coordinating role with local authorities in the planning process;
ensure that the Irish Sports Council has comprehensive funding mechanisms and planning;
Section 8: Education, Arts and Sport (continued)
amend the lotteries legislation to ensure the ringfencing of sports funding;
increase the funding to sport from the lottery;
abolish grants towards the horseracing and greyhound industries re-focusing funding on  local sporting facilities;
Increased funding for, and the construction of a 50-metre pool close to, the National Coaching and Training Centre;
carry out a nationwide audit of sports facilities and sports requirements ;
ensure accessibility as a key component in the provision of sports and recreational facilities;
pilot the establishment of a Model Sports School;
ban the sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol manufacturers or promoters.
Section 9: Children
Growing Up
In line with our focus on primary healthcare, it is our policy to extend accessibility and awareness of health services,
promote health education
and give far greater priority to community healthcare.
The Green Party will:
increase funding to community groups,
schools, and other appropriate family support structures to facilitate ongoing information, education and training for all parents;
boost preventative medicine and early detection; by increasing medical checks in schools;
develop a national sexual health strategy and update present sex education programmes;
establish the Register of Persons considered unsafe to work with children and ensure that the Gardaí Vetting Unit is adequately resourced.
Awareness of Mental Health
With Irish youth suicide rates the fifth highest in the EU, child and adolescent mental health services are grossly under-resourced.
The issue of child abuse has also been well documented.
The ‘Stay Safe’ programmes must be fully implemented in our schools.
The Green Party will:
fully support and resource the newly launched National Office for Suicide Prevention;
encourage school-based preventive mental health interventions in liaison with parents;
increase children’s mental health staff
numbers and provide  inpatient psychiatric treatment units for young people;
Healthy Exercise (see Education / Sport)
Proper exercise is essential for the physical and mental development of the growing child.
However, opportunities for play and exercise are diminishing, both in and out of school.
National Children’s Hospital
We believe that proper consultation with international experts did not take place in relation to the location of the new National Children’s Hospital at the Mater Hospital site.
We will ensure that this decision is reviewed in the interests of the best possible outcome for parents and children.
Section 9: Children (continued)
Childcare
Our policy is about providing resources directly to parents to help them make the best choice for their children.
The Green Party will:
replace the Early Childcare Supplement with a Refundable Parenting Tax Credit available as a cash payment or used to reduce income tax bills
-€1800 per year per child until the child enters pre-school and then €1200 per year until the age of 12;
increase Paternity Benefit to 2 weeks with a statutory right to 6 months (in addition to Maternity Benefit), to be taken in the child's first year, and to be available to either parent;
make Child Benefit universal and index-link to maintain value of increases;
initiate free and universal pre-school education of 3.5 hours, five days a week for all children in the year before they go to school;
replace the Childcare Programme 2006-2010
with a capital, staffing and quality control grant programme that is solely aimed at supporting community-based childcare providers and child-minders and the development of additional preschool facilities;
give a tax-free allowance of €5000 per child per registered child-minder up to 3 children.
Tackling Social Disadvantage
Nearly one in seven (148,000) Irish children
live in ‘consistent’ poverty.
The damaging effects of such disadvantage on a child’s health,
chances of completing education and future opportunities are obvious.
The Green Party will:
amalgamate Child Dependent Allowances and Family Income Support;
increase the ‘back to school’ clothing and footwear payments;
provide a once-off grant to one-parent families when a child enters secondary school;
provide free books for pupils in families on social welfare payments or FIS.
Listening to Children and Young People
The Green Party will:
amend the Constitution to include the specific rights of children and implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child into Irish legislation;
fully implement the Youth Work Act 2001 and National Youth Work Development Plan 2003-07;
work to give a voice to children in family court cases or where the child is the defendant.
Section 10: Older People
Older persons make significant contributions to society: as citizens,
as workers (paid and unpaid),
as family members and as members of the wider community.
However older persons have become increasingly marginalised
and are not benefiting from the economic development that they helped to create.
Older persons and the State
The Green Party will
establish an Ombudsman for Older Persons;
create a Cabinet Committee on Ageing and Older Persons, to meet at least four times a year, its role to include age-proofing legislation;
initiate a National Positive Ageing Strategy across Government Departments;
ensure that all State bodies  be required to proactively inform older persons of their entitlements,
and of services and supports for which they are eligible;
require that the needs of older people and Irish emigrants abroad be addressed in all future national agreements,
national/local development plans
and spatial strategies.
establish the Office of Public Guardianship as advocated by the Law Reform Commission to allow for greater protection of the Older Person.
Service provision
The Green Party supports the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of age in the provision of goods or services.
The Green Party will:
press for older people to be represented on the board of the National Consumer Agency;
require local authorities and Government departments to introduce  Age Equality Plans;
insist that insurance providers publish evidence to justify any higher charges for older people.
Section 10: Older People (continued)
Transport and Communications
The Green Party will:
ensure that older persons are represented on transport users groups;
ensure that in advertising codes ageism is treated as seriously as racism and sexism,
and that predatory advertising which seeks to mislead older persons is prohibited;
provide additional resources to fund programming
on ageing and older people’s issues.
Housing
The Green Party will:
establish a Housing Advice Service, a one-stop shop for independent housing advice,
as has existed for older people in the UK since 1985;
promote sheltered accommodation as a good alternative to long-term institutional care;
abolish stamp duty for older persons
who are moving to smaller accommodation.
Employment
The Green Party believes that age should not determine the availability of opportunities in the workplace.
The Green Party will:
give workers choice at the retirement age of 65 to accept a full pension,
to work part time and receive a part pension,
or continue to work full time with a special tax relief until 70;
ensure that the right to flexible working practices is enshrined in law;
provide assistance through FÁS
for older people who wish to return to work.
Finance and Income
Out of the workforce of two million, an estimated 900,000 people do not have a private or occupational pension to boost their incomes in retirement.
The Green Party will:
work towards increasing the basic State pension from 30% of average income to 60%;
have every citizen entitled to a full State pension in their own right;
replace tax relief for private pensions with a tapered matching contributions scheme targeted at savers with lower incomes;
introduce an opt-in top up pension scheme based on contributions from workers, employers and the State.
Section 11: Political Reform
Public respect for the practice of politics has reached an all-time low, particularly amongst the young.
If faith in our democratic systems is to be renewed, then significant changes need to be made to those structures.
Dáil Éireann
There is concern about TDs being over-loaded with constituency matters at the expense of national issues.
Our proposal for a mixed electoral system would allow for a balance between local and national concerns among deputies.
The Green Party will:
reduce the number of TDs from 166 to 130;
more than double Dáil sitting time  with sittings running 45 weeks per year Monday afternoons to Friday lunchtimes from 9.30am to 7pm;
link TDs’ expenses to participation in Oireachtas votes, save for Ministers engaged on State business;
seek to change the electoral system so that a proportion of the seats are elected by a top-up procedure e.g. in a Dáil of 130 seats, 100 elected as per PR – STV with 30 seats filled from national party lists;
reverse the Fianna Fáil / Labour deal which excused the Taoiseach from answering questions in the Dáil on Thursdays;
give the Ceann Comhairle power to oblige members of the Government to give full and adequate information to the Dáil;
empower all Oireachtas Committees to compel witnesses to come before them;
allocate Committee Chairs to all parties proportionally;
remove the power for the Taoiseach to call an early election.
Regional and Local Government
Many of the functions of national government can be provided more efficiently at a regional level.
The Green Party will:
set up elected Regional Authorities and integrate with existing regional bodies;
replace the existing city and county councils in Dublin with district and town councils;
Section 11: Political Reform (continued)
reduce the number of Government Ministers from 15 to 12 and reduce proportionally the Ministers of State,
as the new regional structures will lead to savings at national level;
revive the proposal for directly elected Mayors and
transfer decision-making powers from City and County Managers back to elected public representatives;
establish a Local Government Ombudsman to ensure that local councils do not overstep their powers;
stop any further relocation of staff under the current decentralisation programme until a genuine plan for decentralised decision-making is put in place.
Bunreacht na hÉireann / The Constitution
The Green Party will:
introduce a Citizens’ Initiative to bring about Constitutional referendums  with a requirement for 50,000 signatures;
seek a change so that referendums require either a two-thirds majority or a simple majority with at least a 50% turnout to be passed;
allow anyone over 18 to be a candidate for any elected office in the State.
Ethics
Action is badly needed to restore public confidence in a political system that is widely seen to be operating on the basis of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”.
The Green Party will:
ensure adequate state funding of political parties, based on electoral results
and ban corporate, institutional or foreign-based donations;
abolish the current 2% limit for funding political parties, which acts against new and smaller parties and could be seen as supporting the status quo;
restore and extend Freedom of Information legislation;
reform the libel laws and establish a Press Council;
set up a joint Oireachtas committee to oversee appointments to public bodies;
provide for an acceptable "buffer period" before civil servants /local government officials take up employment in related areas of the private sector;
establish a national register of lobbyists, as supported by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, detailing the company, clients and interests being represented.
Improving Participation
Average turnout at elections has shown a downward trend for decades.
The Green Party will:
encourage greater involvement by women in electoral politics by providing more support for community groups where there is a much better record of involvement by women;
overhaul the archaic voter registration system, possibly linking it to PPS Numbers;
extend postal voting to all voters who wish to avail of it;
allow homeless people
and Travellers to register at an address convenient to them;
establish a five-year electoral cycle with a set annual voting day;
introduce a None of the Above option on ballot papers;
ensure that electronic voting must have a paper trail where each vote can be clearly traced from the machine to the count result.
Volunteering
Ireland has a long tradition of volunteering.
This tradition cannot be taken for granted especially in an age in which there are many competing demands on people’s time.
The Green Party will:
formalise a national policy on volunteering that would recognise that volunteers are found in wide-ranging spheres of activity, volunteering is an essential element of civil society and volunteers should not replace paid workers;
establish volunteer centres in each county as policy drivers and support structures;
implement the Volunteering Code of Good Practice drafted by Volunteer Centres Ireland; introduce measures whereby the State indemnifies organisations’ public liability insurance which has become a major problem for community and voluntary organisations.
Section 12: Northern Ireland
The Green Party has long recognized the central role that consensus and consent would play in underpinning a political settlement in Northern Ireland and between the Governments of London and Dublin.
The Good Friday and St. Andrews Agreements provide such a framework and have opened the way to an historic settlement.
We have good reason to believe that a new era of accountable, stable, devolved government for Northern Ireland is about to begin.
One symbol of that change is the election to the Assembly of the first Green Party MLA, Brian Wilson.
The Green Party, north and south, will:
work to maximize the areas of co-operation between the two parts of Ireland through the North-South bodies and East-West proposals;
promote the harmonization of policies and state practices across a wider range of areas including environmental protection, human rights, policing and economic development;
seek to bring Northern Ireland’s corporation tax rate in line with that in the Republic;
provide a political home for a new generation of voters and activists in Northern Ireland – nationalist, unionist and non-aligned;
build upon all that connects the peoples of these islands.
Section 13: International Affairs
Independent Foreign Policy and Neutrality
Successive Irish governments have taken a minimalist approach to neutrality, interpreting it simply as non-membership of military alliances.
The Green Party has always advocated a positive approach to neutrality.
It gives us the opportunity to take a completely independent line on foreign policy,
playing a constructive role in world events focussed on human rights concerns.
The Green Party will
remain committed to protecting Irish neutrality from any further moves
towards a EU Common Defence Policy or any strengthening of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy;
seek a referendum to define neutrality in the Constitution;
continue to argue that Ireland’s best interests, along with those of all smaller states, lie in strengthening the truly pan-European Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as well as the United Nations rather than in supporting NATO-led initiatives such as the so-called Partnership for Peace;
ensure that Irish troops only take part in peace
missions that have a United Nations mandate or an OSCE mandate;
maintain the Defence Forces’ proud reputation in peacekeeping
in many of the world’s troublespots where they have been readily accepted as honest brokers thanks to our record of neutrality;
end the use of Shannon Airport by US military forces involved in the war in Iraq;
insist that any aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal movements of prisoners must be searched.
The United Nations
Despite its many shortcomings, the UN is the only body capable of bringing genuine peace and justice to the world.
Ireland has been an enthusiastic and very active member since joining in 1955 and the Green Party is committed to ensuring that our peacekeeping efforts are channeled primarily through the UN.
The Green Party will
ensure that the Irish Government campaigns with other small states to abolish the vetoes and permanent seats on the UN Security Council held by China, the USA, Russia, the UK and France and open all seats on the Security Council to election;
will see that Ireland strongly advocates the commitment of far greater resources globally to peacekeeping;
oppose draconian restrictions on basic freedoms in the name of the “war on terror”;
insist that terrorism can only be effectively tackled by dealing with root causes;
commit resources to create emergency response units that can be rapidly deployed in humanitarian disasters (now more frequent as a result of global warming).
Europe
The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas is a pro-European party.
We are proud and active members of the European Greens
and have forged greater links with our European sister parties.
Section 13: International Affairs (continued)
Our aim is to create an ecologically sustainable, socially just and peaceful Union.
European Union policy and practice must prioritise the rights of the vulnerable over the interests of multinational companies.
The Green Party will
ensure that the EU Constitution will not be put to a referendum in a form that has already been rejected by referendums in other member states;
continue to call for the establishment of a new European Convention to agree a simplified text for the EU Constitution;
campaign for amendments to the EU Constitution that would increase democracy and transparency,
provide for the social protection of EU citizens and
ensure the greatest level of environmental protection and ecological sustainability;
continue to press for greater democratisation of the Union,
in co-operation with Green Parties in other EU states, through increasing the powers of the European Parliament;
promote a sense of active EU citizenship by continuing to facilitate debate on European issues and, in doing so, challenge the cosy consensus among other parties;
ensure that Ireland is brought into compliance with EU Directives,
especially in the areas of social and environmental legislation;
press for the EU's competition, state aid and public procurement policies to be adapted to include social and ecological factors;
welcome further enlargement of the EU provided that the democratic systems and human rights standards of applicant states comply with the standards expected of existing member states.
Aid and Trade
The Irish people have consistently shown great commitment to development aid by voluntarily contributing large sums out of their own pockets over the years.
It is important that government policy reflects this and that our aid program is supported by a positive policy towards fair trade.
The Green Party will
ensure that, within five years, Ireland will deliver on the commitment that our overseas development aid should reach 0.7% of GNP and will publish a plan of year-by-year increases to achieve this;
seek that aid, as well as addressing basic human needs,
should assist in developing democratic structures;
include aid measures to combat the effects of climate change,
which are likely to hit developing countries hardest;
oppose the dumping of produce from rich countries onto developing countries’ markets;
support the idea of a “Marshall” Plan for Africa to combat poverty and HIV/Aids and seek complete debt cancellation for those countries that need it;
seek reform of the World Trade Organisation,;
International Monetary Fund and World Bank to make them more accountable, transparent and democratic and ensure proper representation for poorer countries in the system
continue to support Fair Trade goods,
including in Government purchasing policy;
adopt an integrated approach to development
across all Government departments and reinforce the strategic engagement with major stakeholders in Ireland.
Weapons and the Arms Trade
The world’s governments spend nearly one trillion dollars annually on their military yet the growing involvement of Irish companies in exporting military equipment has been largely ignored and must be addressed.
The Green Party will
strengthen Irish legislation on exports of military equipment to ensure that Irish companies are not exporting illegally;
seek an annual report to be brought before the Dáil on licensing and exporting of arms and dualuse equipment;
regulate arms-brokering activities in this country;
resist pressure to increase spending on arms towards the EU average
and ensure that any increase in Ireland’s spending on arms will only come about as a result of greater involvement in peacekeeping
or for improved safety of our Defence Forces personnel;
ensure that Ireland continues its positive role in seeking nuclear disarmament;
support the campaign for a global treaty on the trade of arms that will be binding for all nations;
campaign to strengthen the EU Code of Conduct for Arms Exports and declare it to be binding;
support the maintenance of the EU’s arms embargo on China;
Other issues
Iraq: The Green Party opposed the US invasion of Iraq from the start.
We recognise that the opportunity to create a democratic Iraq supersedes any interest foreign powers have in the region,
and calls on the UN, with assistance from the Irish government, to use its full resources to bring about democracy and peace in Iraq.
Section 13: International Affairs (continued)
Israel and Palestine: The Green Party has consistently supported an independent state for the Palestinian people alongside the state of Israel.
The so-called security wall built by the Israeli government must be removed and Palestinian groups must recognise the right of the State of Israel to exist if they wish to be included in the peace process.
The Green Party supports those who advocate a two state solution.
China and Tibet: China continues to largely ignore pressure to improve its human rights record and end its occupation of Tibet.
The persecution of opponents of the government and members of the Falun Dafa / Falun Gong movement,
and the continued exploitation and enforced assimilation of Tibet must be opposed and raised at every opportunity with the Chinese authorities.
Defence
Ireland’s defence forces have served this State well and with honour.
We will ensure that our defence forces will be fully equipped to carry out their duties and will have fair terms of employment and promotion,
and proper housing and work conditions.
The Green Party will:
update the 2000 White Paper and ensure that our defence forces are developing in accordance with the five main roles set out in it;
promote coast-guard type developments of the Naval Services and the Air Corps, with emphasis on fishery protection, search and rescue, policing duties e.g. rug interdiction;
urgently address the issue of long-term sea patrols in the Naval Service, ensuring that a maximum of 180 days at sea over two years with the following two years at base is established in line with the 2000 White Paper;
increase the retirement age of Army officers to 60 and ensure equal opportunity for men and women;
conduct a review of conditions, pay and morale within all branches of the Defence Forces, particularly with regard to current shorter term contracts.
Migration and Ethnic Diversity
Migration is one of the most pressing political challenges for the international community today.
Our immigration policy will focus on introducing a fair system to regulate entry to the country that will also respect the rights and entitlements of immigrants.
The Green Party will:
introduce an Immigration System based on best practice elsewhere with a points system, i.e. skilled people receive higher points  with less skilled being chosen as part of a lottery-based Green card system;
fund national awareness campaigns about the role of immigration in Irish society
and the rewards and challenges that arise from greater ethnic diversity;
ensure adequate resources for the teaching of English to non-native speakers of English;
fund services offered by ethnic-led non-governmental organisations working with the immigrant community;
amend the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2001 pertaining to marriage (i.e. provide for long-term residency while waiting for citizenship);
issue all forms of permission to work to the employee rather than the employer;
introduce a visibly independent appeal process for immigration decisions;
ensure advice and assistance are provided in appropriate languages at ports of entry
and that legal aid is provided for immigration cases;
remove restrictive legislation surrounding work permit holders so that they can be reunited with their families after three months;
underpin the right to work in Ireland with the principle of ‘permanence’ and introduce legislation entitling any person legally resident in Ireland for three years or more to apply for permanent residency;
take appropriate action to ensure that children seeking asylum are taken out of the adult application process as called for by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child;
ensure that leave to remain is granted to ‘agedout’ minors without delay;
ensure that families will not be divided by deportation unless the deportee poses a serious danger to public safety.
The Green Party / Comhaontas Glas�16/17 Suffolk Street, Dublin 2.
�
Tel: 01 6790012�
Email:
info@greenparty.
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Web:
www.
greenparty.
ie�Fax: 01 6797168�
SUSTAINING PROSPERITY
Fiscal Policy For A Fair Society
The Challenge
Sound economic management is a fundamental requirement of good government.
A prosperous economy brings higher levels of income and employment
for our people and generates the resources necessary for creating a Fair Society, improving quality of life
and laying the foundations for future growth.
While the broad macroeconomic outlook for the Irish economy is positive, there can be no room for complacency.
Although the Irish economy has continued to perform well in recent years, not enough has been done either to sustain and enhance our competitiveness,
or to translate the resources that our economy has created into the quality public services that are the hallmark of a Fair Society.
A long list of cost overruns and project delays has accumulated.
Unthinkable amounts of money have been wasted at the expense of better infrastructure and better public services through a combination of vanity projects, poor management, and the absence of a vision for what can be achieved
The government has failed to modernise the public service to make it the instrument of economic and social progress that it can be.
Failure to tackle infrastructure deficits in a timely and efficient manner has undermined Ireland’s capacity for sustainable, non-inflationary growth in the longer term.
Although the economy is confronted by a number of challenges, with the right policies, strong growth by the standards of other European countries can and will be sustained.
Within the parameters of the Stability and Growth Pact,
the resources thus generated must be used effectively to provide for progressive tax reform,
better public services
and a more sustainable pattern of economic development.
Labour is proud of our contribution to the development of the Celtic Tiger economy.
We are committed to putting the needs of hard working families and communities back into the heart of government policy.
We do not accept that high inequality is necessary for economic success.
Rather we believe that in a modern knowledge driven economy,
there is an essential complementarity between social solidarity and prosperity.
Our policies will tackle the deep rooted disadvantage experienced by those left behind by the Celtic Tiger.
Ireland can do better Labour will inject new ideas, energy and determination into economic policy formation to promote an innovative, enterprise-based, sustainable economy, generating resources which are efficiently and fairly used by individuals, families and government to promote economic well-being, social inclusion and a better quality of life.
What Labour will do
Budgeting for Growth and Stability
Labour will manage the public finances in a manner which promotes economic stability
and sustainable non-inflationary growth.
Our approach to fiscal policy will be based on fiscal discipline and stability,
investment in better public services, higher capital spending,
the attainment of better value for money in public spending,
and progressive tax reform.
Fiscal Discipline and Stability
Fiscal discipline and stability are essential to maintaining economic growth and higher employment, while also being a formal requirement of EMU membership.
Our approach to fiscal policy in government will be situated in the context of our over-riding commitment to the EU Growth and Stability Pact, to which Ireland is committed as part of our adoption of the euro.
This means respecting the requirement that, over the course of an economic cycle, the General Government Balance will, on average, not exceed 1 per cent of GDP.
We will avoid pro-cyclical fiscal policies that increase inflation and reduce long-run competitiveness.
There is a requirement to slow growth in day-to-day spending down from the present unsustainable rate towards the rate of growth in the economy.
We will maintain sufficient flexibility in the public finances to prevent a sharper than expected slowdown in growth breaching our EMU commitments, and without the need for cutbacks in public investment and services.
Under this approach, Ireland’s national debt will continue to decline significantly as a percentage of national income.
Better Public Services
Labour is committed to high quality public services as an essential element in building a Fair Society.
We will deliver substantial improvements to public services through a combination of investment and reform.
We guarantee to implement the following five commitments for change set out by Party Leader Pat Rabbitte:
Planning and building 2300 additional acute in-patient hospital beds within the lifetime of the National Development Plan, the maximum possible number to be completed within the lifetime of the next government
Increasing the number of Community Gardaí to 1500
Providing one year of free pre-school education for every child
Abolition of the means test for carers
Establishing a ‘Begin to Buy’ scheme to allow people who are working to buy a stake in a home.
These spending commitments represent a modest proportion of the total amount of resources that are likely to be available over the next five years.
Allocation of additional resources for further public service improvements will be determined in the context of annual budgetary planning,
subject to our overriding commitment to economic stability and our EMU obligations.
The tax and spending commitments given in this manifesto are subject to the over-riding requirement for fiscal stability as expressed by the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact.
We are committed to increasing Ireland’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to meet the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP.
Accordingly, we will legislate to establish an ODA fund, into which 0.7 per cent of GNP will paid annually (in a manner similar to the payments to the NPRF).
In this way, ODA contributions will be accounted for as a charge on the Central Fund.
We will fulfil existing government policy commitments across a range of public services areas,
including those set out in the Social Partnership Agreement, Towards 2016.
Higher Capital Spending
In order to address a range of economic and social infrastructural deficits,
and to lay the foundations for future growth and prosperity, Ireland will be required to maintain a high level of capital spending over the next decade.
Labour will increase capital spending to the levels set out in the National Development Plan.
At the same time we will introduce a new framework for delivering infrastructure on time and on budget, as set out elsewhere in this manifesto.
We will also invest 1 per cent of GNP in the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) annually over the lifetime of the government.
Better Value for Money
Poor management of public expenditure has diminished confidence in public services as a means of delivering a better quality of life and a more equal society.
As a party committed to the concept of high quality public services, Labour has already published detailed proposals for delivering better value for money in our document entitled The Buck Stops Here.
This set out more than forty specific recommendations to improve strategic management of government priorities,
enhance Oireachtas scrutiny of spending, modernise the expenditure management capacity of the civil and public service,
and set out clear lines of accountability for Ministers and civil servants.
These proposals are set out in detail elsewhere in this manifesto in the section entitled ‘Reinventing government’
Tax Reform for Economic and Social progress
Over the term of office of the next government, economic growth will generate substantial exchequer resources.
In that context, Labour will implement the following progressive tax reforms:
A More Progressive and Family Friendly Income Tax Code
Labour will enhance the incomes of hard working families who have suffered from the “rip off” experience by delivering  progressive income tax reform.
We will also provide income tax reforms that recognise the work done by carers in the home,
and which support the life choices of all families, including parents and other carers, in achieving their own preferred balance between paid work and unpaid care.
To achieve these aims, we will introduce the following measures:
A 2-point cut in the standard rate of tax from 20 per cent to 18 per cent.
An increase in personal credits in line with wage growth.
This will increase the personal and married credits to €2,000 and €4,000 respectively by 2012.
Combined with a cut in the standard rate of tax, the increase in personal tax credits will ensure that no employee earning less than €10.30 per hour (€400 per week assuming a 39 hour week; €20,900 per year) will pay income tax.
An increase in the home-carers’ credit to the level of the PAYE credit (to €1,760), with a doubling of the income disregard for eligibility for this credit to €10,160.
Indexation of the standard rate band to wage increases on an annual basis, in a way that provides the same increase for one and twoincome families.
Wage indexation alone will increase the standard rate band by €6,000 for singles, and will increase the transferable band by €12,000 for one- and two-income families.
This will halt the present policy of continually widening the gap between the tax treatment of one-and two-income families.
On top of indexation, we will provide an additional €5,000 increase in the transferable band for one-income and two-income families, to be offset by a cut in the extra standard rate band for the second earner from €25,000 to €20,000.
A Fairer Stamp Duty Regime
It is the role of government to help families buy their homes, not to get in their way.
The present stamp duty structure has become inequitable because of the failure of government to adjust tax thresholds as house prices rose, and because of the structure of the tax which applies each progressive rate to the whole house price not just to the excess above the previous threshold.
The result is high stamp duty payments on much more modest homes than was originally intended.
In government, we will introduce a fairer system of stamp duty on residential properties that helps make housing for all families more affordable.
Specifically, we will:
Raise the zero stamp duty threshold for first time buyers from €317,500 to €450,000 with duty paid only on the excess over this threshold.
Restructure the stamp duty system for other buyers as follows:
No stamp duty up to €100,000
On the next €350,000 a 5 per cent rate will apply
On the balance a 9 per cent rate will apply
These changes will be a priority for Labour in government and will be introduced as a single measure.
A Tax-Supportive Environment for Employment and Exports
We recognise that a competitive tax regime has been, and will remain, vital in encouraging employment, entrepreneurship, investment and exports.
We recognise the need to maintain incentives for work, and
to maintain Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for mobile investment and skilled labour.
Accordingly we will:
Maintain the existing rates of Corporation Tax.
Maintain the existing rates of Capital Gains Tax.
Restrict growth in charges by state bodies at the rate of inflation.
Any requested increases beyond the rate of inflation will require a specific Public Interest Report to be presented to the Dáil.
Examine further tax measures to make investment /in high-tech, export-oriented Irish firms more attractive to investors.
Review the operation of the Tax Credit for Research and Development in Ireland / to see how it can be made more attractive to smaller, Irish-owned companies that are seeking to develop new products and services.
A Greener Tax System
As set out elsewhere in this manifesto, Labour is committed to comprehensive and urgent action to tackle climate change.
As part of this broader plan, we will take the following fiscal measures:
We will rebalance VRT in a revenue-neutral fashion to favour lower-emission vehicles.
We will abolish excise duty on biofuels produced from renewable energy crops, in conjunction with other measures to stimulate the development of a market in biofuels.
We will introduce a stamp duty credit linked to a sustainability rating structure (reducing prices of energy efficient buildings in built up areas).
A More Equitable and Efficient Tax System
Under Fianna Fáil and the PDs, the Irish tax system has been distorted to facilitate systematic avoidance of taxation by wealthier individuals in Irish society.
The spectacle of millionaires paying little or no tax is both profoundly unfair and corrosive of public confidence in the tax code.
We will ensure that the tax system is administratively simpler, more transparent and fairer.
■  We will establish a Commission on Taxation to examine tax schemes on an on-going basis, whose work will include:
Subjecting tax breaks to scrutiny of their costs and benefits.
Assessing compliance levels for different tax headings and revenue powers needed to protect the tax system; and
Presenting an evaluation of the tax burden and compliance costs for taxpayers.
We will put in place a tax-payers advocate, situated in the National Consumer Agency, to ensure that PAYE workers in particular get all the tax credits to which they are entitled.
We will cap the benefit that any one individual can derive from cumulative tax breaks on investments outside of his/her principal occupation so that very wealthy individuals cannot use such schemes to avoid paying a reasonable share of their income in tax.
We will extend tax relief at source to additional areas such as bin charges and medical expenses.
We will provide for equal tax treatment for couples in Civil Unions.
Decentralisation
The introduction of the decentralisation programme flew in the face of all established procedures for ensuring sound decision-making and the government's own National Spatial Strategy.
It threatens both to waste taxpayers’ money and damage public services.
There is a real danger that major property commitments have been entered into which will only offer partial service and create wasteful duplication.
It has also undermined morale and operating efficiency in the public service.
This approach has damaged the potential for a rational and coherent decentralisation programme based on consultation and fair procedures.
Labour proposes to create a framework where the best elements of the present decentralisation programme can be secured and further potential opportunities developed for the future.
In government, Labour will adopt the following approach:
An Immediate audit will be undertaken of the existing proposals.
We shall proceed with those which have a sound business case, and a good regional fit.
Decentralisation should be voluntary and based on genuine consultation.
Where the specific proposals are found wanting, we will seek to identify alternative opportunities for decentralisation which have the potential to succeed given a sensible and well planned timescale.
This must be part of a wider strategy for balanced regional development.
We will reverse the decision to move some of the core policy planning units of government departments away from Dublin city as it would undermine the continuing effectiveness of policy development.
It is our clear preference that ‘stand alone’ business units be moved under the decentralisation programme.
We are also opposed to the moving of specialist posts which results in the loss of vital expertise or wasteful duplication of posts.
We recognise the particular position of staff in state agencies.
CREATING MORE AND BETTER JOBS
Building the Knowledge Economy
The Challenge
Ireland’s past successes in attracting foreign investment are world-famous and a vital part of our present economic success.
In the future, however, we cannot expect to repeat the industrial successes and policies of the past.
Ireland and the rest of the world have changed too much.
We must build a new model of growth based on the knowledge economy to create more and better jobs.
Parts of China, India, South East Asia and Central Europe now compete for the types of high-tech manufacturing and services activities – electronics, software, financial services and pharmaceuticals – that drove the Celtic Tiger in the 1990s.
Many have replicated Ireland’s favourable corporation tax regime, grant incentives and access to skills.
There is now a track record of high end manufacturing and services in these countries that were once regarded as being too underdeveloped for these activities.
This trend is blurring the traditional differences between industrialised and developing countries,
and intensifying competition for highpaid, knowledge-intensive jobs.
At the same time, our own competitiveness and export performance has suffered from a governmentdriven inflationary boom that has dramatically raised costs,
led to the re-emergence of a large and growing external payments deficit
and made our economy far too dependent on construction and the public sector for jobs growth.
The government has simply not acted with expedition in addressing these issues.
Rather, the sluggishness of government has been part of the problem.
As the momentum to growth from construction and consumption eases off in the coming years, the main economic challenge facing the next government will be to recover our lost competitiveness
and enter a more export-driven phase of growth,
built not just on low corporation tax
but on other advantages harder to imitate by lower wage economies.
Ireland continues to have significant competitive advantages,
and the potential to create a new generation of indigenous enterprises
which are both high-tech and strongly export-orientated.
We must provide an environment that supports the creation and development of more Irish exporters
and encourages foreign investors to increase the strategic importance of their Irish operations through R&D and marketing.
The total number of jobs created is important,
but so too is the quality of those jobs.
Ireland can only compete with lower wage locations on the basis of higher quality and productivity.
While short-term cost competitiveness remains important,
it is vital that we build a platform of competitive advantage that will create and sustain higher quality jobs
– jobs that produce more and pay more.
Ireland can do better Labour will work to develop a new platform of competitive advantage for Ireland, based on a knowledge economy, to create more and better jobs.
What Labour will do
Tax Competitiveness for Exporters
Labour in government was central to the agreement of the 12.5 per cent single rate of corporation tax.
As globalisation intensifies, a competitive tax regime for high-tech foreign direct investment and indigenous exporting companies alike is more vital now than ever before,
even as we also develop other, less replicable, sources of competitive advantage.
We also need to make sure our tax system is supportive of indigenous entrepreneurs and exporters,
which continue to report difficulties in raising risk capital.
What Labour will do:
Maintain the current rates of corporation tax and capital gains tax
Expand our tax treaty network with Asia and Latin America to maximise the benefit of our low rate of corporation tax
and to ensure that double taxation does not present a barrier to trade and investment with these fast developing economies.
Examine further tax measures to make investment in high-tech, export oriented Irish firms more attractive to investors.
By winding down property-based tax incentives, we will shift the balance away from the excessive, tax-driven allocation of savings in Ireland into property and towards more productive, export-oriented activities.
There is a need to create a more even playing field for those competing for investment funds.
Review the operation of the tax credit for research and development in Ireland to see how it can be made more attractive to smaller Irishowned companies that are seeking to develop new products and services.
Provide increased direct state support for the development of the Irish venture capital industry through Enterprise Ireland.
This support will also be used to stimulate increased support for the venture capital industry from the private sector.
Examine the barriers to Irish growth companies seeking public stock exchange listings and share issues, the small scale of which is a barrier to the development of the venture capital industry in Ireland
and to the expansion of growth-oriented Irish companies.
Ireland continues to have significant competitive advantages, and the potential to create a new generation of indigenous enterprises which are both high-tech and strongly export orientated.
Upskilling the Workforce
Economic and technological changes are creating demand for a rising threshold of basic skills,
as well as for more frequent changes in the nature of skills required.
The challenge facing Ireland and its workforce cannot be understated.
According to the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, of the 2.4 million people expected to be in the workforce by 2020, 1.43 million are already at work.
Of the current workforce, 440,000 have at most lower secondary education, including 165,000 aged 35 or less.
Participation by Irish adults in ongoing education and training remains, however, low compared with other countries.
To meet this challenge, Ireland must develop a new attitude and approach to education and life-long learning.
We must generate a Learning Community, as set out elsewhere in this manifesto.
In terms of upskilling, we must set ourselves the target of increasing the number of people in employment that formally progress by at least one level under the National Framework of Qualifications by 100,000 over a fiveyear time frame.
In policy terms, this requires a shift in the focus on national policy from just training people for employment to also training people in employment, reflecting our changed economic circumstances.
What Labour will do:
Abolish fees for part time undergraduate courses  for individuals who have not already benefited from higher education.
Increase modularisation, portability and cross-recognition of courses taken in higher education institutions to facilitate part-time, flexible education and training.
Accelerate the development of a national framework of qualifications that is well understood and recognised by individuals, employers and education and training providers and that makes access, transfer and progression a reality.
This requires the rapid development of a certification and accreditation system to ensure that work-place learning can be properly certified and recognised.
Provide more educational and training progression routes for those working in construction, through completion of apprenticeships and through easier progression into other higher educational technical and business disciplines.
Introduce an option to take two-weeks statutory annual paid training leave, financed out of the NTF and paid at the minimum wage rate in order to focus on the lowskilled.
This could be topped up by employers on a voluntary basis.
Increase support for employer-led training networks, delivered through Skillnets and the enterprise development agencies.
Greater support will be provided for training networks that focus on transferable skills (ICT literacy etc.) for the low-skilled.
Re-invent the role of FÁS to achieve greater focus and efficiencies.
FÁS will be given a strong mandate to expand work-training schemes and apprenticeships and to empower individuals and small businesses to access relevant training.
Provide additional financial contributions from the Social Insurance Fund to support education and training for those that have been made redundant.
Enabling Ireland’s Future: A “Next Generation” Telecoms Network
Ireland has the capacity to be a world leader in internet and information technology innovation.
Yet due to ongoing government, regulatory and market failures we have fallen far behind in the deployment of broadband and other advanced IT services.
Irish broadband connections have recently been increasing,
but we are still considerably behind the majority of our EU and OECD partners and failing to keep pace with the best international broadband performers.
Many Irish people have either no access to broadband services or are faced with a very limited and expensive range of services.
The Labour Party believes that a widespread, accessible and affordable broadband network is crucial for ensuring a cohesive society,
competitive economy and to enable all Irish people to access the most technologically up-to-date services and products.
At the heart of Labour’s IT vision is also a commitment to the abolition of the digital divide
and the guarantee that a new type of social exclusion will not be fuelled by the fast-paced technological changes that are now being experienced.
Our vision will be to create, by 2012, a new, high speed, open access, next generation telecoms network,
designed and managed to support competing service operators that will use a variety of wireless and fixed wire “local loop” technologies, depending on local settlement patterns and geographic conditions, to deliver triple-play (TV, Internet and voice) services to every home in Ireland that wants them.
What Labour will do:
■  Establish an ambitious new government vision of how Irish broadband connectivity should develop
and the wider economic and social benefits intensified broadband development will facilitate.
Renewed objectives, vigorously approached targets and a commitment to delivering on these targets will be a policy priority.
Set-up a specific broadband task force headed by an e-envoy to concentrate resources and responsibility in a central location to drive an intensified rollout.
The ICT industry will be encouraged to lead this development.
Within six months of coming to power, we will tender for the upgrade and “broadband enabling” of telephone exchanges in those, mainly rural, areas where it has been uneconomic for the private sector to do so.
Introduce serious regulatory reform to ensure that the broadband sector is regulated much more effectively.
The communications regulator ComReg will have the ability to impose much greater financial penalties on telecom operators.
Operational changes will also be examined to allow ComReg to operate without the current intensely prohibitive legal restrictions and to strengthen its anticompetitive mandate.
To expedite competition blockages and remove obstruction, a separate High Court division of regulation will be established.
Introduce co-competition powers for ComReg with the Competition Authority
We will strengthen the hand of the regulator, and seek a settlement with Eircom to create an operationally separate network division to address the absolutely crucial problem of access to the local loop.
This should ensure greater access for other broadband operators to provide services, and a greater variety and less expensive range of broadband products will be on offer for Irish consumers and businesses.
Promote innovative measures for the delivery of a range of platforms for delivering different broadband technologies.
These would include a widespread designation of ‘hot spots’ for wireless transmission, and making entire urban areas ‘hot zones’ that are entirely wireless broadband enabled.
Incorporate local government institutions including partnerships, county leaders and county development boards in broadband rollout
Create a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband.
Accessibility to broadband networks will assume the same character as the present expectation of universal access to the postal service or telephone network.
The development of mechanisms for ensuring that a broadband USO is in place creates considerable potential for ensuring a widespread and universally accessible broadband network.
Instigate a national information technology education programme in order to provide the essential knowledge and training for using the critical ICT infrastructure of a modern economy.
Although some schools provide such education, it is essential that all children regardless of the school they attend have access to a proper IT education so as to equip them with the knowledge and practical experience to participate fully in society.
Ensure access to laptops for secondary school children.
Broadband connectivity needs to have a practical application.
An objective of a national ICT policy should be the provision of all secondary school students with laptops so the relevant knowledge of and necessary skills for advanced technology can be experienced within the classroom.
All methods of practically facilitating such a scheme, such as a partnership agreement with the IT industry, should be examined to ensure the widespread provision of laptops at second level.
Positioning Ireland as a Life Sciences Leader
If 20th century technological development was defined by advances in the physical sciences (the transistor, the semiconductor, ICT) the 21st century will be defined by the life sciences.
Life spans will rise sharply as cures are found for chronic diseases.
Healthcare may come to be a larger share of the world economy than manufacturing.
Life science developments will likely lead to everything from further agricultural revolutions to profound changes in energy technology and the development of new materials.
We will:
Develop a National Life Sciences and Health Research Strategy to support entrepreneurs in Ireland to take advantage of the strong growth in products and services related to healthcare and the life sciences.
We will establish a Life Sciences Research Taskforce comprising the Health Services Executive (HSE), the Health Research Board (HRB) and the industrial development agencies to develop this strategy.
Excellence in research is dependent on excellence in people,
and the HSE will be mandated to recruit clinician scientists together with required research nurses, allied health professionals and epidemiologists, with protected time for research.
We will also need to modernise Ireland’s regulatory system for clinical trials,
as Ireland’s slow and fragmented clinical trials approval processes are currently a barrier to promoting collaborative public-private clinical research.
Competitiveness through Research and Innovation
To sustain Ireland’s growth in employment and living standards in the face of low cost competition,
Ireland needs to move beyond the era of making things invented elsewhere.
We need an era of indigenous industrial innovation, driven by Irish entrepreneurs.
Technological change is revolutionising business processes in agriculture, manufacturing and services.
The ability of Irish companies to develop and absorb new technologies into their products, services and processes will be a decisive driver of competitive advantage.
Of course, innovation does not just derive from scientific and engineering breakthroughs.
Three-fifths of US productivity growth during the 1990s was accounted for by innovation in services and business processes.
What Labour will do:
Increase public funding for industry-led research and in-firm R&D in line with support for university research.
Expand industry-led networks that help to define the research agendas of universities and the Institutes of Technology
Reform the system for funding new higher education research infrastructure in a way that provides universities and Institutes of Technology with the opportunity to borrow to finance research infrastructure,
and with the incentives to attract more ongoing research funding from industry by developing critical mass in distinctive research areas.
Ensure that the Marine Institute has the necessary resources to be at the cutting edge of international marine research,
in a way that provides practical benefits for the Irish marine fisheries industry.
Establish a Centre of Excellence for Alternative Energy charged with ensuring Ireland develops a world class alternative energy sector.
Wind, tidal and wave energy and renewable-friendly electricity grid development are areas where
Ireland can develop unique capabilities through a long-term commitment to research and development.
Hold a competition among universities for the part-funding of a new Institute of Advanced Studies in Applied Finance to support the further development of our international financial services industry into increasingly sophisticated activities.
Establish a national Intellectual Property Services Centre (IPSC) to support our higher education institutes and their research teams in the creation, protection and exploitation of ideas generated from publicly funded research.
Review the regulation and financing of the higher education sector /to remove barriers holding back export development from these sectors.
With the right structures, the higher education system could become one of Ireland’s leading brands internationally, while continuing to meet the needs of Irish residents.
Ensure that the enterprise development agencies, including the County Enterprise Boards, have the necessary tools and flexibility to support individual research and innovation projects by services companies.
Cutting Red Tape and the Regulatory Burden
Labour believes that business regulation, when welldesigned and enforced, improves the functioning of markets and helps to achieve environmental and social goals.
In government, we will be committed to the highest standards of business regulation,
and will have a particular focus on raising standards of corporate governance and improved enforcement of high employment standards and environmental obligations.
What Labour will do:
We support better enforcement of labour legislation in Ireland to prevent exploitation of vulnerable workers,
and a significant expansion in the powers and resources of the Labour Inspectorate.
We will consolidate the Employment Acts and Companies Acts in order to make it easier for firms and employees to understand their rights and comply with their legal obligations, and rationalise the enforcement institutions.
Small businesses currently face 80 tax return deadlines each year for various tax headings, such as PRSI, PAYE, VAT and corporation tax.
We will significantly reduce the number of return dates for small businesses under all tax headings.
Good economic statistics on industry are vital for policy making.
By amending the Statistics Act, by introducing unique company identifiers (like PPS numbers for companies) and by improving technology, we will ensure where possible (subject to reasonable data protection constraints) that government does not ask for the same data twice.
Companies involved in international trade have to submit large volumes of information to many governmental authorities to comply with tax, statistical, security and health and safety requirements, each with their own systems and forms.
The same information is also required by private service providers, such as packers, freight forwarders, customs brokers and banks.
In government, we will establish a “Single Window” for traders, whereby trade-related information is only submitted once through a single, electronic entry point.
Introduce a “risk-based” system of regulatory enforcement, as has been done in the UK.
We will publish future RIAs.
Published RIAs will be available on a central website for businesses and citizens to read and comment upon.
We will establish a Forum on Better Business Regulation to be chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to provide a mechanism for a structured dialogue on regulation between policy makers and business, and for consultation on specific RIAs.
Since so much of the new regulation is of European origin, we will pay closer attention to the EU system of regulatory impact assessment and its use in practice.
We will push for the European Commission to carry out country level disaggregation of all EU RIAs and this should be mandatory for EU Regulations, which are immediately binding on all member states.
Creating Jobs in the Green Economy
As pointed out by the UK Stern Review, the shift towards a lower carbon economy will generate a large number of commercial opportunities.
Markets for low carbon energy products are likely to be worth at least $500bn per year by 2050, and perhaps much more.
The shift towards low-carbon technologies will be accompanied by a shift in employment patterns.
Over 25 million people may be working in these sectors worldwide by 2050.
Ireland has some strong geo-natural advantages in this area, and with the right policies the shift to a low carbon economy can produce high quality jobs.
Tackling climate change early is the long-term progrowth strategy.
What Labour will do:
Establish a Centre of Excellence for Alternative Energy charged with ensuring Ireland develops a world class alternative energy sector.
Direct ESB and Bord na Mona to become leaders in renewable energy technologies.
Take measures to support the development of a domestic bio-energy sector.
We will abolish excise duty on bio-fuels for transport We will also reform the Existing Energy Crops Scheme to make it more attractive to farmers.
Finally, we will disburse Start-Up Grants for Bio Fuel Processing Plants on a competitive basis.
With the right regulatory environment, global moves towards a lower carbon economy will also generate opportunities for banks and other financial intermediaries.
We will work with industry bodies and the financial regulator to make the necessary adjustments to our tax, skills and regulatory framework to ensure that the Irish financial services industry is in a position to exploit these new opportunities.
■  We will also mandate Enterprise Ireland to support the development of specialist venture capital (VC) funds focusing on renewable energy start-ups in Ireland.
Controlling Utilities Costs
The availability at competitive prices of high quality energy and communications services is vital for competitiveness,
as well as for supporting balanced regional development
and protecting the living standards of people on low incomes.
What Labour will do:
We will strengthen the powers of regulators, while ensuring that they remain accountable to Houses of the Oireachtas, to drive proconsumers regulation in utilities.
We will also examine the scope for reducing the number of regulators,
so as to concentrate the skills and expertise available to the state to the benefit of consumers.
We will abolish the existing regulatory appeals bodies and will create a Competition Appeals Court presided over by a High Court judge to hear and decide appeals involving competition or other regulatory issues.
Public Enterprise
Labour is committed to the concept and practice of public enterprise.
We will keep existing semi-state companies in public ownership.
In government we will develop a positive vision of the role of semi-state bodies and put in place appropriate governance structures.
We will:
Ensure that semi-state companies have the commercial freedom to grow and to fulfil their mandates free from ministerial interference.
We will ensure that semi-state companies have access to capital.
Consumer Protection
Hard working families have been the victims of the ‘ripoff phenomena’
Labour in government will act to protect their interests
What Labour will do:
Cap growth in charges by state bodies at the rate of inflation.
Any requested increases beyond the rate of inflation will require a specific Public Interest Report to be presented to the Dáil.
Compensate consumers who lose their utility service for more than three hours in a 24 hour period by forcing providers to deduct the cost of one day’s service from the bill.
This will apply to electricity, gas, telephone, internet and cable TV providers.
Provide a legislative basis for co-operation agreements between the National Consumer Agency (NCA) and the utility regulators to ensure greater consumer awareness of their consumer rights when dealing with utility providers, and to promote speedier redress when their rights have been violated.
The agreements will also allow for a stronger NCA input into economic regulation through formal information sharing, reciprocal consultation and co-operation in relation to consumer awareness campaigns.
Examine the introduction of measures to tackle unfair termination charges that are imposed on mobile users.
Support the EU-led campaign to abolish unjustified roaming charges on European mobile users when they are using their mobiles abroad.
Ensure that regulation of mobile phone content and services, which is presently a selfregulated industry, is brought under the remit of ComReg.
This should ensure the more effective monitoring of mobile phone services (which are particularly popular among teenagers and young people) which at present are open to exploitation by unscrupulous operators.
Make the  CEO of the Radiological Protection Society of Ireland responsible for monitoring the health effects of non-ionising and microwave radiation with the Director submitting a regular report to the Oireachtas.
Reform the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (Statutory Instrument No. 600 of 2001) to ensure that microwave masts are co-located away from homes, schools and youth facilities.
Ensure 3G licensing and rollout is being carried out in the most effective and beneficial manner for Irish mobile users given ongoing complaints about charges, coverage and quality of handsets in the 3G sector.
Adequately resource the competition authority to pursue rigorous competition enforcement, focused on the needs of households.
Put in place a Consumer Court dealing specifically with consumer issues.
Insist that airlines publish full information about the total cost of seats in their advertising, including hidden charges.
Local councils will also have a consumer protection role in relation to public services provided by the private sector.
FIXING THE HEALTH SERVICE
The Challenge
The Irish health service is in crisis.
Despite all the money that has been poured into the health service, long queues remain in A&E,
patients are deeply concerned about MRSA,
conditions in hospitals are frequently unacceptable, /patients face long delays for treatment,
and access to services is deeply unfair.
Recent attempts to paper over the cracks in A&E without tackling the underlying problems have led to some 40,000 operations being cancelled,
as surgical beds are requisitioned to reduce the pressure on A&Es.
The HSE is not seen as delivering improvements to front-line care.
There is a deep inequality built into what is a twotier system,
such that public and private patients enjoy very different levels of access to medical services.
Recent Labour Party research, for example, points to significant disparities in waiting times for appointments to see consultants, between public and private patients.
The co-location plan for superprivate clinics will further deepen that division, and marks an unprecedented and unacceptable departure into for-profit medicine in Ireland.
The core problems remain of a system with perverse incentives,
inadequate capacity,
and poor use of existing facilities.
Primary care and preventative medicine are under-developed,
as are services for the elderly,
with the result that services for patients are poorer and considerable strain is placed on the acute hospital sector.
Mental health services, long the forgotten and neglected branch of Irish medicine, continue to be under-funded.
There are often alarming gaps in provision of mental health services,
including services for children.
Fixing the health service is the first, but not the only step, towards a healthier people.
Life expectancy in Ireland is below EU norms,
and Ireland faces a number of public health challenges, such as obesity, including obesity in children.
The social and economic inequality in our society has a detrimental effect on health which must be addressed.
Ireland can do better Fixing the health service will be Labour’s first priority in government.
Our objective is to tackle the existing crisis and, through investment and reform, to lay the foundations for a health service based on excellence, value for money and fairness, to provide a better standard of care for patients, and to enhance the health and wellbeing of the people of Ireland.
What Labour will do
More Beds in Clean Hospitals
The Irish health service needs more beds and it needs to make better use of existing capacity through organisational change.
Both must proceed in tandem.
We will:
Provide 2300 additional acute in-patient hospital beds.
Scrap the co-location plan to build superprivate clinics.
Ensure the rigorous enforcement of strict cleaning regimes.
Systems to ensure that there is clear responsibility and accountability for dayto-day cleanliness standards will be a priority.
Develop a coherent planning function for ongoing provision of new capacity and improvement of existing facilities.
Provide for 1500 community care beds, 600 in Dublin.
Move towards a consultant-provided service, rather than a consultant-led system.
Subject to successful conclusion of the negotiations for a new consultant contract,
we envisage employing at least 1500 new consultants, with a corresponding reduction in the number of nonconsultant hospital doctors.
The new consultant contract must provide for clinical and administrative accountability and equality of care.
Improve manpower planning to address shortages in key health professions, including social work.
There should be a system of governance, funding and management which will foster strong hospital networks, well connected with their communities and well aware of their needs.
Hospital networks should be based on the ‘Golden Hour’ principle, i.e. that a patient should have to wait no more than one hour between the onset of a serious illness or accident and the beginning of treatment in a suitable acute hospital setting.
We will undertake a full review of ambulance services to ensure rapid access to services.
We will revisit the decision to locate the National Children’s Hospital on the Mater Site.
We favour a model of a National Children’s Hospital with campuses on both the north and south sides of Dublin under unified governance.
Ensure on-going funding and support for the Cancer Strategy.
The Money Follows the Patient: Towards Universal Health Insurance
The existing two-tier structure in the health services is both unfair and inefficient.
It establishes a perverse structure of incentives, particularly for consultants.
It leads to resources being allocated bureaucratically to health care providers, rather than ensuring that resources automatically flow to wherever patients are and want to be.
Labour believes that a high quality and fair health service requires the introduction of universal health insurance, which would ensure that resources are allocated to meet the needs of patients.
In other words, the money follows the patient.
We are committed to this objective.
Such a system can only be introduced over a period of time and requires significant change to the structure and capacity of the health service in advance of the introduction of full UHI.
Accordingly, we propose to develop a UHI system through a series of steps,
each of which represents an important reform, in and of itself, improving the quality of service to patients.
We will:
Change the way doctors are paid, establishing a stronger link between the work consultants do for public patients and what they get paid.
Change the way hospitals are paid to link budgets more closely to work done for patients, and to provide explicitly for activities such as teaching.
We will extend free health insurance cover to everyone up to age 16.
The A&E Crisis
Ultimately, tackling the crisis in A&E units requires a broad-based reform programme across the health service.
Nonetheless, there are a number of changes that can be made in the short and medium term to address the immediate problems of overcrowding, poor hygiene, long delays, indignity and discomfort for patients, and the associated stress for staff.
We have published a detailed plan for improving conditions in A&E which includes the following measures:
Introduce a separate stream for minor injuries, using the ‘see and treat’ system applied in the UK, whereby a dedicated team of skilled clinicians works to see patients with minor injuries when they arrive, treats them and sends them home.
Provision of Medical assessment units to cater for patients referred by GPs or A&E units, where patients can be seen in comfort and dignity, be assessed, undergo tests, be treated, and await admission to an acute bed.
Patients referred by a GP should not have to wait hours in an A&E to be seen by a less experienced doctor.
Protocols should be drawn up so that patients referred by GPs would be seen by a consultant within a specified period.
GPs should have improved access to diagnostic facilities.
The decision to admit patients must remain with the hospital.
Greater out-of-hours cover for diagnostics within hospitals to speed up decisions on admitting and discharging patients.
Tackling delays in discharging patients, including better discharge planning.
Additional aid for elderly patients to prevent the need for admission to acute hospital beds,
including a better home help service, out-ofhours services, and fast-tracking of home adaptation applications.
Provision of urgent care centres staffed by GPs and nurses, open out of hours, to provide an alternative to A&E units.
Provision of out-of-hours GP services and out of-hours pharmacy services.
Additional consultants in emergency medicine.
Emergency helpline and GP location service on a 24 hour basis, staffed by trained personnel, to advise patients on how they might be treated at home, where to access their nearest GP out-ofhours service or other appropriate assistance.
Labour believes that a high quality and fair health service requires the introduction of universal health insurance, which would ensure that resources are allocated to meet the needs of patients.
Patient Safety Authority
Several cases have come to light in recent years which highlight the requirement for an independent agency within the health services to inspect, monitor and regulate patient safety.
Accordingly we are proposing the establishment of an independent Patient Safety Authority which would oversee the registration and accreditation of hospitals and inpatient facilities,
set and monitor standards of patient safety in all registered health and social care facilities and investigate complaints.
Palliative Care
We welcome the development of hospices in Ireland, but we are concerned at the fact that there is no uniform funding across the country to support these hospices.
What Labour will do:
Set a target of having a hospice in every former health board area.
Introduce best practice protocols in hospitals to ensure dignity at the time of a person’s death.
Primary Care and Prevention
One of the biggest problems in the Irish health system is the under-development of primary care.
A properly developed primary care structure is essential to ensuring that illness is detected early and treated promptly,
that patients are treated in a setting they know and trust,
that pressure is taken off the acute hospital sector,
and for getting the best use of healthcare resources.
Research shows that the cost of primary care is discouraging significant numbers of our people from attending a GP.
What Labour will do:
■  Labour will promote the development of primary care, and improve access to primary care.
We will extend medical card eligibility to include 40 per cent of the population with a focus on families with children.
We will provide GP cards for children under-5, who tend to have heavy demand for GP services.
Develop incentives for doctors working in deprived communities and remote rural areas.
Facilitate GPs over 65 who can and wish to continue working.
Promote the integration of primary health services at community level.
Continue to promote the development of group practices and primary care centres.
Promote the integration of community based nursing services with general practice.
Introduce universal patient registration whether public or private.
Develop robust data collection systems in general practice.
Initiate agreed primary care based preventative strategies to combat the current inequalities in mortality rates due to geographic location and socio-economic backgrounds.
This will include universal cervical screening; secondary cardiac preventative programme; and a robust Well Man and Well Woman service.
Provide Breastcheck nationwide.
Promote regular exercise and healthier lifestyles as detailed in our proposals on sport elsewhere in this manifesto.
Promote better nutrition as set out in our policy on food poverty.
Mental Health Services
Mental Health has long been the Cinderella of the health services, under-funded and neglected.
There a number of unmet needs, including mental health services for children
and services for those suffering from dementia.
Meanwhile, the problem of suicide requires urgent attention.
Labour supports the concept of ‘recovery-orientated mental health services’.
What Labour will do:
In time, we envisage a minimum base line funding for mental health services of 10 per cent of current health spending.
Put in place multidisciplinary community mental health teams, reducing the need for inpatient care.
Close psychiatric institutions that are inappropriate for their purpose, once adequate out-patient services are in place.
Funds from the sale of such institutions to be ring-fenced for mental health services.
Introduce long-term personnel management to address staff shortages.
Appoint adequate numbers of psychologists to all prisons.
Increase the budget of the National Suicide Prevention Office to €10 million initially and to €20 million over five years.
■ Provide a comprehensive package to all primary and secondary schools, including mental health programmes and comprehensive counselling services.
■ Establish formal structured partnerships between the voluntary and community sector
and the statutory sector to strengthen community-based suicide prevention strategies and bereavement support.
■ Act to solve the crisis in child and adolescent psychiatric services by increasing specialist out-patient teams by 50 per cent and bringing established teams up to the recommended staffing complement.
■ Ensure early intervention, including a Youth Mental Health Initiative aimed at teachers and other adults who have frequent contact with young people.
■ Develop specialist child and adolescent intellectual disability services,
establish specialist eating disorder services,
develop multi-disciplinary teams nationally to deal with addiction
and increase the in-patient facilities to meet the needs of the 0-15 year-old age group and the in-patient needs of the 16-17 year-old age group.
Our objective is to tackle the existing crisis and, through investment and reform, to lay the foundations for a health service, based on excellence, value for money and fairness, to provide a better standard of care for patients, and to enhance the health and wellbeing of the people of Ireland.
BUILDING A LEARNING COMMUNITY
The Challenge
Education is at the core of the Fair Society.
A truly universal education system puts no age limit on learning.
It is flexible enough to embrace multiple intelligences and talents.
And it offers all who access it an equal chance of success, regardless of income, class or family background.
By these standards, Ireland’s education system is universal in name only.
To build a fair society and a knowledge economy, we must develop a genuinely universal learning community for all of our citizens from the cradle to the grave.
Education is about realising one’s full potential, but it is also about releasing and harnessing the creative potential of society as a whole.
We will never know what we can achieve as a country until everyone has a real chance to contribute to all aspects of Irish life.
The challenge of creating a learning community is a considerable one, particularly in light of the basic problems still blighting our education system.
We have no universal pre-school education.
Our primary school population alone is set to expand by some 100,000 children, yet we cannot even accommodate the pupils we have now.
Pre-fabs pass for proper school buildings.
‘Free’ schools depend on voluntary donations from parents for basic essentials.
One in four children is in a class of thirty-plus.
Literacy and numeracy standards are stagnating.
Children with learning difficulties wait months for an assessment.
One in five will drop out of school before the Leaving Certificate.
The government may wonder why the only resemblance between Ireland now and Ireland in the 1980s is our schools.
The answer is simple: you can’t buy ambition, or a passion for education.
Our schools need investment, but they also need imagination, courage to reform and a vision of Irish education that takes as its end point the kind of skills, confidence and experience we would like our citizens of all ages to possess.
Without it, we can only expect more of the same.
Ireland can do better Labour wants to build a world class education system for Ireland in which there are no barriers to learning.
Under Labour, equality of opportunity will be supported by practical measures so that there is real equality of outcome regardless of income, social background or age.
What Labour will do
Schools
Standards and leadership in schools
In government we will give principals and teachers the support and professional development they need by:
Making all new appointments of principals for a ten-year period only.
Requiring all principals to complete or to have completed a designated Master’s degree in Educational Management.
Establishing an appropriately attractive pay scale for principals.
Making relevant expertise available to boards of management when selecting a new principal.
Requiring principals and teachers to draw up an agreed programme of professional development for each individual teacher, to be reviewed at the end of the school year.
Establishing a dedicated fund within the DES to which schools may apply to fund professional development for staff.
Funding an agreed number of days for substitution per year for teachers participating in supplemental professional development.
Devolving greater autonomy to school principals in the use of teaching and other resources.
Extending the National Pilot Project on Induction to all primary and secondary schools so that all new teachers get supervised on-the-job training during their probationary period.
Providing financial support for students undertaking teacher training modules as part of their course to offset the cost of their teaching materials and travel expenses.
We will review the content and duration of secondary school teacher training with a view to further developing practical classroom experience and the interpersonal skills appropriate to a classroom situation.
Education is at the core of the Fair Society.
A truly universal education system puts no age limit on learning.
It is flexible enough to embrace multiple intelligences and talents.
And it offers all who access it an equal chance of success, regardless of income, class or family background.
A more democratic system
What Labour will do:
Draw up guidelines so that schools can design their own Home-School Agreements.
These agreements will set out in clear and inclusive terms the respective responsibilities of the school, parents and the pupil, and will be agreed by all three.
Oblige schools to publish an annual whole school report.
This will contain general information about the school, such as its rules, ethos and extracurricular activities.
It will also contain a financial report for the previous school year.
Proper funding for schools
We will:
Double the primary school capitation grant from €163.58 to €320 to recognise the real cost of running a primary school.
Increase the per capita funding for all pupils in non-fee-paying second level schools by €300.
Increase the capitation element of the current Maintenance Grant to €25.
Increase the ancillary grant for secretarial and caretaker staff to €200 per pupil.
End the practice of levying rates on publiclyfunded schools in the free education system.
Replace the rest of the complicated grants system for primary and second level schools with a single block grant that can be used on a multi-annual basis if required.
Have the State Claims Agency carry out an assessment of insurance costs in all schools with a view to reducing risks and premia.
Options to be examined will include the centralised purchasing of insurance for all primary and voluntary secondary schools and the indemnification of schools by the state.
Class sizes
We will progressively reduce average class sizes towards the EU norm.
We will cap class sizes at 15:1 in schools where there is significant disadvantage and progressively move towards capping class sizes at 25:1 in mainstream primary schools.
Early childhood education
We are committed to providing one year’s free preschool education for all children.
Progressing towards equality of outcome
In order to tackle educational disadvantage Labour will:
Address the needs of all of our school children by ‘weighting’ each child or teenager according to their personal, social or academic needs,
and distributing extra financial and non-material resources to schools accordingly.
This method will also be used to determine appropriate staffing levels for schools.
Schools in disadvantaged communities will have access to a study support fund,
which they could use to provide after-school and holiday activities for its students.
This could range from music or dance lessons, to training with local football clubs or study skills seminars, and be arranged in partnership with local youth organisations.
Give pupils access to healthy meals by developing partnerships between schools and local caterers and food suppliers.
Resource the NEWB adequately so that it can fulfil its mandate and devote some of its energy to pro-actively preventing at-risk children from dropping out of school.
Develop a social guarantee to all 16 to 18 yearolds of training, a school place or meaningful work.
Improving literacy and numeracy
What Labour will do:
Require all primary school teachers to undertake more intensive training in literacy and numeracy education, with extra subsequent training available to teachers working in disadvantaged schools.
Require schools to develop whole school literacy policies and target outcomes for class groups and individuals,
and to have an inschool reporting mechanism through which teachers would report on the progress of their teaching and learning objectives.
Provide speech and language therapy support to schools with the greatest need to address the issue of language delay among Junior and Senior Infants.
Extend teaching hours for maths support for students with very weak mathematical skills.
Remove the cap on English language support teachers in schools.
Schools will receive a teacher allocation according to the needs of their pupils.
The principal may then choose how to organise staff timetables and to recruit staff with the appropriate skills for a specific student population.
Have the Department of Education and Science conduct a comprehensive review of the communication needs of pupils for whom English or Irish is not their first language, their schools and their parents, with a view to developing a coherent national policy framework for English language teaching and communication in schools.
Provide appropriate funding and training for Family Literacy schemes.
Require public libraries to increase their opening hours and to have outreach programmes aimed at maximising community literacy.
Provide for homework clubs run by trained tutors in schools with low achievement in literacy and numeracy.
Work with local authorities to incorporate educational facilities, such as space for homework clubs, into local authority housing developments.
School as a community resource
What Labour will do:
Make school opening hours and the option of using schools as multiple-use facilities a condition of state funding.
Address the insurance and staffing needs that accompany longer opening hours and multiple uses.
Schools for all
What Labour will do:
Regulate schools’ admission policies in line with the Education Act 1998 to ensure that schools are genuinely inclusive of special needs students.
Ensure that new and existing schools in receipt of state aid respond to the needs of a more diverse school-going population.
World class school buildings
Under Labour, new schools will be built according to the following requirements:
School space will be flexible enough to be able to adapt to various teaching methods, diverse uses and to variations on group sizes.
For example, school space will be adaptable to PE, music or woodwork, as well as small group tutoring.
Classrooms will be big enough to be able to move furniture easily to facilitate group work,
and have enough ‘free’ space for unstructured play, reading, art, performing etc.
The school grounds will be regarded as an extension of the classroom.
They will be as natural as possible, and be spacious enough to house a school garden.
All new schools will have sports facilities that will also be available to the community.
All new schools will be low-energy, sustainable buildings.
School planning
We will give the National Treasury Management Agency the task of tracking residential development and population patterns, and of developing a model that will be able to predict when and where demographic change will lead to a demand for school places and to address the many already existing education blackspots.
The NTMA will be able to acquire land for schools using Compulsory Purchase powers.
We will future-proof new schools against the anticipated needs of communities, and allow the state to be the patron of new schools where necessary.
These schools will cater for children of all denominations and of none.
All educational buildings will be zoned for educational use so that schools and educational buildings and grounds cannot easily be sold out of education.
Broadening the learning experience
Our specific commitments include:
Progressively implementing the NCCA’s proposal for a revised senior cycle curriculum.
Enabling all schools to offer a three-year Senior Cycle at second level.
The reform of maths and science teaching and learning as set out in our policy document ‘Formula for Success’.
Extending the use of oral skills in language examinations.
Extending Social, Personal and Health Education to all schools.
The importance of SPHE will be emphasised in the national syllabus.
Teachers will undergo pre-service and in-service training in Relationships and Sexuality Education, which will include an expanded section on sexual diversity.
Provision of funds under the school works programme to provide non-classroom learning facilities for all secondary schools or clusters of schools.
Making PE an examinable subject at Junior and Leaving Certificate level.
Ensuring that every second level school has their own, or access to, a qualified PE teacher.
Enabling schools to develop partnerships with local sports clubs and organisations in order to share facilities.
Establishing the Music Entitlement Scheme, which would entitle every child to 30 hours free music tuition in the course of one primary school year.
Providing for artists to work with teachers and pupils on group projects for the benefit of the school or the community.
Caring for Young People: Special Needs and Support Services
What Labour will do:
We will progressively increase the number of national educational psychologists to 400.
These professionals will support special needs students, their teachers and their parents, but will also underpin more general school-based counselling and programmes addressing mental health among young people.
A full-time educational psychologist will be allocated to schools on a clustering basis.
We will ensure that the resources available to a child with special needs at primary level are also available to that child at second level in advance of the child beginning First Year.
We recognise the success of the ABA method for many children who are on the Autistic Spectrum.
We will sanction the 12 ABA schools awaiting Department recognition and engage with parental groups who are seeking to have early assessment and autism-specific methods supported by the state.
We will integrate the wide range of agencies and bodies providing support to children and schools into a more coherent, user-friendly structure.
Specifically to address the widespread problem of homophobic bullying in our schools, the Department of Education and Science will issue clear guidelines to schools outlining their responsibility to address homophobic bullying among students and teachers.
We will facilitate the sharing of best practice between schools which have implemented successful policies and programmes addressing sexuality and homophobic bullying.
Learning for life
If Ireland is to prosper, and generate more and better jobs, we must invest in our people.
A knowledge economy requires a skilled, flexible and adaptable workforce, based on strong educational attainment and on-going training and skills enhancement.
In modern economies, more and more people will move jobs several times in the course of a career, and re-training
and up-skilling beyond the traditional education years will be essential both to enhancing productivity and to protecting the employability of individuals during those transitions.
Furthermore, we firmly believe that education and learning should also be valued for their own sake.
The opportunity to learn should be flexible and open to people of all ages, backgrounds and needs, whether in work, at home or retired
Upskilling the workforce
What Labour will do:
We commit to increasing the number of people in employment that formally progress by at least one level under the National Framework of Qualifications by 100,000 over a five-year time frame.
Accelerate the development of a national framework of qualifications that is well understood and recognised by individuals, employers and education and training providers and that makes access, transfer and progression a reality.
This requires the rapid development of a certification and accreditation system to ensure that work-place learning can be properly certified and recognised.
Increase support for employer-led training networks, delivered through Skillnets and the enterprise development agencies.
Greater support will be provided for training networks that focus on transferable skills (ICT literacy etc.) for the low-skilled.
Re-invent the role of FÁS to achieve greater focus and efficiencies.
FÁS will be given a strong mandate to expand work-training schemes and apprenticeships and to empower individuals and small businesses to access relevant training.
Establish the right to take two weeks paid study leave from work, paid for out of the social insurance fund.
Third and Fourth Level
We believe that in creating a knowledge economy we must also nurture the values of civic society.
It is essential that we promote innovation in science and technology,
but we need to do the same in the creative arts, humanities, and the social sciences.
Indeed, solutions to the biggest challenges of the future, such as better education, environmental protection and urban planning, will come from disciplines other than the ‘hard’ sciences.
We will ensure that funding for third level reflects the public good served by academic diversity.
The abolition of third level fees introduced by the Labour Party has greatly enhanced participation rates at third level.
We will build on this to expand participation rates across all social groups, while working to improve the standards and consistency of education at third level.
What Labour will do:
Fully support the development of a fourth level sector.
We believe that genuine cutting-edge research achievement will require unprecedented cooperation and collaboration between institutions.
Our approach to third level investment will reflect this priority.
Reform the system for funding new higher education research infrastructure in a way that provides universities and Institutes of Technology with the opportunity to borrow to finance research infrastructure,
and with the incentives to attract more ongoing research funding from industry by developing critical mass in distinctive research areas.
We will establish a multi-campus University of the South East with Waterford Institute of Technology as its hub.
Study the feasibility of establishing an all-Ireland university press.
Hold a competition among universities for the part-funding of a new Institute of Advanced Studies in Applied Finance to support the further development of our international financial services industry into increasingly sophisticated activities.
Establish a national Intellectual Property Services Centre (IPSC) to support our higher education institutes and their research teams in the creation, protection and exploitation of ideas generated from publicly funded research.
Abolish fees for part-time students studying for their first primary degree.
Steadfastly maintain our commitment to free third level education for all.
Reform the student grant system to make it more transparent and equitable and progressively increase the level and income thresholds for third level grants.
Responsibility for administering third level grants will be transferred to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
We will establish an Open University of Ireland.
We will create an Ombudsman for third level education.
Legislate to take effective action against bogus universities and “diploma mills”.
Education is about realising one’s full potential, but it is also about releasing and harnessing the creative potential of society as a whole.
Further Education
What Labour will do:
Revive the National Adult Learning Council and local co-ordinating bodies so that diverse elements of lifelong learning can be linked into one coherent system through which learners can progress.
Make Further Education a distinct sector of the education system.
Put in place a Council of Further Education Colleges to coordinate the activities of PLC providers.
Provide for appropriate management structure and specialist staff for FE provision.
Provide appropriate non-pay budgets to reflect the nature of the activity.
Remove the arbitrary cap on PLC places.
A real commitment to a knowledge economy recognises that a knowledge society needs diverse sources of education.
Provide separate FE colleges in centres where there is a sufficient concentration of students.
These buildings will be designed to meet the requirements of Further Education.
Ensure all FE students have web access, email accounts, IT equipment and access to a library.
Create a transparent model of mobility for students to third level where appropriate.
Encourage the development of student unions with student representation on appropriate college decision making bodies.
Draw together existing strands of funding into a dedicated annual budget for Women’s Community Education within the Department of Education and Science.
Through our ‘open schools’ policy we will support Adult Learning in primary and post-primary schools after school hours.
Adult Literacy
What Labour will do:
Significantly increase the Adult Literacy budget in line with increased capacity among adult literacy providers.
We will also put in place appropriate structures for the training of adult literacy tutors.
We will initiate a mass-media adult literacy campaign, including a TV literacy programme similar to Read Write Now.
A National Education Forum
When the Labour Party was last in government, we initiated the National Education Forum.
This forum provided the first significant opportunity for the major stakeholders in education to debate in public session the issues and priorities confronting all levels of education.
As a direct result of this open debate, more long-overdue educational legislation was resolved upon than had been in the previous sixty years.
We believe that there is a need once more to bring the education stakeholders together in a transparent and far-ranging debate.
From this we hope to make an inventory of the issues facing a much changed society before moving forward in a concerted way with an educational system which will meet the priorities and contingencies of the 21st Century.
What Labour will do:
Establish the National Forum on Education on a permanent basis.
Every seven years the forum will conduct a comprehensive review of the primary, second level, third level and life-long learning sectors of education.
The process will commence with a comprehensive review, in public session, of the efficiency and effectiveness of educational policies, strategies, structure and implementation in relation to the primary sector.
This will be followed at two-yearly intervals by a similar process for the other sectors, and when completed the cycle will recommence.
BUILDING HOMES, LINKING PEOPLE
Transport, Housing and Planning
The Challenge
Despite our prosperity, and despite record levels of house building, we find ourselves in the midst of a housing crisis.
Almost half a million new houses have been built in the past decade alone, but average house prices have trebled.
Thousands of young people cannot afford to buy a home from their own resources, especially in the cities.
There are twice as many people on waiting lists for council housing as there were ten years ago, and 60,000 trapped on Rent Allowance.
The outgoing government has failed to harness record levels of residential construction to meet the housing needs of the very people whose efforts have made the economic boom possible.
They have maintained a menu of tax breaks for investors in residential property, while abolishing the First Time Buyer’s Grant.
A new two-tier society has evolved in Ireland: those who can afford to buy up lots of property and those who cannot afford to buy their own home.
New homeowners who start their commute in the dark to beat mounting daily congestion would not be surprised that in 2006 Dublin was used by the European Environment Agency (EEA) as a worst case example of urban sprawl.
Like other cities, towns and even villages around the country, Dublin’s expansion was, and continues to be, ad hoc and developer-driven.
We have half a million more houses now than we did ten years ago, but weaker communities.
Housing estates with hundreds of new homes have been built with no shops, schools, doctors, childcare, public transport, recreational facilities or job opportunities nearby.
Young parents find that they are forced to spend more time in the car than with their children.
Existing schools have had to house Junior Infants in school gyms to cope with unprecedented population changes.
Planning profoundly affects how we live.
It affects where we live, how we get around, how much time we spend commuting and how much time we have for rest and recreation.
It affects where we shop, where our children are educated, play, or get treated when they are sick, and what our teenagers do in their free time.
It affects the quality of our environment and the delivery of public services.
The construction boom has treated houses as an end in themselves instead of the homes and communities they become.
Good public transport is essential to linking these communities to work, leisure and essential facilities.
Joined-up planning is too important to be neglected any longer.
Ireland can do better Developer-led planning ignores the vital social element of where we live, work and play.
Everyone should have a good quality home at a price they can afford and in sustainable communities that are planned with the interests of those communities, existing and future, in mind.
Ireland should be one of the most attractive places to live in Europe.
What Labour will do
Making home ownership a reality
What Labour will do:
Introduce a new housing option called ‘Begin to Buy’.
Those who cannot purchase a home from their own resources alone, and who can demonstrate a clear need for housing, will be eligible to apply for a ‘Begin to Buy’ home purchase scheme.
This would allow a person in employment to buy a minimum 25 per cent stake in a home, with the state meeting the rest of the cost.
As the individual’s financial circumstances improve, he or she can increase their equity in the home.
Expand the scope of the Affordable Housing schemes so growing families or those who need to move for work or family reasons will be able to qualify.
We recognise that it is not only first-time buyers who are under pressure.
The NESC has recommended social housing output should be increased to 10,000 per annum for the next seven years.
We are committed to meeting this target through increasing local authority output and actively supporting the voluntary and cooperative sectors to reach their full potential.
Reform the Tenant Purchase Scheme for local authority tenants, introduce a tenant purchase scheme for the voluntary and  co-operative sectors subject to consultation with the relevant stakeholders, and encourage tenant purchase in the private sector to maximise the number of people who can buy their own home.
Over time, replace the Rent Allowance scheme with a new form of housing support based on need, income and family circumstances.
Receiving rent allowance should not be an obstacle to employment.
Delivering affordable homes
We will ensure that the Affordable Housing Schemes deliver a minimum of 5,000 homes per year by strengthening the Part V provision of the Planning Act.
Public land that could be zoned for affordable homes has been steadily sold off by the FF/PD government to private speculators.
We will immediately halt this practice.
In addition we will impose tighter restrictions on the sale of public lands and legislate to bring public open spaces under the control/ownership of local authorities.
We will amend Compulsory Purchase powers to allow local authorities to assemble land banks on which affordable housing can be provided.
The same powers can be used by central government for the provision of schools, hospitals and other social purposes.
Ending Homelessness
■  We are committed to ending homelessness as defined by the Make Room campaign through a range of measures including greater provision of supported housing.
A quality rental market
We will update the standards regulations for private rental accommodation.
We will review the operation of the Residential Tenancies Act and the Residential Tenancies Board to ensure the most efficient possible resolution of disputes.
Linking homes, work and leisure
We will:
Consistent with our plans to recast local government in Ireland we will create city and regional authorities that will have a number of functions,including transport.
They will include city authorities in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and the Athlone-Tullamore-Mullingar triangle.
Regional authorities will be established in other regions of the country.
These authorities will be responsible for strategic planning and for overseeing the delivery of region-wide services, which will include procuring, funding and operating joined-up public transport projects for their region, integrated timetabling and ticketing, development of new routes, linking land use planning to public transport and managing traffic flow.
These authorities will be chaired and coordinated by directly elected full-time mayors.
Oversee the completion of major inter-urban routes by 2010.
Upgrade intercity rail connections to ensure that all major inter-city journeys are faster by rail than by car.
Extend commuter rail services to the suburbs of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
The Athlone-Tullamore-Mullingar transport authority will be responsible for the opening of a rail link between Athlone and Mullingar.
Prioritise the construction of the Interconnector tunnel between Heuston and Connolly stations.
Begin to lay the foundations of a metro system as part Dublin’s rail network.
This will begin with the construction of Metro North between Swords, the airport and Dublin city centre within the lifetime of the government.
Deliver Luas services to Lucan, extend Luas lines to Citywest, Cherrywood and the Docklands and link the existing Red and Green Luas lines in the city centre.
Introduce long-overdue integrated ticketing for all public transport.
■  Increase the current Dublin Bus fleet by 50 per cent, or 500 buses.
Complete the existing QBCs so they have enough road space to move quickly and add extra QBCs on the main arteries in the Greater Dublin Area.
Extend the Dublin Bus network to major residential areas within a 25 mile radius of the city.
Introduce a €1 adult fare and 50 cent children’s fare on the entire Dublin Bus network within this 25 mile radius.
This approach can be replicated in other cities and regions by the new transport authorities.
Fast track 6 Park and Ride sites and service them with express bus services to the city centre.
Replace the Travel Pass Scheme with a new cheaper Freedom Card that could be used across all public transport.
Enable the government to manage traffic at the Westlink Toll Bridge by lifting the barriers at times of heavy congestion and varying the tolls at different times of day.
Appoint Cycling Officers in each Local Authority to promote cycling and encourage greater cycling numbers by providing safer cycling routes.
Fund all schools to provide cycle stands and, in conjunction with local authorities, develop safe cycle routes to schools.
Require all major employers to provide cycle stands and showering facilities in order to encourage their staff to cycle.
In Dublin, we will develop safe cross-city cycle routes, complete the Sutton to Sandycove cycle route and develop a new cycle route along both sides of the Liffey quays.
Pursue the possibility of holding an annual Cycling Marathon similar to Zurich and Cape Town.
Review the law which currently compels, in certain circumstances, a cyclist to use a bus lane where one is provided.
Planning for communities
Labour will reform the planning laws and the planning system.
What Labour will do:
We will link planning permission for residential developments to the provision of public transport, schools, healthcare, recreational areas, shops and facilities.
Encourage clustered rural and urban regeneration through pro-active planning.
End the use of private management companies and management charges in private housing estates, and regulate them in the case of apartments.
Refuse planning permission to developers who have failed to finish off housing developments in the past.
Abolish the €20 fee for making a submission to a local authority on a planning issue.
Airports and Freight
We will ensure modern passenger facilities at our airports and provide fast public transport access to all our airports.
We will commission a study to examine airport capacity in the Leinster area over the next 10 to 20 years.
In government we will encourage transport of freight by rail and gradually target an increase in annual freight rail volume.
Road safety
We will:
Make Road Safety a priority for Cabinet and allocate a specific budget for the Road Safety Strategy.
Implement the measures for better driver education and licensing set out in our document Driving for Life, including our strategy to clear the driving test backlog within two years by employing more temporary driver testers and modernising the driver testing service.
Improve the poor enforcement record on road traffic issues by increasing Garda resources, management and training, and setting specific targets for annual enforcement levels across a wide range of road traffic offences.
Provide a statutory watchdog for the National Car Test to improve accountability and standards.
Set specific deadlines and multi-annual targets for each Department and Agency involved in Road Safety.
Overhaul and consolidate the Road Traffic Acts.
Introduce higher standards for road haulage and buses, in particular in relation to driver licensing, training and testing and vehicle testing.
Introduce a requirement for the retrofitting of Cyclops mirrors to all larger vehicles in order to protect pedestrians and cyclists.
The construction boom has treated houses as an end in themselves instead of the homes and communities they become.
COMBATING GLOBAL WARMING
The Challenge
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.
Without urgent and decisive action within the next decade we are likely to experience flooding affecting one sixth of the global population;
drought and famine for 200 million of the world’s poorest citizens;
extinction of up to 40 per cent of all species; and more extreme weather patterns threatening lives and livelihoods over the coming decades.
The cost to the global economy could be up to 10 per cent of GDP per annum.
The human and environmental costs are unquantifiable.
The international consensus on the need for radical action to avoid serious climate change has been growing steadily since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997.
The British government has indicated its intention to achieve a CO2 reduction of 60 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Germany and France have signalled their intention to push climate change up the European agenda, and Sweden is on track to being an oil-free economy by 2020.
Ireland has had ten years to prepare for our firstround commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, commencing on 1 January 2008.
Despite this, Ireland is set to overshoot its target by 7.2 million tonnes of CO2 a year for five years.
The government has already sanctioned the purchase of €270m worth of carbon credits (or ‘clean air’) from abroad to compensate for its failure to meet our domestic target.
However, this figure assumes that global demand for carbon credits will remain reasonably static.
The truth is that the direct cost of failing to meet our CO2 reduction target could be up to €750m for the first Kyoto period alone.
Ireland needs to take serious action now to meet our Kyoto commitments and to position ourselves for a medium to long-term economic climate where energy and environmental issues will dominate.
The message of the recent Stern report for the British chancellor is clear: early action to avoid runaway global warming far outweighs the costs.
Decisions taken over coming decade will be crucial in determining success or failure in the fight against climate change.
The next government will have responsibility for negotiating Ireland’s second Kyoto commitment, and for putting policies in place between 2008 and 2012 to achieve that target.
The present coalition parties have a profound credibility deficit when it comes to delivery on the environment, and greenhouse gas reduction in particular.
From construction to planning, this government has consistently demonstrated its willingness to appease vested interests over long-term environmental sustainability.
They cannot be trusted with our children’s future.
Ireland can do better Instead of regarding CO2 reduction as a threat to the economy, taking action to combat climate change at home and abroad should be an opportunity to put Ireland on the cutting edge of new markets for lowcarbon goods and services.
Ireland has one of the most favourable wind and tidal regimes in Europe.
It could go from being a net importer of polluting fossil fuels today to being an exporter of clean, renewable energy within a few decades.
What Labour will do
Taking action at home to avoid debt abroad
We will set the following greenhouse gas reduction targets:
To meet our 2008-2012 Kyoto target of annual greenhouse gas emissions of 63 Mt CO2e per annum (or +13 per cent relative to 1990) by 2012.
To reach 1990-level greenhouse gas emissions by 2016.
A reduction in CO2e up to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
To achieve a carbon neutral economy by 2030.
Looking to our economic future
What Labour will do:
Publish a Climate Change Bill setting out legally binding emission reduction targets in five-yearly budgets.
Establish a Department of Energy, Climate Change and the Environment to progress these important policy areas and to drive national climate change strategy.
Create an environmental pillar in the social partnership process.
Establish a National Forum on Climate Change involving all relevant stakeholders and the public to generate a national consensus on the measures we need to take to meet existing and future greenhouse gas reduction obligations.
Our energy future
What Labour will do:
Set a target of 50 per cent electricity generation from renewables by 2020. Some of this electricity will be exported.
Introduce a renewables obligation for electricity suppliers.
Steadily reduce Ireland’s almost complete dependence on a centralised system of large fossil fuel power plants and extremely inefficient distribution network
and develop a national electricity grid that is suitable for decentralised renewable electricity generation and local micro-generation.
Develop up to 1000 MW of interconnection between Ireland and Britain by 2012 and progressively invest in our interconnection capacity with the UK and mainland Europe.
All Area Development Plans will be required to incorporate micro-generation, such as small scale Combined Heat and Power plants, anaerobic digesters or domestic energy generation from solar or biomass into all new residential and commercial developments.
We will give the ESB a new mandate to develop renewable energy in Ireland with special emphasis on marine technology.
We will establish a Centre of Excellence for renewable energy technology, with a specific focus on developing technologies not currently commercially deployable and energy storage capacity.
A fair and equitable energy market
What Labour will do:
Legislate to ensure greater accountability to Dáil Eireann in the regulation of the exploitation of Ireland’s natural resources,
and to address the health, safety and environmental implications of licences granted.
Keep the gas and electricity networks in public ownership.
Establish a strategic gas reserve to protect ourselves against gas shortages.
Extend free insulation to pensioners in lowincome households.
Increase the fuel allowance to address fuel poverty.
Better building
In government we will:
Require all new homes to be built to a passive house standard from 2012.
Begin to make new housing stock more efficient from 2008 by requiring all new homes to use 60 per cent less energy for space and water heating than houses built to current building standards.
Overhaul and expand the Greener Homes scheme so that grants are used to achieve a ‘whole-house’ reduction in CO2 emissions.
Grants will be tied to packages of measures.
Different combinations of insulation options, window replacement and/or installation of renewable energy technologies will be available and subsidised through a mixture of grant aid and low-interest loans, repayable after a sufficient period of time has passed to allow the householder to accumulate financial benefits from energy savings.
Include the installation of renewable technologies in a major expansion of the Warmer Homes scheme.
Explore the possibility of establishing a minimum energy efficiency standard for homes undergoing major refurbishment.
Mandate local authorities to facilitate voluntary group insulation schemes to reduce the cost and inconvenience of retrofitting.
■ Introduce a stamp duty credit linked to a sustainability rating structure to reduce the price of energy efficient buildings.
■ Fund local authorities to retrofit local authority dwellings to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon emissions.
■ Require all commercial and public buildings, where practicable, to be built to be carbon neutral by 2012.
■ Ensure that local authorities have sufficient trained building inspectors to enforce regulations.
■ Ban the use of hollow blocks in the construction or extension of all residential, commercial and public buildings.
■ Conduct an energy audit of all public buildings and retrofit them to a high standard of energy efficiency accordingly.
■ Require the cost of carbon emissions as they relate to both the construction stage and projected ongoing energy requirements to be factored into all public infrastructure projects.
■ Promote environmentally sustainable methods and materials for construction, including green cement.
Instead of regarding CO2 reduction as a threat to the economy, taking action to combat climate change at home and abroad should be an opportunity to put Ireland on the cutting edge of new markets for low-carbon goods and services.
Doing more with less energy
In partnership with ESB we will roll out a national programme to install a smart electricity meter showing real-time use of electricity in every household in the country.
Inefficient incandescent light bulbs will be phased out by 2012.
Planning for sustainable communities
We will:
Link planning permission for residential developments to the provision of public transport, schools, healthcare, recreational areas and sources of local employment.
Require commercial developments to have comprehensive public transport links before they are given planning permission in order to minimise the car-dependency of their employees and customers.
Encourage clustered rural and urban regeneration.
Make greenhouse gas emissions reduction a central tenet spatial planning.
Cleaner transport
The importance of quality public transport goes beyond climate change: it is about quality of life.
We have set out elsewhere in our manifesto our commitment to delivering integrated public transport systems and upgraded rail and rural transport links as a matter of priority.
To further facilitate cleaner transport, we will:
Progressively introduce a 5.75 per cent renewables obligation for fuel suppliers so that biofuel-blend petrol is delivered at the pump.
This target will be subject to the environmental sustainability of domestic and international bioenergy crop production.
Abolish excise duty on biofuels.
Rebalance VRT to reflect CO2 emissions per kilometre travelled.
This would be a revenue neutral tax reform designed to encourage the purchase of low-emissions vehicles.
Progressively reform company car tax so that this charge is calculated according to CO2emissions per kilometre rather than mileage.
Convert the maximum number of public motor vehicles (state cars, public buses etc) to run on biofuel.
Sharing the cost of carbon
Labour in government will oblige the commercial and public sectors to accept a greater share of the carbon reduction burden than they have to date.
We will examine the potential of a domestic emissions trading system for the largest energy users in the commercial, service and public sectors.
A similar system will be operating in Northern Ireland when the British government implements its planned domestic carbon trading scheme.
Ireland has one of the most favourable wind and tidal regimes in Europe.
It could go from being a net importer of polluting fossil fuels today to being an exporter of clean, renewable energy within a few decades.
Reducing farming’s greenhouse gases
We will work with all the stakeholders in agriculture to:
Support the top-up per hectare payment to supplement the existing EU grant for energy crops.
Provide start-up aid for co-operative groups setting up supply chains in the wood biomass energy sector.
Encourage partnerships between local authorities and these local supply chains.
Support relating all agricultural supports in the post-CAP period to greenhouse gas abatement, whether through the adoption of low-impact farming methods required by REPS, conversion to organic farming or the production of energy crops.
Undertake further research, currently overseen by Teagasc, into the improvement of herd management in ways that will lead to a reduction in methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Expand research into carbon sequestration through farming methods, soil types and forestry.
Aim to at least double the carbon sequestered by sinks from 2.07 Mt CO2 to 4 MtCO2 in the next Kyoto period.
Nuclear Power
Labour is committed to keeping Ireland nuclear free and will not establish any nuclear facility in the state.
We will continue to oppose the Sellafield plant and other installations in the UK which pose a risk to our people.
International leadership
Climate change is a global problem that can only be solved by collective action by the international community.
The ability to make strategic foreign policy decisions at an EU level will be vital in future climate change negotiations, particularly if the EU is to exploit its diplomatic and economic power to the full.
■  Labour is committed to supporting a Climate Change Protocol to the stalled Constitutional Treaty, setting out what the EU-27 would do to tackle climate change through the mechanisms it creates.
We believe that this could also help to break the European deadlock, and to underscore to the citizens of the EU the relevance of a strong, cohesive union that can act in their interests on this major global issue.
Ireland needs to take serious action now to meet our Kyoto commitments and to position ourselves for a medium to long-term economic climate where energy and environmental issues will dominate.
BETTER ENVIRONMENT, BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE
The Challenge
Ireland is the ‘dirty man’ of Europe.
As well as producing the most CO2 per capita in the EU, we also produce more waste per capita than our fellow EU citizens.
Over the past ten years, the European Commission has initiated legal proceedings against the Irish government for no less than thirty infringements of environmental directives.
Included in these is the failure to ensure that potentially fatal bacteria were absent from Irish drinking water.
One of the most pressing environmental challenges we face is waste.
Improvements in recycling rates are eroded by the fact that we are still producing more and more waste every year.
A growing waste problem such as Ireland’s is a by-product of greater affluence.
An expanding economy and growing population mean that unless we tackle our consumption patterns and disposal habits now, we will face some extremely hard choices over the coming years.
The outgoing government has primarily focused on the problem of disposal, and has made the choice to divert waste to local incinerators.
However, incinerators can have negative environmental and public health impacts, which is why they are rarely welcomed by local communities.
Dressing incineration up as ‘Energy from Waste’ does not make it any more palatable.
Burning municipal (or ‘wet and dry’) waste is an extremely inefficient way of generating energy.
Furthermore, these incinerators need be ‘fed’ to guarantee the electricity they do produce, thereby doing away with incentives to recycle or cut down on waste.
Simply cutting down on waste reduces or even eliminates the need for unsightly landfill and unwanted incinerators.
We can legislate to cut down on non-biodegradable packaging and make it easier for householders to recycle as much of their waste as possible.
Furthermore, joined-up policy on waste reduction and recycling can create jobs.
Instead of the current policy, which would drive the creation of incinerators and waste to fill them, we could get ‘Money from Waste’ in the form of a domestic recycling industry.
At present we pay for three quarters of our recycling to be done abroad.
If we had a strong indigenous recycling industry, it would be in our financial as well as our environmental interests to ‘feed’ that industry as much as possible through high levels of recycling.
Waste is just one area where we need a real commitment to sustainable environmental policies.
Fast-tracking investment in drinking water facilities is another, as demonstrated by the recent crisis in Galway.
Declining water quality in our lakes and rivers, poor conservation of biodiversity and our countryside, dirty, littered streets, rocketing carbon emissions and the retreat from action on Sellafield sully the record of the past ten years.
The environment and environmental services have been a low priority for the outgoing government,
the price for which will be paid by households and communities around the country, and future generations.
Ireland can do better Protecting the environment is an investment in our quality of life.
Irish people have the right to free, clean drinking water, safe and sustainable waste disposal and clean and pleasant cities, towns and countryside.
What Labour will do
Waste and recycling
We will:
Establish a National Waste Management Agency, which will include a state authority for recycling charged with the development of recycling infrastructure and a market for recycled products.
Remove any charge for the collection of waste destined for recycling.
We believe that householders should be rewarded for making sound environmental choices.
We will introduce a National Waiver Scheme for domestic charges, which would be binding on local authorities and which would apply to low-income households, pensioners, large families and people with special needs.
Aim for every household in Ireland to recycle 50 per cent of their waste by 2012, rising to 75 per cent by 2020.
Establish a per capita target for municipal waste to encourage householders and local authorities prevent waste production.
Explore using anaerobic digestion for localised heat and energy production.
Price landfill and incineration so that recycling is the most economic option for waste disposal.
Explore the use of Mechanical Biological Treatment to deal with non-recyclable waste.
Require producers to assume responsibility for waste reduction at source through less and smarter packaging.
Explore the use of an environmental levy on hard-to-recycle products, such as disposable cameras, non-rechargeable batteries, white goods which do not have multi-annual repair warranties and multi-layered beverage cartons.
Water
Establish the right to clean, potable water under Irish law.
Bring forward legislation which will require local authorities to develop strategic water plans for their area.
Ensure that there is no privatisation of the public water supply, and no reintroduction of domestic water charges.
Accelerate investment in water treatment facilities.
Fully implement and enforce EU legislation, especially the Nitrates Directive, the WFD and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.
Increase monitoring of waters and prompt ongoing publication of data in a user-friendly manner, taking the bathing water reporting as a model.
Carry out a full public review of pressing water issues, including fluoride in water, water metering and decisions on water-related designations.
Seek better control of what enters waters, including cleaning agents, which kill sewage treatment organisms, and ban phosphates in washing powders.
Make the installation of low-flush option toilets mandatory in all new housing.
Clean communities
We will clamp down on environmental crime, including pollution, illegal dumping, littering and graffiti.
We will introduce new legislation to protect and enhance public space and the public’s right to enjoy it.
An expanding economy and growing population mean that unless we tackle our consumption patterns and disposal habits now, we will face some extremely hard choices over the coming years.
Biodiversity
Labour in government will:
Review Natura 2000 site protection and management with a view to having real management in place in at least 75 per cent of sites within a short time frame.
Set up Biodiversity Units in relevant government departments in line with a commitment given in the first NBP to ensure biodiversity is integrated early into plans, policies and actions.
Significantly increase native broad leaf species according to RIO 2000 and implement a Timber Policy that ensures timbers and wood-based products used in public buildings come from responsibly managed forests.
Coastal Zone Management
Labour in government will bring forward a National Coastal Zone Management Plan.
This plan will give local authorities defined functions for the protection of their coastal amenities and for the provision and maintenance of coastal infrastructure.
We will reform the legislation governing developments in the coastal zone.
We will pursue a policy aimed at maximising public access to our coastal amenities, protecting the coastal environment and supporting coastal communities.
Public Participation
We will:
Transpose the two EU directives guaranteeing citizen rights in relation to public participation and access to environmental information into Irish law and fully implement the same.
Ratify the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decisionmaking and access to justice in environmental matters.
Set up an Appeals Board to enable citizens to challenge dredging and other licenses granted at sea without having to go to the High Court.
Provide representation for environmental groups in key forums including the National Economic and Social Forum
and the national ‘Working Group on Public Participation’ under the Water Framework Directive.
Establish an Environmental Pillar in the social partnership process.
Environmental Education
All of our new model schools will incorporate lowenergy and environmentally-sustainable design features.
We will also work with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to incorporate environmental education and civic responsibility across the primary and second level curricula and into the ethos of education in Ireland.
Sellafield
Labour in government set in motion the first comprehensive and coordinated campaign against the British nuclear industry.
It was the work of a team of scientists and legal experts established when Labour was last in government which led to the British government refusing permission for the NIREX dump.
However, under the current administration that team of experts has been disbanded,
and the inter-ministerial working party on Sellafield downgraded.
Labour in government will reinvigorate the national campaign against Sellafield.
We will upgrade the Ministerial task force and resource the RPII to monitor the threat from Sellafield.
We will work with NGOs campaigning against Sellafield.
The threat from Sellafield and British nuclear power stations will be taken seriously, as opposed to the belated and confused approach of the outgoing government and its unfortunate Minister for nuclear emergencies.
A detailed and workable emergency plan will be drawn up with open public participation in the strategy process.
We will also legislate to comply with Ireland’s obligations under the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,
and will promote nuclear disarmament in international forums.
Protecting the environment is an investment in our quality of life.
Irish people have the right to free, clean drinking water, safe and sustainable waste disposal and clean and pleasant cities, towns and countryside.
COMMUNITY POLICING
The Challenge
Irish society has changed radically since the Garda Síochána was founded in 1922.
There are more crimes, more drug and alcohol abuse, more public order offences and more anti-social behaviour, making life a misery for so many citizens.
Whole communities – including some of our most marginalised communities – have suffered in their quality of life due to lawlessness, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
Yet despite the fact that growth in crime and antisocial behaviour – and, in particular, the impact of alcohol and illicit drugs on crime – have created new demands on policing, Ireland’s policing structures are virtually unchanged since the foundation of the state.
Our police force has a proud tradition of service,
both to the Irish people and to the communities they have served with the UN abroad.
But tradition alone will not provide the Irish people with the world class modern police service they deserve and which the Garda Síochána could provide.
The ingredients for such a world class system already exist, but the Gardaí are currently falling short of that goal, and there is a decline in public confidence in the force.
In a changing world there is an increasing need for the Garda Síochána to adapt and change, so that it can better serve the community.
The Garda Síochána must become a modern, effective police service
with a firm commitment to community policing, modern management structures and proper systems of accountability.
Ireland can do better People deserve to live in peace and safety, free from harassment, intimidation, vandalism and fear.
More Gardaí on the beat, working in communities they know serving people they know, can make a real impact on crime and anti-social behaviour.
What Labour will do
A Modern and Accountable Police Service
Labour believes we need more Gardaí on the ground – on the beat,patrolling our neighbourhoods.
This can only be achieved by speeding up the pace of reform within the Garda Síochána.
We need changes in structure, organisation management in order to ensure the most effectdeployment of the Gardaí and the most efficipossible use of resources.
In particular the situatwhere virtually all key decisions in regard to policare made by just two people – the Minister for Justand the Garda Commissioner – is no lonappropriate and new procedures for democraccountability are required.
We will reform our policing service from the top down and the bottom up.
At the top, we will ensure increased public scrutiny and greater accountability of the Gardaí through a new Garda Authority, representative of civil society, to stand between the Commissioner and his officers on the one hand, and the Minister for Justice and his Department on the other.
The Authority will incorporate the current Garda Inspectorate and will drive the reform agenda and drive efficiency and effectiveness.
Key objectives for the Authority will include:
■ Revising Garda rostering, so that Gardaí are on the streets where and when they are most needed.
■ Driving a comprehensive civilianisation programme, so that the maximum number of Gardaí are available for frontline duties.
■ Opening up senior Garda recruitment to external candidates and ensuring the best recruitment and promotion practices are operated.
■ Improving Garda diversity to reflect changes in Ireland’s population profile.
■ Using performance data from different Garda regions, districts and divisions, to drive innovation and initiative in tackling crime.
■ Top-heavy Garda management will be streamlined with greater responsibilities going to regional Assistant Commissioners to take powers in their own areas.
The Garda Commissioner will be expected to relinquish routine day-to-day affairs to Deputy Commissioners.
■ Garda equipment will be continually updated with essential items such as stab vests and pepper sprays.
People deserve to live in peace and safety, free from harassment, intimidation, vandalism and fear.
More Gardaí on the beat, working in communities they know serving people they know, can make a real impact on crime and anti-social behaviour.
More Gardaí visible in communities they know, serving people they know
Labour’s commitment is to a system of community policing where Gardaí participate in the community and respond to the needs of that community and where the community participates in its own policing and supports the Gardaí.
What Labour will do:
Triple the number of community Gardaí to 1500 within three years.
Place a much greater emphasis on community policing throughout the force, including recognition of the special status of the Community Garda.
This will involve a much greater physical presence on the ground – walking the beat, visible on public transport, visiting schools.
Community Gardaí will stay working in their communities for significant periods of time and will not be diverted from community duties at the drop of a hat.
Garda organisational structures will be amended to reflect a focus on community-based policing and an acknowledgement of the value of the Gardaí involved in it.
Community policing will be a serious career option for Gardaí, in which they can reasonably expect advancement.
Develop new community policing structures, through local policing forums in individual communities, to reconnect the Gardaí and local communities in a spirit of genuine partnership.
A successful community policing programme will mean that residents will be able to personally name their community Garda – the contact point responsible for the visible policing of their community.
A real commitment to visible and effective community policing will require the recruitment of additional Gardaí and not the diversion of serving members.
This will mean a policing service of at least 15,000 in the lifetime of the next government, even allowing for the numbers of existing Gardaí who are released back into core policing duties through greater civilianisation and more effective rostering.
Further increases in Garda numbers would follow from recommendations to government by the Garda Authority.
Increase recruitment from areas with the worst crime and anti-social behaviour and from minorities.
Garda training will be enhanced in key areas including: firearms training, driver training, legal training, urban crowd control, traffic management, human rights, domestic violence and sexual offences.
This will include shared training with members of the PSNI.
Training of Garda recruits will be reformed to include time spent in a mainstream third level institution, in an urban setting.
Anti-social behaviour
Our response to anti-social behaviour is not confined to just a policing plan.
We will:
Increase the number of Juvenile Liaison Officers
and increase the resources for the Probation & Welfare system.
Fund and commence all sections of the Children Act 2001.
Set up new sporting and leisure activities, particularly for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Extend the Drugs Court and a system of restorative justice that has proved so successful in dealing with young offenders in other jurisdictions.
Mandate the proposed Sport and Recreation Ireland  in partnership with the Department of Justice, the Garda and the probation service to develop physical activity programmes for young offenders,
including adventure/outward bound type programmes.
JUSTICE AND LAW REFORM
The Challenge
The scale and nature of criminal activity in Ireland is changing.
On the one hand, there has been a serious escalation in gangland crime.
We have seen the terrible death toll as drug gangs feud on our streets.
Sadly, as Labour had repeatedly warned, the innocent have become caught in the cross-fire.
We cannot, as a country, as a people, shrug our shoulders as the gangsters kill each other.
We cannot allow life to become cheap.
At the same time, Labour is all too aware of the damage done by anti-social behaviour.
We know the fear and intimidation suffered by the victims, who are often themselves vulnerable people.
Labour has always stood for civil rights.
But we must also stand with those who seek only the quiet enjoyment of their neighbourhood and their community.
Both the growth of gangland crime,
and the worsening problem of anti-social behaviour contribute to an undermining of confidence in the legal code and in the administration of justice.
They expose weaknesses in a justice system which is often antiquated, inaccessible, remote, and unresponsive to the needs of contemporary Ireland.
A comprehensive process of reform is required, including the courts, the prisons, the probation service and the system of juvenile justice.
Ireland can do better Labour is committed to ensuring that people can go about their daily lives, free from fear and harassment.
We are committed to reform of our legal and administrative structures to promote a secure, free, fair and just society.
What Labour will do
Organised crime, drugs and proceeds of crime
Effective policing is smart policing, using the tactics of the 21st Century to penetrate and bring down highly organised gangs of motivated and ruthless individuals.
Organised gangs thrive in a climate of fear.
It is this climate of fear and coercion that is the greatest stumbling block in tackling organised crime.
The Gardaí need the resources to assure innocent people under threat that their complaints will be dealt with thoroughly and in safety.
As proposed by the Court of Criminal Appeal, Labour in government will put an effective and reliable Garda witness protection programme on a proper statutory footing.
We will ensure that resources are available to have both the Criminal Assets Bureau
and Garda Regional Drugs Units operational on the ground throughout the country.
Juvenile Justice
We recognise a deepening public disquiet about the juvenile justice system.
Despite the dedication of many, it is a system that regularly fails the children who come in contact with it, deeply frustrates the professionals who work in it and unnecessarily exposes the wider community to criminal activity and anti-social behaviour.
The response to juvenile offending in Ireland is fragmented, uncoordinated and sometimes selfcontradictory.
It fails to provide at risk young people with constructive alternatives and opportunities in life so that they would not consider crime either feasible or desirable.
We will give the National Children’s Office, under the Minister for Children, a statutory mandate, responsibility and resources for youth justice.
It will co-ordinate a cohesive and organised service provision and will ensure that high standards of rights protection are maintained by all agencies including the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Health and Children, the Garda Síochána, the Probation and Welfare Service, the Courts Service, the Prison Service, the HSE and the Special Residential Services Board.
The National Children’s Office will have its own vote, its own accounting officer and have political accountability to its own Minister.
Child Detention Places
At times as many as 40 per cent of places in our child detention schools are occupied by children who have not been sentenced for a criminal offence but have been remanded there due to behaviour or emotional needs.
The misplacement of a significant proportion of the population results from the fact that many young people are placed not on the basis of need but on the basis of which places are available.
One of the main difficulties facing the juvenile justice system is recruiting and retaining suitable, qualified and experienced staff.
And the high level of staff turnover poses difficulties in creating a stable environment for the children.
Many justice and welfare centres are operating well below full capacity due to difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified and experienced staff.
Children Act
The Children Act 2001 is an important piece of progressive legislation.
The Children Act could have been a very significant stepping stone towards a better way of doing things but the reality is that there has been a complete failure to create an effective system to implement the Act.
The professional and other resources necessary to make implementation fully effective have not been made available.
What Labour will do:
Fully implement the Children Act 2001.
Invest resources in community and statutory services to adequately support the effective implementation of the Act.
Put in place appropriate and comprehensive support services and resource the HSE to fulfil its child protection functions in order to prevent children becoming involved in conflict with the law.
Allocate resources to provide rehabilitative and support services for children and young people with drug or alcohol problems and services for children and young people with mental health difficulties.
Introduce bail supervision and support schemes to avoid children committing crimes on bail
Give priority to the preventive elements of the 2001 Act and to the investment of resources in community and statutory services necessary to support these measures, including adequate staffing of the social welfare service.
Emphasise the resourcing of community-based, non-custodial options and the provision of community supervision services, step-down facilities and after-care services.
End the practice of placing non-offending children in facilities for offenders.
Children with severe emotional or behavioural problems should not be placed in facilities for offenders, including juvenile justice institutions or the adult prison system.
Correct the practice of misplacing children in Children Detention Schools.
Provide specialised community services (and if necessary residential services) to meet the needs of certain at-risk children and adolescents.
These children include those with learning disabilities, acute psychiatric illnesses, children requiring medically supervised detoxification for drug use, persistent school non-attendees and those at risk of leaving home.
Culturally appropriate prevention services are needed to tackle the disproportionate representation of children from the Travelling Community in detention.
Fill vacancies in the social work service to provide children with access to care and counselling services without delays.
Implement a drive to recruit and retain suitable, qualified and experienced staff.
A comprehensive process of reform is required, including the courts, the prisons, the probation service, and the system of juvenile justice.
Joyriding
In many estates and neighbourhoods residents still live in dread of so-called ‘joyriders’.
We will provide in law for an offence of joyriding: directing or participating in the unlawful taking of a vehicle for the purposes of dangerous driving in a public place.
And we will support and resource education and training programmes
and dedicated mentoring support aimed at this segment of the youth population.
Restorative justice also has its role, as well as community service orders.
The Courts
What Labour will do:
Legislate for a flexible mechanism for allocating cases, as between the Circuit and High (Central Criminal) Courts, to the court and venue best placed to ensure a fair and speedy trial.
Increase the number of judges available to hear criminal trials and we will reduce the summer vacation for the Circuit Court from its present 8 weeks.
In the Dublin area, we will put in place local district courts in each of the main areas of the city and county.
In this way, the local judges can build up an understanding of the impact of antisocial behaviour, including drug abuse and drug pushing, on local communities, get to know the offending families, acquire an appreciation of local needs in terms of the community sanctions and community service orders they impose and so discharge in a visible way their obligations to the community for the way they run its court.
Establish a full-time Court of Criminal Appeal and give it jurisdiction to hear appeals in bail cases.
Review the current structure of the Legal Aid system to improve access to the courts.
We believe that wherever possible child custody and access cases should be dealt with through mediation and that the state should develop appropriate mediation structures.
Introduce case management procedures for criminal trials including a preliminary hearing designed to resolve the issues which ought to be agreed in advance of trial.
This would include the need to:
Identify areas in which evidence should be agreed or admitted, including admission of expert reports
Identify any evidence which might require to be taken by video-link and to make arrangements for the taking of such evidence
Ascertain any other arrangements which may have to be made regarding information technology, use of interpreters or other facilities
Enable the determination of those types of issue of admissibility of evidence which are capable of being dealt with prior to trial
Receive and deal with a plea of guilty or fix a hearing for sentencing
Identify any issue of insanity or fitness to plead which may arise
Enable the court to establish the likely length of the trial
Cooperation by an accused – having received legal advice – with the objectives of the preliminary hearing will be recognised as a factor to which the court will give consideration when imposing sentence if there is a conviction, in the same way as it may take into account the stage at which a plea of guilty is made.
Sentences
The criminal courts show inconsistencies in their sentences.
This is because there are no sentencing guidelines for the judiciary and consequently no consistency between judges.
What Labour will do:
Introduce a new Sentencing Act, which will provide for sentencing guidelines, binding on the courts, to reduce the disparities between sentences handed down in similar cases.
The Act will specify aggravating and mitigating factors to be taken into account.
Putting the victim in fear of injury will be a serious aggravating factor in any offence against the person.
Judges will be required to give reasons for their sentences and for any departure from the guidelines in individual cases.
The DPP will be given the function of advising a court, by reference to the sentencing guidelines, as to the accepted range of appropriate sentences for the offence committed in the circumstances of the case.
Oblige all courts to give clear and adequate reasons for their decisions and to record in writing the reasons for decisions involving a custodial sentence.
Enact comprehensive legislation for the updating and indexation of fines in criminal statutes.
We will give effect to the principle of equality of impact, so that a fine may be increased for more affluent offenders and decreased for offenders of more limited means.
Information, databases, etc.
There is a surprising lack of accessible information on the case management process in our criminal justice system.
And the Gardaí, the courts and the prisons use different and incompatible counting systems.
We will create a national register of crime statistics, which will receive and process in a coherent and unified way the figures from all agencies involved in the criminal justice system, including a register of sentences.
Labour is committed to ensuring that people can go about their daily lives, free from fear and harassment.
We are committed to reform of our legal and administrative structures to promote a secure, free, fair and just society.
Prisons
Our prison system is antiquated, expensive and ineffective.
The reformation and rehabilitation of offenders is at best sporadic and at worst non-existent.
On a daily basis prisoners, many of them able-bodied and capable, walk aimlessly around prison yards or are locked up to lie in bed for over 17 out of every 24 hours.
Prison does nothing to prepare its inhabitants to lead a crime-free, socially responsible life.
What Labour will do:
Consolidate and modernise our prison legislation, much of which dates from the nineteenth century.
Both the Prisons Service and the Parole Board will be established by statute, independently of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Implement the recommendations of the National Economic and Social Forum Report on the Re-integration of Prisoners.
We will introduce a comprehensive rehabilitation programme of positive sentence management based on individual needs analysis and a planned programme for all first offenders.
This programme will:
Plan for reintegration as the norm
Provide personal and educational skills and fill any gaps in work, training, education, welfare etc.
Treat mental or physical health problems and addictions
Develop a special role for prison officers, the probation and welfare services and other training and education agencies
Provide strong links from custody to the wider community
Provide on-going support to former prisoners seeking and maintaining employment.
The jurisdiction of the Ombudsman will be extended to deal with complaints about the Prison Service.
Probation and Welfare Service
The Probation and Welfare Service continues to be under-staffed and under-resourced.
There are too many people in prison who don’t need to be there because the resources have not been made available to the probation service.
We will provide a statutory footing and operational independence for the Probation and Welfare Service
and we will give it a clearly defined role.
We will progressively increase staffing and resources in the Probation Service.
Both the growth of gangland crime, and the worsening problem of anti-social behaviour contribute to an undermining of confidence in the legal code and in the administration of justice.
Alternative sanctions
Community-based sanctions are significantly less costly to implement than custodial sentences.
Implementing community service orders costs about one-third of the cost to the public of implementing the custodial sentences that might otherwise be imposed.
What Labour will do:
We will repeal the outdated and inadequate Probation of Offenders Act 1907
and we will enact new legislation to provide for a statutory institutional framework for the Service and additional non-custodial sanctions.
We will give the courts system the widest possible scope to make appropriate sentences, including restorative justice measures, probation and welfare services, and formal cautioning.
Ensure that offenders can be placed under a probation supervision order, under which conditions such as a curfew or staying away from certain areas can be attached.
If offenders are not fully compliant, a term of imprisonment can be activated.
They can also be sentenced to community service orders.
Under these, an individual can be ordered to do up to 240 hours of community work.
Ensure that those brought before the courts can also be ordered to undergo treatment for drugs or alcohol addiction.
In the case of sex offenders, particularly those involved in internet child pornography, they can be ordered to participate in long-term therapy such as that offered by the Dublin-based Granada Institute.
We strongly favour restorative justice programmes and Community Service Orders.
These should involve young offenders being required to confront the implications of their actions for the community, and where possible to be involved in cleaning up after those who have been involved in anti-social activity.
■  We also strongly support the concept underlying the Drug Referral Programme.
There are currently only two community-based pilot reparation programmes in Ireland.
Victims of crime
Victims of crime are still treated by the criminal justice system as just another potential witness.
We will:
Ensure that victims and their needs are at the heart of the justice process and that their rights to information, advice and other appropriate assistance are met effectively and efficiently.
Oblige Gardaí to maintain adequate contact, through identified liaison officers, with victims of crime and to report progress on the investigation and on the prosecution.
Establish a Victims’ Compensation Fund, to award compensation to victims of crime outside the normal loss and expense that individuals and businesses are normally insured against.
The expenses of the Fund will be met by fines paid by offenders.
Work towards a new protocol for communications by the DPP with victims of crime, so as to improve the responsiveness of that office.
We will enhance public confidence in the prosecutorial system through a system of dialogue between the DPP and the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, on general issues of prosecution policy.
Judicial conduct and training
It is necessary, in order to safeguard judicial independence, that judges who may be involved in issues of major controversy against the interests of the Executive are not answerable on a day-to-day basis to the government or the Oireachtas.
We claim the entitlement to remove a judge from office only where standards are breached that have serious consequences for public confidence in the administration of justice.
We will:
Legislate for a reformed, speedy and efficient procedure to secure judicial accountability, bearing in mind a proper respect for the independence of the courts and the separation of powers under our Constitution.
Introduce a code of judicial conduct and ethics, to be policed by the judges with professional and lay participation in an open, transparent manner that serves public confidence, in relation to matters that fall short of “impeachable” misbehaviour.
Enhance the existing minimal provisions for formal training and continuing education for judges.
Other law reforms
We will enact a Defamation Bill to reform the law of libel and slander.
We will review the necessity for a counterbalancing Privacy Bill when the defamation bill is enacted and when the effects of the Bill in practice have been fully examined.
Comprehensive regulation of charities will be introduced as a priority.
We will introduce reforms of the law of contempt of court, including protection for journalists’ sources in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.
We will legislate for post-mortem procedures and organ retention practice as recommended by the Madden Report on Post Mortem Practices and Procedures.
We will legislate for  a fair, transparent and clear cut system for human organ donation and consent procedures, so as to improve the availability of organs for patients in desparate need on waiting lists for transplants.
We will legislate to provide clarity on issues of human fertility within the context of existing constitutional provisions.
On the issue of abortion, we will legislate in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment in the X Case.
Amendments to the Constitution
In addition to the all-party commitment made for a referendum on the rights of the child, Labour favours the practice of incremental constitutional reform, in tandem with local, European and general elections.
Within that time frame, our priorities include:
An amendment to permit polling at local, European and general elections to be held over two days, e.g. a Saturday and Sunday, rather than being confined to one as at present.
Replacing the outdated provisions dealing with the place of women in the home with a genderneutral provision on the role of family members and carers who work in the home.
A new provision on the rights of persons with disabilities.
An amendment replacing the present excessively restrictive rules against revealing discussions that took place at government meetings, in favour of a more open provision.
ACHIEVING FULL CITIZENSHIP FOR ALL
The Challenge
The Labour Party has a long and proud record of driving the equality agenda in Ireland.
From decriminalising homosexual relations to providing for the availability of contraceptives and divorce, to legislating for women’s equality in the workplace, to the passing of employment equality and equal status legislation,
Labour has led the fight for an equal Ireland.
However, the fight for effective and practical equality and human dignity for everyone is not yet won.
More than 30 years after it became a statutory entitlement, the pay gap between men and women has yet to be bridged.
Large sectors of the economy still depend on low-paid, often part-time ‘women’s work’.
Care for others – particularly care in the home– continues to be undervalued, enabling the state to obtain social services on the cheap, at the expense of one gender and to the benefit of the other.
Women continue to be under-represented – if they are there at all – in decision-making arenas.
The government target of a minimum 40 per cent of each gender on State boards has not been realised.
The percentage of women in the Dáil has plateaued at 13 per cent and only one-fifth of local councillors are women.
People with disabilities must also be enabled to participate fully in society.
Yet current legislation does not recognise the right of disabled people to a similar standard of living as could reasonably be expected by any other citizen of the state.
Our disability legislation creates no entitlements, other than an entitlement to be assessed as to one’s needs, and it places no obligation on the state to meet those needs.
As a result, persons with disabilities and their families are cast back on the cap-in-hand, hand-to-mouth provision of services, unable to plan for their long-term future.
More generally, changes in Irish society and the lives of its citizens have fast outpaced the law which is supposed to serve and protect them.
There are currently over 120,000 cohabiting heterosexual unmarried couples and more than 2,000 gay couples in Ireland.
They have no automatic rights of inheritance, no rights if their partner is sick and needs treatment and no right to apply to adopt, simply because they are not married.
This discrimination is particularly acute in relation to gay couples, who do not have the right to marry even if they would like to.
The fact that legal protection is largely confined to traditional family units does not stop other kinds of families from getting on with their lives, but it places them under significantstrain.
We believe that the statehas a duty to these families and others suffering from the effects of inequality in our society.
Ireland can do better The Labour Party is committed to the vision of its founder James Connolly: ‘to close the gap between what is and what ought to be’.
We can make Ireland a fairer society through reform of our laws and through using the resources available to us to improve the quality of life for those who have suffered from historic and entrenched discrimination and disadvantage.
What Labour will do
Disability
Labour remains committed to an approach based on rights, equality and participation.
We will work to vindicate the rights of people with
disabilities to education, health, housing and work and to participate in an inclusive manner in the economic, social and cultural life of the community.
People with a disability are entitled to a strong, enforceable legal right
to an assessment of their needs in relation to education, healthcare, training and residential services.
That right must be underpinned by the resources to ensure that waiting lists are tackled quickly, in a planned way and in proper consultation.
Our central policy commitment is short, specific and, we believe, will effect a radical change.
What Labour will do:
At present, individual assessments of the needs of persons with a disability are ongoing.
These assessments of need will be expedited and completed.
At the end of a two year period, the information extracted from these assessments will have been compiled into a national database of disability needs.
The database information will be costed, in a process that is objective and independent and in which all stakeholders can have confidence.
Labour in government will use these independently arrived at costing figures to commit the necessary resources to deliver the level of service that each individual is entitled to under his or her own assessment of need.
Allowing for inflation and for a necessary lead-in period to deliver new services and enhance existing ones, a comprehensive five year plan will be published.
The funds necessary to deliver on this comprehensive plan will be withdrawn from the annual Estimates and Budget procedure and, for the duration of the plan, will be charged directly on the Central Fund as an ongoing statutory commitment and entitlement.
We are committed to ensuring that public transport is made wheel chair accessible.
And we will ensure that taxi drivers who have benefited from reductions in VAT and VRT for the purchase of wheelchair accessible taxis actually provide the service for which they were given these tax concessions, by making themselves available to wheelchair users when requested.
We will review the stringent regulations governing the disabled drivers and disabled passengers tax concessions.
We will carry out a root and branch review of the building regulations, which are completely unsuitable for the needs of people with disabilities,
and of the measures to ensure compliance with those regulations.
We aim to ensure that at least 3 per cent of all new houses and apartments are suited to the needs of an ageing population and of persons with a disability.
As part of this approach, Labour in government will recognise the philosophy of “Independent Living” for people with disabilities.
Independent living means practical measures to enable a person with a disability to make his or her own arrangements for personal assistance, transport, access, and so on.
Independent Living measures include enabling people with disabilities to employ personal assistants and so take control of their own lives.
Funding for independent living means resourcing people with disabilities, and tailoring services to meet individual requirements.
Gay Rights
Labour’s Civil Union Bill was defeated by the present government parties.
In government, Labour will reintroduce and enact this legislation.
The Bill will create a status relationship equivalent to marriage for the benefit of people who are of the same sex and who, under the current constitutional understanding of marriage, cannot marry each other.
In most respects, the same rules that apply to marriage will apply to civil unions.
Partners in a civil union will have the same rights, privileges and benefits and be subject to the same obligations, penalties and other sanctions as those that apply to spouses in a marriage.
They will also be responsible for the support of one another and for any dependent child to the same degree and in the same manner as married persons.
The Bill provides that parties to a civil union who are living together may apply to adopt a child.
The Bill also states that all adoption decisions must be made in the best long-term interests of the child.
Our objective, in due course, is to bring about constitutional change to provide for full equality between heterosexual and homosexual couples.
In addition, Labour will take a number of measures to improve the position and well-being of lesbian, gay and transgendered citizens in our society.
We will:
Put in place policies to tackle homophobic bullying in our second level education system.
Amend employment equality legislation to prohibit schools from discriminating against their employees on the grounds of sexual orientation or marital status.
Introduce a gender recognition act to provide transgendered people with the right to realise their gender identity.
Introduce a gay and lesbian strand to the National Anti-Poverty Strategy based on updated research on poverty issues among gay and lesbian people.
Provide for a lesbian and gay communitybuilding framework within the Pobal Strategic Plan
and amend the legislation governing Community Development Projects to allow for non-locality based community projects.
Appoint an official in the Department of Health to have responsibility for advising the Minister on LGBT health issues and for liaising with the LGBT community on same.
We are committed to on-going funding of gay HIV strategies.
Create a national LGBT monitoring and advisory committee, under the aegis of a relevant government department
Rights of the Child
Labour shares the commitment of all political parties to put to the people, as an immediate priority, an appropriate constitutional amendment to enshrine in explicit form the rights of the child.
The wording will reflect the special vulnerabilities and dependencies of children and the consequent obligations owed to them, both by their families and by the State,
and will conform to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Labour is also committed, within 12 months of entering office, to bring all child protection legislation, including the Children Act 2001, finally into force and to adequately resourcing that legislation.
Irish-born emigrants
In harsher times Irish emigrants made a vital difference to those left behind, yet they have been sorely neglected by the State.
In particular, the generation who sent back the equivalent of €3.5 billion in remittances during the 1950s and 1960s deserve to be cared for and assisted in their retirement.
We are committed to providing greater assistance and support to Irish emigrants, particularly those who have fallen on hard times.
It is right and fair that we extend our duty of care and responsibility to these Irish-born citizens.
In government we will implement the government’s Taskforce on Policy Regarding Emigrants in full.
In particular, we will:
Establish an Agency for the Irish Abroad.
Support emigrant representation in the Seanad for Irish communities oversees.
Expand the President’s Gift on Reaching Age 100 to all Irish born citizens provided they can supply a valid birth or baptismal certificate.
Mandate RTÉ to broadcast in the UK.
Significantly increase funding allocations for services to the Irish abroad, particularly those experiencing hardship.
Allow emigrant representative groups representing Irish-born citizens abroad to apply to the Dormant Accounts Disbursement Board for funding.
Work to improve services to Irish-born female emigrants.
Lobby the US government to legalise the position of illegal Irish immigrants in the US while expanding opportunities for US citizens to live and work in Ireland.
Ensure all Irish-born emigrant pensioners who return to live in Ireland receive social welfare entitlements equal to those enjoyed by Irish pensioners.
Increase support for Irish-born citizens living overseas who wish to return either permanently or on holidays to Ireland.
Ensure all Irish-born emigrant pensioners have the right to free travel on public transport in Ireland.
Gender Equality
What Labour will do:
Labour is committed to ensuring that state bodies and agencies achieve at least 40 per cent representation of each gender on their boards and governing bodies.
We will give statutory force to that objective and we will ensure that the social partners and other nominating bodies are bound by the same target.
We will tie public funding for political parties to the level of participation by women as public representatives those parties achieve.
Demanding targets for all parties – including our own – will be set out in legislation.
Payments to a qualified party under the Electoral Act will be reduced unless at least 33 per cent of its candidates are women.
That 33 per cent target figure will apply to elections taking place from 2012, and will be increased to 40 per cent from 2019.
Provision will be made for circumstances where a high proportion of candidates elected are women.
We believe that it is in the public interest that public and private organisations are transparent in their recruitment and remuneration policies as they pertain to male and female staff.
To aid this policy, we will require large public bodies and large private companies to publish the average whole time equivalent salary for male and female members of staff on an annual basis.
Domestic Violence and Violence Against Women
The insidious and increasing prevalence of domestic violence and violence against women continues to be one of the most critical issues confronting Irish society.
We are committed to tackling and eradicating domestic violence and violence against women.
This means an integrated response tackling domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, prostitution, trafficking and pornography through providing supports and safety for the woman,
holding accountable and sanctioning the perpetrator and those who gain economically from the abuse and commodification of women,
and giving political leadership in Irish society by holding the State ultimately responsible for the safety of women.
Our first priority is a commitment to adequate and guaranteed funding for frontline services.
It is totally unacceptable that women in emergency need throughout the country do no have access to support, help and counselling.
Labour in government will address this deficit.
We will provide, where missing, and upgrade, where inadequate, the physical infrastructure of appropriate refuges and places of safety.
A second immediate priority is reform of the courts system, civil and criminal, learning from best international experience.
We will ensure appropriate locations and adequate time are provided, with dedicated and experienced judges to deal with domestic violence cases.
Foremost among necessary court reforms is the need to tackle the delay in hearing cases and to have ready access to the courts for urgent applications, regardless of where in Ireland the applicant lives.
We will improve Garda training in the handling of domestic abuse cases and ensure swifter penalties for the breach of barring orders.
We will legislate in Ireland and work with our European partners to tackle human trafficking.
We will develop integrated responses to sex trafficking which do not distinguish between a ‘free’ or ‘forced’ entry route into prostitution and which do not carry the threat of forced repatriation to country of origin.
■  Given the interconnections between prostitution, trafficking and organised crime, the potential for sustained economic and fiscal sanctions for organisers and traffickers based on the Criminal Assets Bureau model will be investgated.
Non-marital families
Labour accepts of course that the traditional family continues to contribute enormously to the common good and that it should be given special protection in the Constitution.
However, while married life and family life are, for many people, clearly connected, it is equally clear that family life and married life are not in modern conditions either identical or inextricably linked.
We believe that other forms of family life can and should be given constitutional recognition and protection.
We see no conflict in proposing that the Constitution should recognise family life in general while giving special protection to the family based on marriage.
This is the approach that was favoured by the Constitution Review Group, which reported in 1996.
That group recommended that the State should guarantee to all individuals respect for their family life “whether based on marriage or not”.
We endorse, and will act upon, those recommendations first made in 1996.
A referendum on the rights of the child will also make it clear that the Constitution’s recognition of “The Family” – parents and children living together – extends to nonmarital families.
As between cohabiting couples, Labour will act on the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission and the Colley Report to ensure that, although these couples have opted not to get married and so have opted out of the full system of mutual rights and obligations that govern marriage, the tax and social welfare codes and property and succession laws are suitably adapted in recognition and support of long-term relationships.
We will modernise the legal framework governing rights and responsiblities of unmarried fathers.
Travellers
Travellers are native to Ireland; they have been part of Irish society for centuries.
They have historically been marginalised and, as a result, the Traveller population experiences institutionalised deprivation and higher likelihoods of poor education, poor health, poor living conditions, poor relations with the law, unemployability and a markedly poor life expectancy.
Labour is convinced that, working in a spirit of mutual respect, the difficulties encountered by a population of around 30,000 individuals are neither inevitable nor insurmountable.
There is no shortage of policies, programmes and plans to deal with the issues, either in general terms or in relation to specifics.
What is lacking is the political will to drive these programmes forward.
And a commitment to deliver them in partnership and co-responsibility with Travellers themselves, rather than handing them down from on high.
■  Labour in government will establish a National Office for Travellers’ Affairs, similar to the National Children’s Office.
The National Office will have responsibility for drawing together and overseeing delivery in relation to the various Traveller-specific programmes and plans of individual government Departments, agencies and local authorities (for example, the Travellers’ health programmes of the HSE, the Travellers’ education programmes of the Department of Education).
The Office will hold bodies to account for their failure to draw up plans, failure to allocate resources to those plans or failure to deliver on their plans.
Where a Department or agency is in default of its obligations, the Office will have statutory power to take over the Budgets and the executive and financial responsibilities of those bodies and to direct officials to carry out official plans within stated and specific timescales.
The National Office and representative Traveller bodies will also be responsible for promoting relations between Travellers and other members of the community, to ensure that rights are accompanied by a recognition of corresponding responsibilities, on both sides of the community.
We can make Ireland a fairer society through reform of our laws and through using the resources available to us to improve the quality of life for those who have suffered from historic and entrenched discrimination and disadvantage.
CHERISHING CHILDHOOD
The Challenge
Childhood is precious.
Childhood is the time when children begin to encounter the world and learn how to learn.
Childhood should be a safe and protected time, when every child is nurtured and allowed to develop to the fullness of their human potential.
Yet, as a country, our record of protecting children and childhood is poor.
We have a terrible legacy of institutional and other abuse, with which our society must still cope,
and we have not yet established the Rights of Children in our constitution.
One in every nine children lives in poverty.
As the children’s author, J. K. Rowling has written “Poverty is a bad place to live on your own, but the worst place on earth if you have a child with you”.
Child poverty results in incalculable loss of human potential,
and stores up problems for which society continues to pay for decades.
There are deep deficiencies in our health service that severely affect children.
Across a range of areas, the provision of health services, including mental health, operates on an emergency basis, rather than on a preventative base.
We repeatedly fail to tackle problems before they become acute, whether it be in terms of basic developmental checks, or the provision of a child psychology service in our schools.
Irish children suffer from some of the worst rates of alcohol and drug abuse in Europe.
Suicide among children and young adults is a growing reality of Irish life.
Childcare policy, in so far as it exists, is work-focused, rather than child focused.
Our society places too much strain on the families of young children, to balance the need to earn a living and still have time for each other.
There is no structured system of preschool education and the schools to which we send our children are under-resourced, over-crowded and poorly designed.
That protected space of childhood is being encroached on by pressures of commercialism, including the premature sexualisation of young people.
Family life is under the increasing strain of longer commutes and less time at home, which places strains on both parents and children.
Sport, recreation and play are central parts of a child’s life, just as is the development of artistic ability and awareness.
Again, provision in these areas has a long way to go before Ireland can claim to be offering the best to our children.
Ireland can do better Ireland can and should be the best place in the world to be a child.
An Irish childhood should mean protection and security, nurturing and opportunity.
Irish children should benefit from every possible educational and developmental opportunity, and we should not wait until problems become acute before we help a child.
What Labour will do
Constitutional Change
Labour shares the commitment of all political parties to put to the people, as a priority, an appropriate constitutional amendment to enshrine in explicit form the rights of the child.
The wording will reflect the special vulnerabilities and dependencies of children and the consequent obligations owed to them, both by their families and by the State, and will conform to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Labour is also committed, within 12 months of entering office, to bring all child protection legislation, including the Children Act 2001, finally into force and to adequately resourcing that legislation.
Social welfare proposals for children
Child poverty leads to an incalculable loss of human potential.
We will:
In the context of developing policy on support for families with children, including the early years subsidy, FIS and CDAs, we will examine reform options including a supplementary child benefit.
We will substantially improve rates of payment under the Back to School allowance scheme, introduct a once-off payment for children entering second level education and review the income limits.
Restructure support for one-parent families to enable those parenting alone to meet their obligations, support themselves in work and, if they choose, form sustainable relationships.
Broadcasting And Advertising
Labour believes it is inappropriate for advertisers to target children, particularly where the advertising is promoting goods such as fast food which may be injurious to a child’s well being.
Children are entitled to a childhood that is, as far as practical, free from commercial pressures.
Accordingly, Labour will:
Mandate RTÉ to provide a number of periods of children’s programming during the day when there would be no advertising.
Work at European level towards a ban on advertising aimed at children
Prevent schools from becoming vehicles for commercial advertising.
We will introduce a code of practice for schools to restrict this form of activity.
Childhood should be a safe and protected time, when every child is nurtured and allowed to develop to the fullness of their human potential.
Childcare and Pre-school Education
Labour is committed to the creation of a national child-centred learning-focused system of childcare and pre-school education which supports parental choice, and which puts children first.
Our proposals fall under five headings:
Pre-school education
■  Provide one year of free pre-school education (five half days per week) for every child.
Time to be a Parent
Move towards paid Parental Leave, modelled on Maternity Benefit, for up to one year, with an option for fathers to take part of that time.
A legal right to take up to three years career break.
We will explore appropriate fiscal support for employers.
A right to part-time work, subject to reasonable conditions.
Meeting the Cost to Parents
■  We will progressively increase early childhood payments so that families receive €50 per week per child, from expiration of maternity leave to the child entering state-subsidised preschool,
and €25 per week when the child is in their pre-school year and in primary school.
Childcare Places
Work with providers to expand the number of childcare places.
Provide childcare facilities established and run directly by the state, or other non-profit entities.
Ensure that childcare facilities are integrated into plans for residential developments.
Where possible develop childcare facilities at or near primary schools.
Build childcare and early education facilities into plans for new primary schools.
Increase support for childcare centres in disadvantaged areas.
Promote supervised after-school activities in schools and a wide range of positive afterschool options for children.
Ensure adequate provision of primary school places, to prevent feedback of pressure on childcare places.
Enhancing Quality
Develop standards for childcare which include developmental and educational goals, not just bricks and mortar regulations.
Require registration of all childcare facilities and providers, including for over-6s, as the basis on which there can be positive engagement to enhance skills.
Promote the registration of childminders, and awareness of the income disregard scheme, to provide a basis for positive engagement to enhance the quality of childminding.
Develop outreach services to enhance the skills of childcare workers and childminders, linked to resource centres supporting networks of childminders.
Require care-settings to include outdoor play areas.
Develop an inspectorate of facilities comprised of childcare professionals.
Develop a system of information and consultation with parents.
Develop a quality-mark system for childcare facilities.
Garda clearance for all childcare staff.
Health Care for Children
Access to health care is a real issue for children.
In general, there is a failure to develop early warning systems and preventative approaches, and there are deep inequalities in access to healthcare among children of different backgrounds.
Labour favours more focus on early diagnosis of developmental and health problems (including mental health), and speedy action to cut waiting lists for children.
We will:
Provide free health insurance for every child up to age 16.
Provide a GP visit card to all children up to age 5.
Extend medical eligibility to 40 per cent of the population, increasing income thresholds so as to favour families with children.
Ensure that the necessary specialists are recruited to bring provision for all children up to the highest standard.
Ensure adequate numbers of public health nurses are in place to carry out routine developmental checks for all children at appropriate stages.
Increase the number of national educational psychologists to 400 within the first term of government and allocate a full-time educational psychologist to schools on a clustering basis.
Act to solve the crisis in child and adolescent psychiatric services by increasing specialist out-patient teams by 50 per cent and bringing established teams up to the recommended staffing complement.
Ensure early intervention including a Youth Mental Health Initiative aimed at teachers and other adults who have frequent contact with young people.
Develop specialist child and adolescent intellectual disability services, establish specialist eating disorder services, develop multi-disciplinary teams nationally to deal with addiction and increase the in-patient facilities to meet the needs of the 0-15 year-old age group and the in-patient needs of the 16-17 year-old age group.
■  Tackle childhood obesity through education and measures to promote sport and exercise.
Art and Sport For Kids
A comprehensive programme for investment and reform in our schools is outlined elsewhere in this document.
But learning is not confined to the formal curriculum.
Children also benefit enormously from sporting and artistic activities which take place in the school, or a club, or in their local community.
Labour is determined to support these activities.
Our proposals on the Arts and Sport are set out in detail elsewhere in this manifesto.
Particular measures of relevance to children include:
Vouchers for music lessons at primary level to ensure where practicable, 30 hours of free tuition by qualified teachers is available to all students during one designated year.
Coordinated strategies for Youth Arts development between relevant government departments and agencies.
Making PE a Junior and Leaving Cert Subject, with points for college entry.
Continued expansion of the number of community playgrounds.
Youth Initiative
Labour is committed to giving all our young people the best chance in life.
What young people do in their free time has significant implications for their development as adults.
Labour is proposing to establish after-school and summer recreation programmes for young people.
These programmes will offer young people the opportunity to engage in positive and constructive activities during their spare time.
It is also hoped that these activity programmes will function as youth diversionary programmes,
deterring young people from becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour.
What we will do:
Establish arts and sports-based after-school and summer recreation programmes
which will provide diversionary and supervised activities for young people.
School buildings will serve an important function as the focal point and primary location for many of the the youth schemes, providing halls, basketball courts, pitches/fields etc.
We will address insurance costs by embarking on a broad review of the school insurance system.
In addition to school facilities, the schemes will work in partnership with local community sports clubs, making use of facilities such as GAA, soccer and rugby pitches, tennis courts and swimming-pools.
The schemes will be staffed in part by thirdlevel students in a system similar to the Student Summer Job Scheme that ran successfully from 1993 to 2002.
In addition to third-level students, the schemes will employ a small number of more senior staff experienced in working with children or in sports organisations to manage each individual programme.
The schemes will be run at a local government level.
Labour will appoint a full-time youth recreation co-ordinator for each local authority.
The main responsibility of the post will be to co-ordinate the schedule; employ staff; and liaise with school representatives, local sports clubs, the Gardaí and other relevant parties in designing and running activities.
Labour will ensure that schemes are attended by adolescents from a wide range of social backgrounds.
We will tailor activities to meet the interests of young people
by consulting with young people prior to setting up the scheme and during operation of the scheme.
The schemes will include a wide range of sports and activities to appeal to boys and girls of different ages.
Youth Work
Labour will ensure the full and complete rolling out of the 2001 Youth Work Act and the 2003-2007 National Youth Work Development Plan.
We will support a new Youth Work Development Plan for 2007-2011.
We are committed to a vibrant and active voluntary youth work sector.
We want to see an enhanced partnership between local voluntary youth services and VECs based on mutual trust and a shared vision.
In particular we will support this model by:
Developing quality, relevant and accessible facilities and services for young people.
There should be a quality multi-purpose youth facility in every major urban centre with more than 5,000 people.
Combining relevant funding from Youth Affairs, Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund, other exchequer sources, local authority funding, private sector capital, philanthropic funds and new public resources where necessary to support these quality facilities and services.
Providing for properly resourced staff to run facilities and services.
Using resources from the above to create for the first time a capital fund for youth work and youth services at local level.
AN AGE FRIENDLY SOCIETY
The Challenge
Ireland faces a demographic revolution for which it is largely unprepared.
Over the coming decades the number of citizens aged over 65 is set to double, while the number of those living beyond 85 will treble.
Advances in medicine, diet and incomes have transformed the nature of old age, but they have also changed our expectations of it.
Senior citizens are more active, remain independent for longer and expect to partake fully in society.
Yet society has failed to respond to these changes with public policies capable of meeting these new expectations and satisfying these needs.
The increased longevity of our population is a cause for celebration.
This is not a problem, but rather an opportunity.
It is an opportunity for our older citizens to avail of activities, opportunities and resources that they did not have before and it is an opportunity for society as a whole to avail of their wisdom, skills and resources.
Among the primary requirements for the enjoyment of the older years are adequate incomes and good health services, including long-term care.
While virtually all older people want to continue to live in their own homes,
and the vast majority succeeds in doing so, Ireland lacks a coherent and rational system for supporting those who can stay at home, and caring for those who cannot.
Older people face particular forms of discrimination and are often treated as invisible by the state and by wider society.
In a world that can be heavily youthfocused, the contribution that older people make must be recognised.
However, we should go beyond simply giving our senior citizens their due to ask what we can do to actively improve their quality of life.
We need to move the debate about aging on from health and maintenance alone to how older people can be enabled to make the best of their senior years.
Our challenge is to create An Age Friendly Society.
To succeed, we need to introduce fundamental change across the full spectrum of public policy.
Ireland can do better The Labour Party wants to create an Age Friendly Society which ensures that our older citizens are able to enjoy the prosperity that they have created, the security to which they are entitled and the care and services they require, and can play a full part in the life of the community.
What Labour will do
An Age Friendly Society
It is the responsibility of government to create An Age Friendly Society as recommended by the Council on Ageing and Older People.
Labour’s strategy for senior citizens will be founded on the UN Principles for Older Persons: Independence, Participation, Care, Self-fulfilment and Dignity.
Older-Friendly Government
Improving and enhancing the lives of our older citizens requires a whole of government approach.
We will establish an Office for Senior Citizens, similar in design to the Office for Children, to address issues relating to aging from a ‘whole of government’ perspective.
There are few groups in society more vulnerable, or dependent on others to assert rights on their behalf, than older people.
We will establish an ombudsman for older people
We will end discrimination against older people, including:
We will ensure that upper age limits do not apply to screening services.
We will implement a programme of training in the health services to ensure that older people are not treated in a discriminatory manner.
We will change the legislation which prevents people aged 70 and over from serving on juries.
Everyone will be eligible to serve but people over 65 will be excusable as of right.
We will change other legislation which imposes an upper age limit on people serving on certain state boards.
Income Adequacy
Older people, like all others, need an adequate income in order to avoid poverty and to enjoy a good quality of life.
The State Pension needs to be significantly enhanced in order to provide older people with an adequate income.
What Labour will do:
Raise the level of the State non-Contributory pension to €300 by 2012.
Introduce a National Waiver Scheme to meet the cost of service charges in all areas – this would replace the current waiver scheme and also provide assistance to those people who cannot avail of the waiver scheme because the services are provided by private companies.
Allow non-contributory pensioners to earn money from self-employment as well as employment without affecting their pension.
Provide specific training programmes for older people who wish to work or be self-employed.
We will introduce a more flexible approach to retirement so that those who wish to work beyond 65, and are capable of doing so, will have a statutory entitlement to protection against being required to retire on grounds of age subject to necessary exceptions (e. g. in defence and security).
Active Aging and Full Participation
Older people are entitled to live active lives, to avail of opportunities for education and personal development,
and to play a full part in the life of the community.
Labour will:
Develop an ‘Out And About’ €1 ticket scheme, which will allow people over 65 access to sporting and cultural venues.
We will include relevant state-supported cultural venues, and invite major sporting organisations to participate.
Our goal is to provide older people with access to theatres, concert venues, sports stadia for €1.
Bringing the scheme into operation will require negotiation with major sporting and cultural organisations, but we believe they will appreciate the benefits to them of such a scheme.
Many seniors are anxious to continue to contribute their time, energy, skills and wisdom to their community and to their country.
We will issue a call to service to all people over 65 years who wish to give of their time and skills, individually or in groups,
and will establish a national database of older volunteers which can be accessed by voluntary organisations and NGOs, who will in turn be encouraged to call on the skills of older people.
We will put in place a specific access to education programme for those older people who wish to avail of it.
We will help voluntary organisations to arrange transport and other facilities to enable older people to avail of the opportunities provided by sports and culture programmes.
Personal Protection
We will introduce a number of measures to address the problems of elder abuse
and to ensure protection for vulnerable adults.
The vast majority of older people are able to make and implement their own decisions and they do not need any special protection.
A minority does need protection and they are not adequately catered for at present.
They need protection from abuse whether it is physical, mental, sexual or financial.
We will put in place a protection system for vulnerable older people, including those who may be subject to physical, emotional, sexual or financial abuse.
We will also introduce substitute decision making and protection arrangements for vulnerable adults along the lines of the proposals put forward by the Law Reform Commission.
This means that adults who are unable to make decisions may have adult guardians appointed to make decisions on their behalf.
There will be an overall supervisory Public Guardian system to ensure that vulnerable adults are protected.
This system will also supervise social welfare agency arrangements.
Special protections will be provided for people in long stay care.
Our challenge is to create An Age Friendly Society.
To succeed, we need to introduce fundamental change across the full spectrum of public policy.
Long term Care
Long term care arrangements for older people in Ireland are unplanned, inadequate, inequitable and under-funded.
People who are in need of care, and especially those who have to leave their homes and go into long stay institutional care, are among the most vulnerable members of our society.
A civilised society which respects human rights and promotes human dignity should be judged on the way care is provided for the elderly
and on the quality of life provided by the care system.
What Labour will do:
Provide at least 1500 public long stay beds immediately, 600 of them in Dublin.
Provide for an assessment of need leading to an individual care plan, based either on enabling a person to live at home with appropriate adaptations and/or supports, which includes financial supports and respite care, or on providing  a supported living arrangement.
Equivalent financial arrangements should be made for people who need care and who live at home as for people who go into long stay care.
These arrangements will be transparent and equitable.
Legislate for the right to core community care services, such as home nursing, care assistant and home help services.
Integrate community care and housing policies so that older people may have a range of residential options and supported living arrangements, including staying in their own homes with adaptations if necessary, sheltered housing, community homes and public and private nursing homes.
Ensure that all care facilities, public and private, are subject to stringent quality control, through the establishment of a Patient Safety Authority.
Ensure that all senior citizens are involved in decisions about their care.
Put in place a system of substitute decision making for older people who are unable to make decisions for themselves.
Continue the provision of free GP services to the over 70s.
We will also expand the number of medical cards to cover 40 per cent of the population, which will ensure that a much greater number of older people will be eligible for a medical card.
Tackle the deficiencies in the availability of Home Care Nurses, care assistants and home helps.
We will abolish the means test for carers.
Introduce tight regulation over equity release schemes, and provide independent advice, through the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, on the rights and options of seniors who own property.
Financing of Care
It is clear that only a small proportion of older people who need extensive care can afford to pay for this service from their own resources.
Labour believes that the medical and nursing element of long-term care should be free of charge, as it would be to an older person with any other medical condition.
We consider that those who can afford to do so should be required to pay for, or contribute towards, the cost of their personal care and maintenance.
This should be subject to the person having an income for personal needs which is consistent with human dignity.
We do not consider that family members other than spouses should be required to contribute towards the costs of the care of older people.
We are opposed to the Harney scheme to appropriate a share of the family home to pay for long-stay care.
A FAIR PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK
The Challenge
Labour believes that we must combine a strong, enterprising and innovative economy,
enhancing productivity and value added with robust employment standards
and fair terms and conditions of work.
We reject the view that Ireland’s prosperity requires employers to have free access to an unlimited supply of cheap, casualised labour in preference
to a strong workforce enjoying collectively agreed terms and conditions of employment.
Across Europe there is a divergence between those who would promote a ‘race to the bottom’ in wages and employment standards,
and those who insist on the maintenance of decent terms and conditions of employment and the European social model.
Labour will work to maintain the European social model, not as an alternative to,
but as a foundation for an economy which is moving up the value chain and creating more and better jobs.
We must ensure that Ireland does not build the next phase of its economic development on the basis of a low wage economy.
Economic growth results from a combination of both greater numbers in employment
and higher productivity per employee.
Ireland must seek a balance between the prevention of labour shortages,
which might create damaging bottlenecks in the economy, and the wholesale casualisation of labour .
The latter poses the risk of an increased reliance on an exploited immigrant workforce
and the consequent driving down of wages, particularly for less skilled employments.
We should seek to develop a Labour market where job security is enhanced through investment in people and their skills,
and through policies which ensure that people made redundant retain a higher proportion of their earnings
and are facilitated in rapidly finding new jobs.
A fair society does not treat immigrant workers as an end in themselves.
Newcomers to Ireland have the same entitlement to dignity, family life, education, accommodation and other essential services as Irish nationals do.
If we are to lay the foundations for an equitable and inclusive society,
it is important that we adopt a holistic approach to immigration and the needs of a more diverse population.
Ireland can do better Labour is committed to making Ireland a fair place to live and work, with strong enforcement of fair labour standards for all workers, fair immigration rules and conditions, and measures to promote the integration of newcomers to our society.
What Labour will do
Protecting Employment Standards
People working in Ireland are entitled to fair and rigorously enforced terms and conditions of employment.
What Labour will do:
Develop and extend the Registered Employment Agreements model which gives binding status to wage agreements reached at sectoral and employment level.
Better resource the Labour Inspectorate
and ensure more effective enforcement and prosecution of offences.
Ensure targeted enforcement
and Revenue inspections of the bogus subcontractor and agency worker issue in the construction sector.
Insist that contractors working for local authorities and other public bodies meet minimum labour standards.
Create a right for self-employed individuals who enter into or work under contracts “personally to execute any work or labour” to join trade unions
and to engage in collective bargaining.
Support the EU Temporary Workers Agency Directive, up to now opposed by the Irish government.
Make permanent provisions to protect against the displacement of workers as envisaged in the Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Bill 2007.
In light of the recent Supreme Court decision, we will restore the original spirit of the Industrial Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 through legislation and procedural change.
Support measures at EU level to ensure that minimum labour standards are applied in all ships that commence and end their journeys in the European Union.
Eliminate the “sub-minimum” wage, by the removal of exemptions on the minimum wage based on age, except in the case of apprenticeships.
Ensure the collection of better data on labour market conditions.
Ratify the International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and enshrine its protections in our domestic laws.
Enact a new comprehensive Employment Act, consolidating and codifying the existing twenty-plus pieces of labour law in a coherent and efficient form.
Strengthen existing Health and Safety legislation, with provision for a crime of corporate manslaughter, as recommended by the Law Reform Commission.
Enact effective whistleblowers legislation, applicable to the private sector, to protect persons from disciplinary action and defamation where disclosure is in the public interest.
Expand the Labour Relations machinery and increase the number of Rights Commissioners.
Employers and employees will be actively encouraged to seek and use mediation as a method of resolving disputes, so as to reduce the increasing costly adversarial methods that have placed a burden on businesses in general and on small businesses in particular.
Update and renew the Social Partnership model to take into account the new concerns of a modern Ireland.
Issues such as climate change and social equality will take centre stage.
The Houses of the Oireachtas will be brought closer into the system, rather than simply rubberstamping the outcome.
Supporting Work-Life Balance
Too many hard working families encounter obstacles in achieving their preferred work-life balance.
Labour believes that there should be a greater element of choice in how families combine the need to earn a living with the need to care for others.
Women in particular should not be penalised when they avail of flexible working options.
What Labour will do:
Bring in new laws providing for workplace flexibility and part-time, flexi-time and jobshare working.
These will be targeted at parents, carers and those wishing to upskill or reskill or to re-enter the workforce after a period of absence.
We will provide for real equality between men and women and nobody will be penalised for availing of flexible working conditions, career breaks or part time work.
Bring in two extra public holidays, to bring Ireland up to the EU average.
Secure working-time arrangements that support lifelong learning and the development of a stronger, knowledge-based economy.
Progress towards paid parental leave for up to one year, with an option for fathers to take part of that time.
Establish a legal right to take up to three years’ career break.
We will explore appropriate fiscal support for employers.
Introduce a right to part-time work, subject to reasonable conditions.
Flexicurity
Labour favours the development of policies based on the concept of flexicurity, i.e. the promotion of employment security through investment in the education and skills of employees,
better protection of income after redundancy, and active policy to ensure rapid re-employment after a person loses their job.
What Labour will do:
Promote life long learning and up-skilling through the measures set out under ‘The Learning Community’ elsewhere in this manifesto.
Examine means to provide higher levels of support in the aftermath of a redundancy,
combined with measures to rapidly secure replacement employment or education/ training for the individual.
Seek to eliminate long-term unemployment,
through the design and introduction of a new comprehensive Social Employment Programme, providing persons currently registered as long term unemployed with a range of training options,
work placement and employment with social, cultural and community organisations across the country.
We must ensure that Ireland does not build the next phase of its economic development on the basis of a low wage economy.
Pension Rights
Elsewhere in this document, we set out our proposals to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the pensions issue, to ensure that everyone has an adequate income in old age.
What Labour will do:
■  Review our pensions system.
The social partners, through the National Economic and Social Council will be entrusted with the task of agreeing a new system of pensions, both for the public and private sectors and for stateprovided pensions, to take account of the fact that most people will have a number of jobs during their time in the workforce and many will have multiple pensions by retirement age.
The resulting proposals will feed into a new generation of Social Partnership talks to address the pensions issue specifically.
Ensure easy transferability of pensions between employers and between pension providers and allow for easy amalgamation of multiple pensions.
Protect the pension rights of employees working in firms that are sold as going concerns.
In future, the purchaser of an existing company will be required to take on responsibility for the pension entitlements of the existing employees and the state of the pension fund at the time of purchase.
We should seek to develop a Labour market where job security is enhanced through investment in people and their skills
Immigration and Immigrant Rights
Labour believes that immigration to Ireland is a positive development that both enhances economic growth by alleviating labour shortages and also enriches Irish society through the contribution of people from other cultures to our national life.
But it is clear that immigration is being encouraged by some not because it is of value in itself, but simply because it is feeding the perceived needs of our economy.
However, this risks fostering low pay and poor conditions, a form of exploitation which immigrants themselves are most likely to experience.
It is therefore vital that people coming to Ireland to work should enjoy the same terms and conditions of employment as Irish workers.
Furthermore, people who come to Ireland to work need and are entitled to housing, transport and health care.
They are also entitled to live with their families, including dependent children and dependent relatives.
In government we will address the particular rights of immigrants as follows:
A flexible Green Card system will apply to all immigrants from non-EEA countries.
Such a new immigration initiative will be based on a real assessment of our labour market requirements and could be adapted from time to time as circumstances change.
Work visa allocation will be based on an ongoing assessment of the needs of the Irish labour market.
The occupation, education and language skills of applicants will be considered as criteria for issuing these visas within national quotas.
Work visas will entitle immigrants to work in our country legally and immediately upon arrival, for a fixed number of years.
Bureaucracy and administration will be reduced to a minimum.
Immigration for the purpose of family reunion will be facilitated, so that the number of immigrants in employment is recognised as carrying with it an additional number of dependent non-nationals who will have an entitlement to residence in Ireland with a wage-earning family member.
Family reunification is one of the most pressing concerns of non-nationals living in Ireland.
As such, the provisions that govern this entitlement will be spelled out in primary legislation rather than ministerial orders or practice guidelines.
The ability to attract overseas students is, amongst other things, a market opportunity.
The salability of the product is dependent on adequate prevailing standards.
Rogue educational institutions and exploitative employers can only undermine the potential for growth in this area.
We will enforce standards through regular inspections of educational institutions that target overseas students, whether in the public or private sector.
Students from overseas attending accredited institutions will be free to work to finance their studies, just as their Irish peers do.
We will grant leave to stay to the small number of aged-out minors who remain in this country.
The Asylum Process
Although the number of asylum seekers has greatly reduced, real problems remain.
There is a huge disparity between the numbers granted refugee status at the initial stage and the numbers successful at the appeal stage.
This raises questions as to the soundness of the initial procedures.
Inconsistencies and flaws in the decision-making process lead to expensive court actions and delays.
The process requires urgent overhaul to bring it into line with best European and international practice.
Labour in government will ensure the following rights and guarantees for asylum-seekers:
The right to an appropriate interpreter.
The right to an oral hearing before a decision is made.
That decision-makers behave sensitively and are properly qualified and trained and have adequate information about the country of origin.
That effective and resourced representation is available to all asylum seekers.
That time limits relating to the application are fair and not oppressive to the asylum seeker
That unaccompanied minors applying for asylum should have a legal guardian appointed to represent them in an appropriate manner.
Restricting the grounds upon which applicants may be rejected as “manifestly unfounded”, to bring Ireland more into line with the UNHCR and the EU Council of Ministers’ resolution.
That the standard of decision-making be improved by independent and objective performance review.
Social integration
Planning for a fair and efficient immigration system involves more than devising rules and procedures.
The significant number of immigrants arriving in Ireland prompts the need for a range of services, including accommodation, training and language courses.
Labour in government will take lead responsibility in this area from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which has entirely legitimate concerns of its own but which is not best equipped to meet the demands of social integration, and transfer it to another government department.
We will also introduce more relevant and meaningful citizenship ceremonies when people are awarded citizenship of Ireland.
A FAIR DEAL
Building a more Equal Ireland
The Challenge
Even after more than a decade of rapid growth, poverty is still a reality.
Why is it that Ireland has one of the most unequal distributions of income in the industrialised world?
Or that one in nine children live in poverty?
Why are the poor still likely to be children of the poor, / caught in the poverty trap set by poor education, low-skilled jobs and unemployment?
While poverty exists in every corner of Ireland, there are also particular areas where there are strong concentrations of poverty and disadvantage, / leading to a particularly acute experience of poverty for the families and communities concerned.
These are areas where significant pockets of chronic, persistent unemployment coexist with buoyant national labour markets.
One in three children in some disadvantaged schools has severe literacy and numeracy difficulties – ten times the national average.
School drop-out rates in some parts of the capital are as high as 60 per cent.
Life expectancy in severely deprived communities is lower and the incidence of chronic ill health, including mental ill health, higher.
In these severely disadvantaged communities, families struggle with the combined burden of poverty, crime, low educational attainment, unemployment, drugs, over-stretched services, poor housing and health problems.
Despite progress in improving social welfare payment rates, absolute poverty is still a reality,
with social welfare payments often falling short of what is needed to make ends meet, and relative poverty rates remain high by European standards.
Furthermore, Social Welfare rules include perverse disincentives to re-train, take up employment or even co-parent.
The safety net of social welfare can become a trap from which it makes no financial sense to escape.
Some groups in our society are particularly vulnerable, including one-parent families, the elderly, and those working on low incomes.
The concept of equality is built on the idea that everyone should be able to develop their potential to the full.
Too often in our society, human potential is unnecessarily and arbitrarily held back through poverty and disadvantage.
Equality is not achieved by a state that stands back, and allows each individual to find their own way, but through proactive policies designed to allow each individual to realise their full potential.
As a society, we must ensure that, working together, we spread the opportunities of modern Ireland to all our people.
Ireland can do better A fairer, more equal society is possible.
We can hope for a better future for communities blighted by generations of neglect if we wage a war against economic poverty, poverty of skills and poverty of aspiration.
We can reform the social welfare code, making it not just a safety net, but also a springboard of opportunity.
We can assist those who can work to support themselves, and we can do more for those, including many elderly citizens, who face life on low incomes.
What Labour will do
Labour’s approach to tackling inequality and poverty is based on a combination of four elements
Continuing to enhance the adequacy of social welfare payments
Reform of social welfare to remove poverty traps / and to improve the position of some of those at highest risk of poverty
Our Fair Deal Commitment for areas of multiple disadvantage
Better services, especially in health and education, to improve quality of life, and to give people a springboard for a better future.
Social Welfare reform
Many of the meaningful changes in the Irish social welfare system have happened under Labour Party guidance and initiative.
While recent budgets have seen significant improvements in social welfare payment rates, which Labour has welcomed, little has been done to modernise the social welfare system to recognise the changes in families, in the role of women, and the nature of work.
Despite having the opportunity to do so, the present government has not been willing to engage in real social welfare reform to tackle the problem of poverty traps and persistent poverty and inequality.
Our proposals for social welfare reform are set out using the life cycle approach adopted by the social partners.
Children
In the context of developing policy on support for families with children, including the early years subsidy, FIS and CDAs, we will examine reform options including a supplementary child benefit.
We will substantially improve rates of payment under the Back to School allowance scheme, introduct a once-off payment for children entering second level education and review the income limits.
Working age
This government says we have full employment and only 4.2 per cent unemployment but over half a million working aged people are trapped on social welfare unable to live life or contribute to their full potential.
We will maximise their opportunity for employment while at the same time ensuring the social welfare system is an effective safety net for those who cannot work or cannot find work.
Social welfare payments are still not enough to lift people out of poverty.
As resources allow we will make real increases in social welfare payments.
Over time, we will replace the Rent Allowance scheme with a new form of housing support for public and private rental accommodation, which also covers those working on low incomes.
As a short-term measure we will increase the disregards and rent thresholds that apply in the existing scheme.
Improve the system of retention of secondary benefits for people who take up work.
We will restructure support for one-parent families, to enable those parenting alone meet their caring obligations, support themselves in work and, if they choose, form sustainable relationships.
Promote equality for women in the social welfare system by beginnng to phase out the limitation rule and the concept of qualified adult.
We will make the social welfare service more relevant to the needs of working mothers’ employment patterns by reviewing the ‘actively seeking work’ guidelines to facilitate part-time working.
Consistent with our commitment to reform FÁS, we will also examine the Department of Social and Family Affairs to ensure it has the capacity to meet the demands of a modern society.
Ensure that work pays through examination of how social welfare income interacts with paid work.
Ensure that the obligations of people of working age to seek work are met by the State with the appropriate levels of support.
We will review the supplementary welfare allowance urgent needs payments and develop a low cost credit scheme for those on social welfare or low incomes.
Pensions
While much is said about the contribution of older people to the foundations of our modern economy, less is done in real terms to value and reward that contribution.
We will raise the level of the State non-Contributory pension to €300 by 2012.
We will progressively increase contributory old age pension qualified adult payments towards the same level as the adult rate, and pay them directly to the qualified adult.
We will allow non-contributory pensioners to earn money from self-employment as well as employment without affecting their pension.
We will recognise the real contribution made by older women near or at pension age to both the Irish economy and society by progressively making home care credits retrospective to 1973.
Disability and care
Those who are depending on receiving care and those who provide that care are often the most vulnerable in our society.
It is no surprise that many of this group are women.
We will introduce a cost of disability allowance.
Abolish the means test for carers.
Examine how to ensure that women who take time out to care for others do not suffer pension poverty in later years.
A fairer, more equal society is possible.
We can hope for a better future for communities blighted by generations of neglect if we wage a war against economic poverty, poverty of skills and poverty of aspiration.
Long-Term Pensions Reform
Labour believes that the time has come to put in place a comprehensive pensions policy framework to ensure that all older people have an adequate retirement income, through a combination of social welfare and personal/occupational pensions.
To achieve this goal we will adopt the following approach:
■  Request that the social partners, working through the National Economic and Social Council, prepare a blueprint document for a comprehensive settlement of the pensions issue.
We will place that document before the next round of pay negotiations, and move rapidly to an implementation phase.
■  We believe this settlement should provide for automatic pensions deductions for all employees, with an opt-out option.
Every employee will have a pension contribution made from their pay packet, but will have the option to sign a form saying that they do not wish to make that contribution.
Where a person is not part of a company pension scheme, the automatic voluntary contribution would be paid into a personal defined-contribution pension product.
■  A major push to expand this kind of pensions coverage demands that the state ensures that people have reasonably priced pensions products available to them.
The pensions industry in Ireland continues to be characterised by obscure charging regimes, and there are real difficulties for consumers in identifying who is charging what so that they can compare pensions products.
We need further reform to address these issues.
■  In addition, the state acting though the NTMA, should provide access to a basic personal pension product or products.
This should be structured among the lines of an SSIA, where contributions and state top-ups are clearly visible.
This would be the default option for the automatic voluntary deduction.
It would of course be open to people to pay their contributions to a private sector provider.
The NTMA could charge a fair, modest and transparent fee for its services.
■  While this approach will improve the income of future pensioners, it will not address poverty among older people at present.
We believe the solution is to introduce a minimum income guarantee for today’s pensioners.
This would provide a top-up pension payment to those whose income falls below a minimum level.
■  The state will be required to continue incentivisation of personal pensions provision in the future.
There is a need, however, to impose more rigorous limits to prevent the use of pension schemes for wholesale tax avoidance.
■  There is a need to examine pensions legislation to ensure easy transferability of pensions between employers and between pension providers and allow for easy amalgamation of multiple pensions.
It is also important to protect the pension rights of employees working in firms that are sold as going concerns.
Defined benefit schemes, where they exist, should be sustained.
■  We will sympathetically examine the idea of a state annuity scheme.
As a society, we must ensure that, working together, we spread the opportunities of modern Ireland to all our people
A Fair Deal for Communities
Chronically deprived communities need a coordinated programme of investment in all aspects of life in these areas, including education, health, the built environment, policing and childcare.
Coupled with social welfare reform, this amounts to a major, cross-departmental ‘Marshall Plan’ for what we call Fair Deal Communities.
This programme can be delivered through the National Development Plan by prioritising and ringfencing investment in these areas in a determined, co-ordinated, whole-of-government approach.
Labour in government will:
■  Use existing structures to replace the RAPID programmes with a Fair Deal for Communities initiative.
■  Draw on small/local area census data to compile accurate deprivation indexes to help and delimit Fair Deal communities.
■  Secure a transparent, multi-annual funding formula for the Fair Deal initiatives.
■  Require all relevant government departments and agencies to clearly earmark and ring-fence not less than 5 per cent of NDP capital funds for Fair Deal communities.
■  Incorporate strong ex post evaluative and accountability rules within the framework of reformed public financial procedures.
■  Put renewed emphasis on strategic direction from the centre and locally based, targeted active labour market initiatives and local employment/placement services in Fair Deal communities and neighbourhoods.
■  Prioritise Fair Deal communities in the deployment of additional community Gardai and the development of local community policing structures.
Tackling Educational Disadvantage
Like poverty, educational disadvantage is to be found in every corner of Ireland, but is also concentrated in particular areas of cumulative disadvantage.
We want to develop a system which allocates resources based on the cumulative ‘weight’ of disadvantage of the schools’ pupils.
Thus the most disadvantaged schools will still receive the most support, while schools with ‘pockets’ of disadvantage within their catchments will also receive necessary resources to address their needs.
We also believe that school principals should have greater flexibility in applying resources to meet the needs of their particular school and area.
In addition, we will:
■  Adequately resource the National Educational Psychologist Service to ensure that children get assessed quickly, and thus have access to the learning support they need.
■  Provide well-equipped, family-friendly school libraries which could have the potential to offer community-based family literacy schemes.
■  Encourage local authorities to promote better literacy, through homework clubs, longer opening hours for libraries, and better design and standards in local authority housing – the ideas promoted by the Right to Read Campaign.
■  Enable pre-school centres and schools to adopt special teaching programmes such as High/Scope and the Incredible Years programme,
aimed at educating parents in the skills of parenthood and targeting children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulty (EBD) in school and at home.
■  Adequately resource the NEWB to allow it to fulfil its national mandate under the Education and Welfare Act 2000.
■  The Board will also be mandated to prioritise Fair Deal communities and neighbourhoods and to actively engage with other agencies such as FÁS and the HSE and community representatives in the area implementation planning structures.
■  In respect of primary education we will provide the most disadvantaged primary schools with a comprehensive package of supports.
Tackling the Skills Deficit
Low levels of education and skills are primary drivers of low incomes and inter-generational poverty.
Labour is committed to reform of Ireland’s skills and training structures, with the twin aims of enhancing productivity
and promoting social solidarity.
Central to this objective is that of reducing the numbers who leave school without Leaving Cert equivalent qualifications, and raising the educational attainment of those who have already left school with inadequate qualifications.
What Labour will do:
■  Mandate the NEWB to track all 16-18 year olds who leave school without a Leaving Certificate.
■  Develop a social guarantee so that all early school leavers (16-18 years old) will be offered a place in meaningful and appropriate education or training.
We can assist those who can work to support themselves, and we can do more for those, including many elderly citizens, who face life on low incomes.
Drugs
Drug use is an escalating social problem in Ireland characterised by poly-drug use, violence and gun crime, alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour.
The numbers of young people experimenting with drugs in our towns, villages and cities is growing at an alarming rate.
Having previously been confined mainly to Dublin, in the last decade heroin has spread to every county in Ireland.
Poly-drug use is increasingly becoming a reality, while drug and criminal networks are in place nationwide.
The National Drugs Strategy is effectively at a standstill, as the fulfilment of their 100 promises under the strategy remains behind schedule.
The Labour Party is still broadly supportive of the principles and objectives of the National Drugs Strategy.
However, we believe that it is imperative that the changing nature of the drugs problem in this country is addressed.
This is particularly urgent as we come to the end of the 2001-2008 National Drugs Strategy and begin to prepare a successor strategy.
The political will of the present government to fight the problem of substance abuse has clearly evaporated.
Labour in government will give renewed impetus to the fight against drugs as conceived in the National Drugs Strategy.
By re-focusing and reassessing our approach to the drugs crisis, Labour will ensure that the National Drugs Strategy will remain relevant and effective and will provide a long-term solution to our drug crisis.
What Labour will do:
■  Invest the National Drugs Strategy with fresh political will and impetus.
■  Implement in full the national drugs strategy (NDS) 2001–2008, fast track the implementation of all remaining actions in that plan and as a priority, prepare a successor strategy.
■  Build on local community policing structures in line with stated Labour community policing and police reform policy.
■  Expand rehabilitation services at local level in line with need.
Provide adequate funding for Community based drug projects like Merchants Quay and SAOL, North-West Training and Development Programme and Aftercare Recovery Group.
■  Alcohol abuse and drug abuse are increasingly interlinked.
In the 14 local drug task force (LDTF) areas we will integrate drug and alcohol abuse strategies, Poly-drug use also needs to be addressed by local drug task forces.
■  Integrate substance abuse strategies with active labour market and local area renewal policies as elucidated in Labour’s policy document A Fair Deal to give a new sense of community and community renewal to the drug epidemic black spots.
■  Strengthen the supply reduction effort and criminal asset seizures, particularly at the local level.
■  Develop through, for example an expanded system of drug courts, compulsory as well as voluntary rehabilitation programmes.
■  Work to ensure that our prisons are drug-free rather than, as at present, drug dens.
■  A special task force should respond immediately to the arrival of new illicit drugs.
They should be specifically targeted with a view to swiftly identifying the source of supply and eliminating it.
REINVENTING GOVERNMENT
The Challenge
Irish democracy is not in good shape.
The national hangover caused by corruption in local and national government has yet to fade.
We are further and further removed from how our tax contributions are spent.
We are frustrated by the incapacity of an inflexible, centralised government to respond fast enough to real-life problems.
As a result, citizens have disengaged from politics in large numbers.
At the same time, massive budgetary increases and the growing complexity of a globalised world mean that the need for accountability in government has never been greater.
Yet we are stuck with 19th Century systems of administration to oversee and manage a 21st century country.
To take just one example, the Dáil is meant to oversee government spending and to check projects for ‘value-for-money’.
But the Dáil’s spending watchdog, the Public Accounts Committee, operates under a timescale whereby, in 2007, it will spend its time examining government accounts showing how money was spent two years ago, in 2005.
A major challenge is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure programmes.
Because Labour champions public service provision, we also champion public service effectiveness and efficiency.
This is not code for public spending cuts.
Effectiveness simply means the degree of success of a programme in meeting its objectives.
And efficiency means the delivery of services at least cost in terms of resources used.
There is an ‘efficiency dividend’ to be reaped from reducing waste in the public sector.
That dividend will be reinvested and will be used to deliver better public services.
Labour also insists that public administration must be informed by the principles of openness, transparency and accountability.
These are not burdensome principles, designed to slow down or sidetrack the public service.
They are the best and indeed only means of ensuring that citizens get all necessary information to assess whether best practice is being followed and whether value for money is being sought and delivered.
We are convinced that the only effective and efficient government is one that is open and honest.
The current system dates from a more leisurely age and has failed to keep up with the demands of a modern state and
with the citizens’ right to know how decisions are taken on their behalf.
We need radical changes to the structures and systems of administration, financial management and government accountability.
Ireland can do better Labour will reform and enhance the democratic institutions of the state to promote engagement with politics, greater accountability of the executive and more effective and efficient public services.
What Labour will do
Openness
We will:
Restore the Freedom of Information Act to what it was before it was filleted by the present government.
We will also implement all the recommendations for reform of the Act made by the Information Commissioner.
We will extend the remit of the Act – and the remit of the Ombudsman Act – to the Garda Síochána, the Central Bank and many other statutory bodies, and bodies significantly funded from the public purse, that are currently excluded.
Introduce Whistleblowers’ Protection legislation to protect those in public service who bring maladministration to light.
Propose a referendum to reverse the constitutional amendment on Cabinet confidentiality, to ensure that the current almost absolute protection cannot be used to cover up necessary investigations.
Repeal the Official Secrets Act, retaining a criminal sanction only for breaches which involve serious threats such as a threat to the international relations of the state, the conduct of a fair trial, or national security.
A public interest defence will be available in such cases.
Where the government relies in the Dáil on legal advice received from the Attorney General, as its reason for proposing or refusing to accept legislation, we will ensure that, subject to normal considerations of commercial confidence, national security and so on, summaries of the Attorney General’s advice to government are made and published.
Transparency
What Labour will do:
Introduce a statutory register of lobbyists and a statutory code governing the practice of lobbying.
Bring in rules to ensure that senior public servants (including political appointees) cannot work in the private sector in an area involving a potential conflict of interest with their former area of public employment until at least two years has elapsed since their departure from the public service.
Review the law on spending by political parties with a view to developing a more rigorous system, including spending limits for local and presidential elections, and to widen the time frames to which the spending ceilings for European and general elections apply.
Given that it is not constitutionally feasible to abolish outright donations to political organisations,
we will introduce legislation to restrict contributions to political parties and candidates to €2,500 and €1,000 respectively, and to require disclosure of all aggregate sums above €1,500 and €600 respectively.
Oireachtas reform
We will:
Introduce a package of changes to bring about a 50 per cent increase in Dáil sitting days.
Dáil Éireann will in future meet four days a week when in session and working hours will be significantly extended.
There will be a summer recess of just six weeks and significantly reduced breaks at Christmas and Easter.
We will abandon the practice of providing a “mid-term break” – a full week off at St Patrick’s Day and Hallowe’en.
Amend Cabinet procedures to require the general scheme of a Bill to be published as soon as it is approved by government, so that Oireachtas committees can debate and hold hearings on Bills at the earliest stage.
Undertake a complete redrafting and updating of Dáil Standing Orders.
The new draft will
Confer on the Ceann Comhairle a specific responsibility for ensuring that the interests of all members and the public interest are fully and fairly protected.
Oblige Ministers to ensure that questions are answered properly and fully (including an obligation to correct matters if the House is misled).
Allow for “same day” discussion of urgent or topical matters, especially those involving a wide public interest.
Restrict the use of guillotine motions and other procedural devices that prevent Bills from being fully debated.
Allow far more interchange between members and make it obligatory on members, including Ministers, to “yield” to reasonable interventions and questions from the floor.
Reform procedures for dealing with legislation, to allow more time for debate and participation at every stage.
Private Members Time will be extended to include government as well as opposition deputies.
All TDs will be entitled to put forward proposals for legislation and a lottery at the start of each session will determine which Bills will be debated.
Party whips should be relaxed on such occasions.
Extend Question Time, to increase the number of questions to be answered and debated in the Chamber and to allow written questions to be submitted directly to state agencies.
In addition, written questions will be asked and answered during Dáil recesses.
Significantly expand the work of Oireachtas committees dealing with scrutiny of EU legislation and regulations made by ministers.
Following on the Supreme Court judgment in the Abbeylara Inquiry case, we will, if necessary, propose an amendment to the Constitution to ensure the Dáil is enabled to inquire into and report on any exercise of the executive power of the state or in relation to the administration of any public service.
Oireachtas inquiries
■  We will establish an Oireachtas Committee of Investigations, Oversight and Petitions.
The committee will be bi-partisan in structure and chaired by a member of the opposition.
Its functions will be to:
Ensure consultation and collaboration between the Oireachtas and the Ombudsman.
Receive parliamentary petitions seeking the redress of grievances connected with the public services and with public administration generally.
Arrange investigation of issues of urgent public importance which demand detailed and thorough investigation.
Supervise an Office of Parliamentary Investigator.
The Office of Parliamentary Investigator will have responsibility for ensuring the timely and cost effective investigation of issues giving rise to significant public concern.
Persons would be appointed from time to time to this office, on the basis of specific contracts, to carry out specific investigations.
The Investigator will perform functions similar to those carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Investigator will have powers to require witnesses to attend and answer questions and to disclose and produce documents, together with power to enter premises and to take copies of documents.
Evidence would be taken in private, as is done by Commissions of Investigation.
The written reports of the Investigator on matters of established fact would be used as the basis for further investigation, by Oireachtas committees or by tribunals.
Ensuring Value for Money
Labour has published a detailed document entitled The Buck Stops Here, setting out a comprehensive set of proposals to end the waste of public funds that has characterised this government and to ensure the delivery of better, more efficient and effective public services.
The Estimates procedure
Our Constitution requires the government to prepare Estimates of the receipts and expenditure of the state for each financial year and to present them to the Dáil.
The Dáil is then required to “consider” those Estimates.
Real and effective Dáil scrutiny, on behalf of the taxpayer, needs two things:
A reliable and easily understood budgeting process that sets out the financial consequences of policies the government proposes to implement.
A reliable and easily understood reporting (or management accounting) process, that sets out the consequences of the policies actually implemented.
Labour in government will bring forward the annual Estimates cycle, so that it becomes more timely and relevant.
It will in future start at the beginning of the preceding year and conclude by the summer.
The annual Estimates will in future distinguish between monies being allocated to maintaining the existing level of service for existing programmes and money to support new programmes or policy decisions.
Proposals for new expenditure programmes will be accompanied by a five-year projection of costs and benefits.
The Estimates will also distinguish between discretionary and non-discretionary spending, i.e., spending arising from legal entitlements which must be met (such as pensions).
The Book of Estimates will be accompanied by a detailed performance report on what the previous year’s spending had achieved.
It will also give details of the level of performance achieved by agencies under service delivery agreements with government.
Improved services for Oireachtas members will include dedicated resources for the proper scrutiny of the Estimates.
An Estimates Commissioner, with strong powers, will be appointed within the Houses of the Oireachtas to manage the advance scrutiny of spending proposals, in the same way that the Comptroller and Auditor General scrutinises the outcome of spending after the event.
Public service reform
We will introduce a new basic law for government departments and the civil service.
The legislation will specify the roles, functions, powers and duties of departments and the position of the minister in charge of each department.
The new legislation will provide for a clear line of authority, responsibility and command.
It will permit only the specific delegation of specific powers to civil servants, instead of the current practice of implied blanket delegation of all ministerial powers to all his or her civil servants, capable of being exercised without the minister’s knowledge or authority.
Civil servants exercising delegated ministerial powers will be, to the extent of the authority delegated to them, accountable both within the department and also directly and publicly accountable to the Dáil.
Ministers will become responsible in law for the supervision and oversight of their departments, as well as for their own direct actions.
The law will clarify the authority, responsibilities and accountabilities of Secretaries General of government departments.
We will replace the existing rules which severely restrict civil servants in their answers to Dáil Committees with a system which reflects the reality of responsibility delegated to civil servants
We will keep clear records of the decisions made by ministers personally, so that there can be no subsequent conflict, confusion or denial of responsibility on such basic matters.
We will make ministers accountable to the Dáil for the adequacy of their oversight of all the agencies and public bodies under their remit.
We will enhance the capacity of the civil service by:
Introducing open recruitment for senior public service Positions.
Introducing greater professionalisation of key functions.
Equipping senior managers with a wider range of skills
Linking performance pay schemes to high level targets.
Expanding civil service training and education opportunities.
Strengthening the internal audit function and augmenting its legal capacity.
STRENGTHENING LOCAL DEMOCRACY
The Challenge
Labour believes that the best people to plan and manage local services, such as planning for the environment and housing, the amenities that make our local community work, the schools which teach our children, transport and traffic matters, policing, care of the young and of the elderly, should be the locals who use them.
In most European countries, these everyday matters are the concerns and functions of a strong system of local government.
Education, health, policing, transport and traffic are normally delivered and overseen by city, county, regional and local authorities.
Ireland has one of the weakest systems of local government in the European Union.
Local ‘government’ does not exist in Ireland.
At best, we have a system of “Local Administration”,
through which centrally appointed managers make the executive decisions for our cities, counties and towns.
All this leaves the individual citizen feeling powerless in his or her own city or county.
The net result of Ireland’s unique approach to local governance is that the quality of local services is often poor.
The system by which Ireland provides local services is excessively bureaucratic, confused and costly and the citizen finds it difficult to get access to the real decision makers.
The lack of accountability results in the unelected management of local authorities being too powerful and the lack of real power for elected councillors is leading to decreased public confidence in local government.
Many providers of public services are not accountable at all at local level
Ireland can do better Labour will radically change the way Ireland is governed.
We need a new modern system of local government, which is more democratic, more accountable and which provides a better quality of service to the public.
What Labour will do
Labour will deliver a major reform of local government and devolve further functions from the national to the regional and local levels under new structures to ensure democratic management of these services.
Labour will strengthen the role of the elected council, in order to provide the citizen with accountable public services.
Councillors will have power to seek accountability from any agency, whether public or private, which is providing public services in their area.
Councillors will have power to seek reports from service providers and to question, in public, the appropriate managers on aspects of their service.
Councils will also have a consumer protection role in relation to private sector services.
Private refuse collectors, telecoms, private schools, local banks and cable TV providers will be amenable to public questioning by the elected representatives of the people, on their public service remit.
Local government in Ireland needs to be remapped.
The remapping will be based on the wishes of the people and will be preceded by public consultation.
There will be two levels of local government: Regional Authorities, which will include City Authorities for the larger cities,
and Local Authorities, which will include County, Town and District Councils.
The City and Regional Authorities will have responsibility for:
Strategic Planning: a democratically decided Regional or City Plan will replace Strategic Planning Guidelines, which are now handed down by the department
Implementation of national spatial strategies
Transport and traffic
Economic development including Employment Services
Other functions to be devolved over time.
Local Authorities will be given, in addition to their existing core responsibilities, a new range of devolved functions together with the finance and resources needed to carry out these new roles.
We will establish a Dublin Regional Authority, which will have overall responsibility for the running of the city and the three Dublin counties.
It will be responsible for transport and traffic, strategic planning, protection of Dublin Bay and for overseeing the services which are delivered Dublin wide.
The members of the DRA will be directly elected, headed by a directly elected mayor of Dublin.
The current Dublin City Council and the three county councils will be replaced over time by 1012 District Councils, based on populations of approximately 100,000, each of which will have the status of a County Council.
City Authorities will be established for the other larger cities in the country,
and Regional Authorities will be established for different regions of the country.
Devolution of powers will take time.
The first responsibility to be devolved to these Regional and City Authorities will be transport.
One of the first regional bodies to be set up will be for the “ATM region” – Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar.
Respecting the principle of subsidiarity the distinction between County Councils and the larger Town Councils will be ended.
All such councils will have the same status.
There will be options available to people as to the type of Council which would exist in a particular area, as between County Councils,Town Councils and District Councils.
Where a dispute arises over the inclusion of an area in a council, the issue will be resolved by plebiscite of the voters in that area.
The position of County Manager will be abolished and replaced by a Chief Executive of the Council.
Chief Executives will exercise a limited range of executive functions, similar to those which were originally intended in the City and County Management Acts.
Chief Executives will have no policy making functions other than to assist and advise the elected Council in the making of policy.
The power of the Minister to abolish a Council and to replace it with a Commissioner will be ended.
Instead, where a Council fails to adopt an annual budget, the Council will stand suspended until fresh elections are held to elect a new council for the remainder of its five year cycle.
Each Local Authority will have a directly elected mayor for the five year term of the Council.
Directly elected mayors in the larger authorities will hold office on a full time basis.
The reorganisation and remapping of local government will be achieved without increasing costs.
The devolution of powers and functions from the centre will be accompanied by the corresponding finance and resources.
In the longer term, devolution will reduce cost because many of the functions concerned can be performed more effectively at local level.
Effective regional and local government must be adequately resourced.
A redistribution of taxes will be defined as between central and local government, based on the funding framework which is already in place for local authorities.
Already some taxes are dedicated for either local government generally, or for services provided through local government.
These include rates on commercial and industrial properties, which are levied and collected by local authorities; the Local government Fund which is based on motor taxation; and the Environment Fund which was established with the tax on plastic.
Rates will be levied on state owned commercial property.
There is no continuing justification for exempting state owned commercial property from the rates regime which applies to privately owned businesses.
Labour will radically change the way Ireland is governed.
We need a new modern system of local government, which is more democratic, more accountable and which provides a better quality of service to the public.
BALANCED REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Challenge
Balanced regional development is in the interests of individuals, families and communities in every region of the country.
Dublin has been the engine of the country’s economic growth, but its current uncontrolled expansion is neither sustainable nor desirable.
Ireland needs a more balanced pattern of development in the interests of fairness, sustainability and competitiveness.
The next government must not repeat the mistakes of its predecessors.
The chief weakness of the 2002 National Spatial Strategy (NSS) was that it lacked real political commitment across all government departments.
In addition, the scattergun approach of the failed decentralisation policy only served to signal that the government had no intention of implementing its own spatial strategy.
The challenge for the next government is to lay the foundation stones of modern regional economies that will be capable of embracing a future where regions and cities compete for investment on an international stage.
This must be supported by national government through guaranteeing universal broadband access, investing in transport infrastructure, ensuring adequate water, gas and electricity supplies and investing in education, research and skills.
Future balanced regional development should be a combination of significant investment in regional urban centres and innovative policies to exploit our natural strengths,
such as our beautiful landscape and high-quality food industry, and to spearhead new industries, such as bioenergy.
A strong economic and social counterweight to Dublin which would attract both private investment and a significant proportion of the country’s workforce could only improve Ireland’s competitiveness.
It is time for strong, joined-up leadership from government to close the wealth divide between east and west.
Improved standards of living and vibrant, sustainable communities for all should be more than an aspiration.
It should be a priority.
Ireland can do better Labour will pursue a more even spread of economic activity across Ireland to improve quality of life and build a more sustainable and competitive economy.
What Labour will do
A quality future for rural communities
What Labour will do
Create a unitary Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to ensure the proper coordination between these related areas of government and to take advantage of increasing payments from the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) budget for rural development initiatives.
Reduce by 50 per cent the rates bills of village shops, pubs and/or garages where they are the last one, two or three remaining in their communities.
Develop and resource targeted policies addressing poverty and social exclusion among women in rural Ireland, particularly regarding childcare, training and education.
Implement policies that encourage part-time farming.
We want a greater share of Ireland’s rural development funding to go on improving the quality of life in rural areas and facilitating the diversification of the rural economy.
Find effective ways of ensuring farm spouses’ work on the farm is appropriately recognised by the social welfare system.
Foster, particularly through distance and afterhours learning courses, an ethos of continuing education amongst farming and rural families.
Balanced regional development is in the interests of individuals, families and communities in every region of the country.
Dublin has been the engine of the country’s economic growth, but its current uncontrolled expansion is neither sustainable nor desirable.
Agriculture: supporting farmers
What Labour will do
We want only products wholly produced here to be labelled as Irish.
We will pursue regulatory changes to make this a reality through the EU.
Ensure that whenever necessary changes are implemented to the single farm payment system, no risks are taken with the effective delivery of existing payments to farmers and their families.
Review the working of the Agriculture Appeals Office and ensure that it fulfils its duties as effectively as possible.
Maintain farm consolidation support measures, such as continuing provision of stamp duty relief for qualifying farmers under fifty.
We will keep raising the thresholds in the leased land exemption scheme.
We are committed to ensuring optimal take-up of the Farm Assist and Rural Social Scheme programmes.
Work with the European Commission to secure the continuation of the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme beyond 2010.
Implement measures to support the further development of high added-value and specialist milk products by small and larger-scale operators.
Introduce the €250 million Animal Welfare, Recording and Breeding Scheme for Suckler Herds currently before the Commission.
Implement a Capital Investment Support Scheme for the beef and sheepmeat primary processing sector
Ensure that farmers do not bear an unfair burden of any costs associated with any animal health and welfare disease scares.
Put country of origin information labelling on poultrymeat, pigmeat and sheepmeat so consumers are properly informed.
Expand Organic Agriculture
What Labour will do:
Establish an Irish organic label to do for organic agriculture what ‘Kerrygold’ has done for conventional agriculture.
Work on establishing the levels and the kinds of supports necessary for the widespread production, processing and sale of indigenously produced organic food in Ireland and abroad.
Resource adequate testing of organic food so the integrity of the market is protected.
Initiate studies and relevant research aimed at promoting informed debate on GMO production.
The aim of such debate will be to establish if it would be in Ireland’s economic best interests to become one of the few GMO production-free areas in the world over the coming decade.
Push for the strongest possible evidence-based rules in the EU governing the release of GMOs into the environment.
Food and Food Safety
We will combat growing ‘food fraud’ by promoting widespread testing of food in Ireland and changes in EU regulation of imports to overcome current shortccomings in the traceability and labelling regulations governing food imported and sold in Ireland.
We will introduce traffic light food labelling which will allow consumers to decide easily whether or not certain foods meet their dietary requirements.
Better Research
Building upon existing high quality agri-food research in the universities and Teagasc, we will establish a national Environment Research Centre.
The Centre’s mission will be to provide research-based understanding of the chemical, pedological, biological, engineering and socioeconomic needs of the agri-food industry (including the artisan food sector) allied to the sustainable rural economy and the protection of Ireland’s rural environment.
We will stimulate the development of plastic materials and chemical agents from plants such as beet.
Animal Health and Welfare
We will:
Replace the pre-independence 1911 Protection of Animals Act with legislation grounded in evidence-based animal health and welfare standards.
Vest responsibility for all animal health and welfare issues, including animal experimentation and enforcement of the Dog Control Acts, in a single minister.
In order for the eventual goal of free movement of animals and animal products within the island of Ireland to be achieved, we will support the North South Ministerial Council’s work in developing all-island animal health policy and import regime.
Coastal Communities, Fisheries & Marine Environment
Our unique marine sector must be supported and promoted, especially during a period where it faces major challenges due to serious neglect over the past ten years.
The Irish fishing industry is an important source of economic benefit to often disadvantaged coastal communities.
We believe that properly managed, Ireland’s sea fisheries have the potential to be both profitable and sustainable in the long-term.
Labour advocates that five key areas must be addressed in developing our sea fisheries and marine strategy.
These are sustainability, profitability, local management of fisheries, supporting local coastal communities and enhancing safety and maritime workers’ pay and conditions.
What Labour will do:
Establish a Sea Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment based on consultation with all major stakeholders to be brought before Dail Eireann on an annual basis before EU fisheries negotiations commence.
An annual report of this nature would ensure that there is a regular evaluation of the Irish fish stocks and the effectiveness of current policy and quotas.
Sustainability and profitability are complementary objectives for ensuring an Irish fishing industry that is globally competitive and has a vibrant long-term future.
Develop an Irish seafood strategy to grow the market profile and demand for Irish fish so as to benefit local fishing communities.
Most of the employment and economic benefits of the fishing industry are centred in areas of relative socio-economic disadvantage.
Ensure that the new Sea Fisheries Protection Authority is urgently established and adequately resourced to carry out its vital management of Ireland’s sea fishing stocks.
Establish a Sea Fisheries Stakeholder Advisory Group where industry representatives, the marine scientific community and all other stakeholders have clearly defined roles and a major contribution to shaping national maritime policy.
Launch a new harbour refurbishment and development programme under the National Development Plan (NDP) particularly to resource smaller and neglected harbours and to assist the diversification of the functions of harbours and small port facilities (including for tourism and recreation purposes).
Ensure that the Irish Coast Guard has access to an Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV), as recommended by the Marine Department as far back as 1999.
The Labour Party believes that safety issues and working conditions must be a critical part of our long-term fisheries strategy, as fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in Ireland.
Work with our EU partners to ensure that safety and working conditions, and seafarers and maritime workers’ wages assume the highest priority in developing a maritime strategy and not be compromised in any way due to the unique nature of the maritime trade.
Continue to support sustainable aquaculture and fish farming, which are the fastest growing areas of world fish production.
Labour in government will enhance the roles of the Marine Institute, BIM and Udaras na Gaeltachta, along with the producers and workforce, in developing the Irish aquaculture industry
Introduce legislation to further protect and closely regulate coastal environments that may be affected by increased aquaculture production.
Be committed to full consultation with all inland fisheries stakeholders before the establishment of the National Inland Fisheries Authority.
Labour will give local fisheries advisory groups a key role in local ownership and management of inland fishery resources.
Forestry
We support the achievement of annualised planting targets of 20,000 hectares.
We will increase the annual payment to farmers to keep the real value of the payments constant.
We will aim to at least double the carbon sequestered by sinks from 2.
07 Mt CO2 to 4 MtCO2 in the next Kyoto period, with a corresponding increased role for farmers.
We will protect the Afforestation Grant Scheme and we will pay farmers the level of forestry premium payments over a shorter period of time.
Tourism
Tourism is a vital market for Irish business and supports large numbers of jobs.
Labour in government will seek to refresh and modernise the Irish tourism product.
Ireland’s relatively unspoilt landscape is a key driver of our tourism industry.
We believe that sustainable tourism depends on protecting and cultivating our natural environment.
This should be the starting point for the growth of activity holidays and eco-tourism.
Ireland’s recent success in attracting major sporting events bodes well for the future.
We are fully committed to building on this success, and will work with sporting bodies seeking to attract international competitions to Ireland.
Developing cultural tourism should be a priority over the coming years.
Protecting and investing in our heritage and the development of festivals around the country will enrich both our own cultural life and the experience of visitors to Ireland.
What Labour will do:
Protect areas of great natural beauty from over-development and strictly limit development along the coastline.
Our proposed new government agency, Sport and Recreation Ireland, will partner local authorities, OPW, Coillte and Waterways Ireland to further develop outdoor activity facilities such as treks, walks and cycle ways on an integrated local, regional and national basis.
Create a dedicated national cycle network.
We will develop and market niche elements of the tourism market where Ireland has considerable potential to shine, such as ecotourism and culinary excellence.
We will expand funding for festivals and encourage the development of a small number of landmark cultural festivals of international standing, preferably outside Dublin.
The online community is the world’s biggest tourism market.
We will grow regional tourism by ensuring that local communities and tourism interests have access to and visibility in this market.
Transport
We will:
Consistent with our plans to recast local government in Ireland we will create city and regional authorities that will have a number of functions, including transport.
They will include city authorities in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and the Athlone-Tullamore-Mullingar triangle.
Regional authorities will be established in other regions of the country.
These authorities will be responsible for strategic planning and for overseeing the delivery of region-wide services, which will include procuring, funding and operating joined-up public transport projects for their region, integrated timetabling and ticketing, development of new routes, linking land use planning to public transport and managing traffic flow.
We will upgrade intercity rail connections to ensure that all major inter-city journeys are faster by rail than by car.
Restore rail links between Ennis and Athenry as part of the Western Rail Corridor.
Extend commuter rail services to the suburbs of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
Support the careful rolling-out of the Rural Transport Initiative nationally, and expand its remit to include late night services.
Communications and Infrastructure
What Labour will do:
The national electricity grid will be strengthened in the west and north-west
to facilitate larger off-shore wind farms and to support a greater density of industry.
Begin to close the digital divide by creating a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband.
Accessibility to broadband networks will assume the same character as the present expectation of universal access to the postal service or telephone network.
An Post is an essential part of the fabric of Irish life, both urban and rural and has a very important social and commercial role in our country.
We will establish a comprehensive strategy for An Post as the 2009 deadline for the fully liberalised market approaches.
Maintain the optimal number of local outlets in the Post Office network with transparent and accountable criteria supporting the network.
This must include ensuring that the postal network is fully automated and maintained.
Encourage a business model for An Post that embraces innovation, / provision of new services and the establishment of mutually rewarding international alliances.
Introduce a postal industry regulator or establish a separate postal operating division within ComReg to ensure that the Universal Service Obligation is upheld,
complaints by householders and businesses are effectively dealt with and consumers’ interests are represented in postal pricing policy.
We will invest in rural water services to ensure access to clean, safe drinking water for all.
An ‘alternative growth pole’
The development of an ‘alternative growth pole’ along the Atlantic Corridor will be pursued.
At  present Ireland only has one city capable of competing with other international cities for certain categories of mobile, high-value added industries.
However, if combined, the populations of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford would provide the critical mass needed to compete with Dublin for investment.
These cities could act in concert to form a major focal point of regional development.
Athlone, Mullingar and Tullamore could also combine their resources to form a growth centre, as could Sligo and Letterkenny-Derry.
An alternative growth pole depends on the cities/counties in question cooperating rather than competing for investment.
Mechanisms will be put in place to ensure proper coordination between public authorities and agencies working in conjunction with the private sector.
CULTURE, SPORT AND HERITAGE
The Challenge
The spheres of sport, arts and culture have long been a distinctive part of the fabric of Irish life.
In a sense they constitute an important part of who we are as a people.
As a country we are proud of our sporting and cultural achievements, whether at a professional level, where our sportsmen and women and artists, writers and musicians continue to excel on the international stage, or at the amateur level,
where the culture of volunteerism is a testimony to the spirit of community that is still alive and well in Irish life.
Nonetheless there is a sense that the sporting, cultural and recreational aspects of life are increasingly under threat.
As our material prosperity increases many of us have less time for sporting, artistic and recreational pursuits.
This is particularly evident in the arts.
For a country which prides itself on its musical, literary and artistic heritage, we have extremely low participation rates in cultural pursuits in comparison to our European counterparts.
A recent Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Commission, estimated that one in three Irish people never attend a gallery, a museum or a play, or sample a variety of live music.
The picture appears to be brighter for sport.
In 2003, for example, Irish people attended more sports events per capita than any other country in the EU15.
Half a million of us regularly play sport, while 400,000 volunteer as coaches, match officials and referees.
Yet, for all the enjoyment and benefits we derive from sport in Ireland, we could do better.
Our elite athletes do not receive enough financial support.
The standing of sports and PE in our schools is abysmal.
Private sector leisure has overtaken public provision at local level, making participation in some sports dependent on income.
Clubs around the country can find it hard to make ends meet, let alone invest in new facilities.
Like the arts and recreation, the public value of our shared heritage has been downgraded over the past ten years.
Our heritage and natural environment belong to all of the people of Ireland, including future generations.
We believe that our common culture and, language and heritage should be protected, not painted as obstacles to progress.
We are also aware, however, that as well as preserving the past, we need to keep a firm eye on the future.
As a country we need to be prepared for the huge shifts in the cultural landscape which are set to take place in the coming years, particularly in the area of digital broadcasting.
Space for culture and recreation has been crowded out in modern Ireland.
We believe that it is time to redress the balance.
Ireland can do better Labour in government will put sport, arts and culture at the heart of the national agenda.
We will provide the support, financial or otherwise, to ensure that every citizen has the opportunity to partake in the cultural and sporting life of the nation.
What Labour will do
The Arts
Art, music, literature and drama are regularly dismissed as being the preserve of the elite.
Labour wants to challenge that perception.
We believe that everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to engage with the arts.
Thus we are proposing a comprehensive and properly resourced cultural strategy,
which will promote artistic excellence as well as ensuring greater access to arts and culture for all our people.
A key aim of our strategy is to improve the quality of and opportunities for education in the arts
so that all children and young people can maximise their creative potential.
We will:
Create a designated Arts section within the Department of Education which will ensure good practice in teaching of the arts at both primary and secondary level.
A review of the curriculum, particularly in primary schools, and ensuring that objectives within the curriculum are being met.
Provide vouchers for music lessons at primary level to ensure where practicable, 30 hours of free tuition by qualified teachers is available to all students during one designated year.
Ensure minimum guaranteed funding for the Arts Council, to be administered on a contestable basis within a multi-annual framework,
and resources to implement outstanding policy commitments.
A designated government fund for local arts development to bring local funding eventually to a level equivalent with central government funding.
Coordinated strategies for Youth Arts development between relevant government departments and agencies,
such as the Arts Council, the Department of Education and local authorities.
Develop an initiative for bringing international arts and culture of the highest quality into this country.
A National Endowment Fund for the Arts to help artists ‘buy time’ to train, to experiment or to think.
The spheres of sport, arts and culture have long been a distinctive part of the fabric of Irish life.
In a sense they constitute an important part of who we are as a people.
Sport
Sport has a vital role to play in every society.
Labour recognises the immense community, health and economic benefits of sport
and will make the advancement of sport and recreation a central part of its policies in government.
We see sport as an essential part of building a better Ireland for hardworking families and communities.
As with our arts policy, we believe that the key to promoting a healthier and fitter society is to start at a young age.
Thus one of our key commitments will be to enhance the role and profile of physical education in our schools.
We will:
Make PE an exam subject for the Junior and Leaving Certificates, giving it points status for third level entry in the latter.
Put the Irish Sports Council, to be renamed Sport and Recreation Ireland, at the heart of the public policy system,
giving it an enhanced coordinating role in respect of capital and current expenditure by central government and its agencies, including local government.
For the elite amateur sector Labour proposes the establishment Gradam, an all-island scheme similar to the Aosdána scheme that has been such a success in the arts and culture sector.
Ensure a permanent home for the Community Games.
Sport and Recreation Ireland will be given a formal role in the local government planning process,
representing the cause of community and amenity development in the planning and zoning system.
Sport and Recreation Ireland will also partner local authorities, OPW, Coillte and Waterways Ireland
to further develop outdoor activity facilities such as treks, walks, cycle ways etc on an integrated local, regional and national basis.
Introduce legislation to address the issue of access by hill walkers to upland areas,
indemnifying landowners from liability for injury experienced by strangers entering on lands where they have not been invited.
Provide funding to schools to upgrade their PE and sporting facilities, where appropriate in association with local sporting bodies.
Funding will also be made available for the provision of specialist sport and physical activity teachers for all primary schools, initially in those schools in the most underprivileged areas.
Introduce after-school and holiday sports schemes for students.
Support and develop minority sports and recreational activities to ensure that all aspects and interests of our population are addressed.
Heritage
Our heritage and our natural environment are precious assets.
Ireland’s historical heritage is integral to our national identity and crucial to tourism and recreation;
our economy is dependent on the natural environment.
Both must be preserved and protected.
Heritage and environmental conservation have been cast by the present government as inhibitors of progress, economic growth and development.
This is a short-sighted and simplistic view and an inappropriate basis for the conduct of environment and conservation policy.
We will:
We will strengthen the legal protection afforded to the cultural heritage of the people, including its archaeological, architectural, monumental, industrial, artistic and scientific heritage.
We will ensure that newly discovered heritage objects, which shed light on our common heritage and history, would belong to the people.
We will also seek to incorporate a commitment to intergenerational justice into legislation concerning environmental sustainability
and our shared heritage.
The duty of care for heritage and conservation out of the Ministry of the Environment, Heritage and Local government, will be transferred to our proposed Department of Climate Change, Energy and the Environment.
Responsibility for conservation of the environment and heritage should not co-exist with responsibility for infrastructure.
The Labour Party is opposed to the building of a motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley.
We accept that the M3 is necessary to relieve commuter congestion and that it should be built in three sections.
However, the section through the Tara-Skryne valley should be re-routed to avoid the destruction of our Celtic heritage.
■ We are particularly concerned at the possibility of major development being attracted to the area around the motorway, which would contribute further damage to Tara and its environs.
Labour in government will work to prevent such development taking place.
■ We will incorporate ecosystem services and economic and social benefits into the cost-benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment of infrastructural projects.
■ We will enhance environment
and heritage education in our schools.
Labour in government will put sport, arts and culture at the heart of the national agenda.
We will provide the support, financial or otherwise, to ensure that every citizen has the opportunity to partake in the cultural and sporting life of the nation
Broadcasting
Public service broadcasting is a vital public service and resource that is essential in any working democracy.
However, Irish public service broadcasting is in danger of being rendered obsolete by the ‘digital age’.
All EU member states are to have completed the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2012.
However, under the outgoing government Ireland has made very little progress towards this target.
The next government will have to face the significant challenge of keeping public service broadcasting technologically and practically relevant in the digital age.
If not, we are in danger of creating a ‘digital divide’ between those who can access new technologies and systems, and those who cannot.
We will:
Ensure a comprehensive digital broadcasting changeover strategy – including choice of platform(s) – is developed as a matter of urgency.
Guarantee that the digital switchover will be achieved equitably and ahead of the EU deadline of end-2012.
Legislate to conserve the RTÉ Authority as a public corporation and the provider of free-toair public service broadcasting services on radio, television and ‘new media’.
Review the role of RTÉ as the state’s public broadcasting corporation in light of the challenges posed by the increased diversity of Irish society and the digital changeover.
We are committed to maintaining the integrity of public service broadcasting.
Conduct a public consultation on the existing television license fee and alternative funding formulas for public service broadcasting in the light of technological convergence,
such consultation to be completed and acted upon within 12 months.
Require the RTÉ Authority to review the current structure of its broadcasting operations and examine possible new, free-to-air public broadcasting services including public affairs broadcasting (i. e. parliamentary broadcasting, coverage of Northern Ireland and European affairs) in the light of the change-over to digital.
Require that the Authority’s free-to-air public services are provided across all relevant platforms.
Mandate RTÉ to provide a number of periods of children’s programming during the day when there would be no advertising
and work at European level towards a ban on advertising aimed at children
Create a new framework for the allocation and management of all radiospectrum (whether for broadcasting or other purposes).
This would distinguish between Reserved spectrum (set aside to meet public interest, social and cultural objectives of government, including public broadcasting goals) and Commercial spectrum.
The latter would be rights-based, assigned or allocated through market mechanisms with spectrum going to its highest value use.
In the context of digitisation and technological convergence, decide whether the Authority’s subsidiary company, RTÉ  Networks, will remain with the Authority or taken into separate public ownership.
Establish a policy-formulation, supervisory, management and regulatory regime,
institutions and rules appropriate to the mixed economy in broadcasting and radio communications, technological convergence and digitisation.
Insist that RTÉ programmes are broadcast in the UK.
The Irish Language
There must be a dramatic and fundamental change in the State’s approach to the preservation and revival of the Irish language.
Considerable resources continue to be invested in the teaching of Irish,
yet the use of Irish has been declining since the foundation of the State.
Despite this clear failure of policy there is no clear, strategic plan for the future of the language.
Furthermore, there is little meaningful dialogue between the State and the citizen on key unresolved issues,
including possibility of widespread bi-lingualism.
Debate on these issues is urgently needed, but it must be open, generous and tolerant.
We need to make a choice about the role of the Irish language in Irish society.
At present, the real choices are being made by the people themselves.
Usage is in decline in the traditional Irish speaking areas, especially among the young,
but interest in its use is growing elsewhere, as demonstrated by the expansion of Irish-medium schools.
The vocabulary and idiom of the language have been adapted to the demands of contemporary society and culture.
Irish language broadcasting has proven a great success, notably TG4 established by a Labour Minister, Michael D. Higgins.
Our objective in government is to stimulate a broad debate about the future of Irish as a spoken language
and to use this as a foundation for future policy.
It will be our aim to reform the approach of the State to Irish so that the efforts of communities and voluntary organisations are re-enforced by adequate funding and encouraged to flourish by a positive support.
Our aim will be to raise the status of Irish as a vernacular and to re-enforce its role in cultural and academic life.
We will:
Establish a Forum on the Irish Language involving all sectors of society and the relevant stakeholders.
We will seek as early as possible a report from each Public Body named in the Schedule to the Official Languages Act 2003
and require it to outline its programme on the Irish Language, its success in achieving policy objectives and details of the resources committed to achieving them.
Education
We will:
Actively support those parents wishing to have their children educated through Irish.
Remove administrative obstacles to the establishment and development of gaelscoileanna and gaelcolaistí and to ensure that they have adequate resources in terms of buildings, teachers and facilities.
Examine how Irish language literacy can be improved in Gaeltacht schools and gaelscoileanna.
We will introduce a range of measures to improve the teaching of Irish in English medium schools.
Explore the development of a new Irish curriculum for primary and post-primary pupils who are native speakers of Irish and those who are attending Irish-medium schools.
Encourage, and financially support, expansion of the gaelcolaistí.
Tackle the crisis regarding the number and quality of teachers capable of teaching through Irish.
Encourage third level institutions to expand the range of courses given through Irish
and insist that Departments of Irish are properly funded and maintained.
We will examine the possibility of reestablishing an Irish language teacher training college.
Launch a project on the “Recovery and Rediscovery of Our National Heritage” with the aim of editing, translating and publishing the vast store of material in Irish and Latin contained in the manuscripts housed in libraries at home and abroad.
Retain and expand the Departments of Old and Middle Irish and Medieval Latin in the universities and,
along with the School of Celtic Studies, charge them with this task.
Fund the collection and publication of folklore and song as part of our heritage project.
UNITING PEOPLE
The Challenge
Ireland stands at the cusp of a remarkable moment in its history.
The coming together of both communities to govern a peaceful Northern Ireland is the culmination of a long and painful journey.
Citizens on both parts of this island shared an important part of that journey when they voted overwhelmingly to support the Good Friday Agreement.
Theirs was the strongest mandate for a new departure in Irish politics, north and south of the border.
To appreciate how far we have come we should take stock of what we are leaving behind.
More than 3,500 deaths on this island over the last 30 years were directly linked to the sectarian conflict in the North.
Around 100 people a year on this small island were murdered every year since 1969, simply because of who they were, where they came from, who they voted for or what church they prayed in.
And for every murder victim there were was an ever-increasing circle of the injured, the bereaved and the frightened.
Politicians calcified the bitterness, handing it on to their successors.
Communities were brutally segregated.
The politics of the last atrocity overshadowed the wider tragedy.
The ‘national question’ dominated Irish life for decades when we could have been questioning what kind of social and economic future we wanted for ourselves and our children, whether those children lived in Dublin or Derry.
But that is the past.
Today we have an opportunity to ask what kind of Ireland we want for all of its inhabitants, and the opportunity to create it.
There is a new dispensation on the island of Ireland.
We have the chance to make anew the relationship between the people of North and South and between previously divided communities in Northern Ireland.
Labour in government will continue working for peace.
We are ambitious for a peace that is not simply the absence of aggression, but which results from a willing and easy sharing of space, a peace between people at ease with each other and working to assist each other.
However, despite all the signs of hope at political level, the scourge of sectarianism remains.
While the long-awaited high-level engagement between political leaders is welcome, society in Northern Ireland is now more sustained in its divisions, such as where people live, where they socialise and where they send their children to school, than it was three decades ago.
Ironically, while the argument is often made that politicians in the North were out of step with the lives and relationships of ordinary people, the risk now is that politicians have shown an ability to share a communal life that has become entirely foreign to most of their constituents.
Ireland can do better It is time to put partition behind us, and to explore how cooperating on an all-island basis can benefit all of the people of Ireland and enrich our shared culture and traditions.
What Labour will do
Labour fully supports the “Shared Future” initiative.
All of us on this island need to invest in policies and frameworks that will deliver good relations and a shared future in Northern Ireland.
We will put reconciliation and measures to improve relationships between the communities in Northern Ireland,
and between the people North and South, at the top of our agenda in government.
Following the re-establishment of the Assembly and Executive, Labour wants to see swift implementation of all outstanding elements of the Good Friday Agreement
– an agreement that we continue to support wholeheartedly as the best way of achieving a fully peaceful, democratic and lawful Northern Ireland and island of Ireland.
All parties with a democratic mandate must signal their support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
They must take their seats on the Policing Board and the District Policing Partnerships,
and demonstrate proactive participation in the policing and criminal justice structures in the North.
The PSNI must be given all the support and resources necessary to tackle dissident republican and loyalist paramilitary organisations that continue to be involved in criminality.
Labour in government will work to further develop North/South political, economic, cultural and social links.
This must,in the first instance,be achieved through the immediate establishment of the North/South Parliamentary Forum, to allow better relationships and understanding develop between political representatives North and South.
We will support all efforts to develop the Northern Ireland economy, improve cross border trade, implement an all-island spatial plan and further progress the North/South agenda as laid out in the National Development Plan.
We welcome the major progress that has been made in implementing the Patten Report, ensuring a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland.
We will ensure increased structural co-operation and new relationships at every level, including the level of joint training, between the Garda Síochána and the PSNI.
And we will prioritise the policing secondment and lateral entry provisions of the Patten Report to allow exchanges – either on a temporary or permanent basis – between members of each police service.
Centenary of the 1916 Rising
In the South, we have our own memories, some of them quite bitter.
And we have our own task of reconciliation.
This State was founded after a spontaneous insurrection, then a war of independence and, almost immediately after that, a civil war.
The civil war cost more lives than had died in the war of independence – all of them Irish.
It also cost more lives – around 4,000 in just eleven months – than died during 30 years of troubles in Northern Ireland.
Both sides carried out brutal acts.
Senior figures, now prominent as icons of our political parties, died at the hands of the other side.
And it left Irish society deeply divided for generations.
Its influence in politics is still evident today.
It is time for us to recollect and to reconcile.
We will put in train preparations for the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, in a manner that honours the contribution of the men and women of Easter Week,
while also showing respect for all traditions on the island.
Labour wil ensure that Connolly’s socialist outlook and the place of Labour in Irish history are fully represented in these preparations.
As part of the preparations for the centenary we will commission the preparation of a definitive list of all those who died in the conflict on our island in the period from Easter 1916 to the end of the civil war.
The list will be inclusive.
It will include northerners and southerners, British and Irish, combatants and non-combatants, and it will include a description of the circumstances of each of their deaths.
A FAIRER WORLD
The Challenge
Labour, since its foundation, has been an international party.
Its founders believed in the interdependency of the different peoples of the world,
the indivisible nature of the task of justice and the mobilising power of solidarity.
Globalisation has greatly benefited Ireland, but with it has come ever greater responsibility.
The free market economy,
the diffusion of arms and military capability, climate change and the global reach of new technologies mean that we now have an unprecedented capacity to help or to harm those far beyond our national borders.
Labour’s core ideals of freedom, equality, community and democracy have always informed our solidarity with all people in all nations,
and particularly those in the developing world who are most in need of our support.
In 2007, that support is needed more than ever.
The UN’s Millennium Development Goals are still some way from realisation, with only five countries reaching the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for overseas aid.
It is essential that developing countries are also able to trade their own way out of poverty.
The WTO’s Doha Development Round, which was supposed to have concluded by 2004, collapsed in 2006.
Meanwhile, in the absence of the development-friendly trade agreements it was intended to produce, bilateral trade treaties have proliferated.
These bilateral treaties offer little of the protection afforded by the negotiating blocs of the WTO, leaving the least developed countries open to exploitation.
A globalised economy also means a globalised arms trade, and one that is rapidly expanding.
Arms components come from all over the world, including Ireland, while the movement of production facilities, technology and brokers is more fluid than ever before.
Ireland’s public support for an Arms Trade Treaty and a ban on cluster bombs is a welcome step in the right direction.
However, is it essential that the forthcoming Control of Exports Bill,
intended to update our legislation on arms trading and brokering,
precipitates greater transparency in Ireland’s export and brokering of military, security and police apparatus and small arms.
International security must be achieved through adherence to international law.
We are fully committed to the United Nations and reform / which would make it a more effective, more democratic institution.
Ireland must respect international law within its own borders and proactively support it abroad.
Our defence forces should be developed to respond to new peacekeeping challenges and natural disasters
and to build on their proud history in UN and EU peacekeeping missions.
In an increasingly interconnected world, Ireland has a real choice to make about its interaction with the global community.
We believe that that choice must be an ethical one.
Ireland can do better The Labour Party invites public support for a New Departure towards an ethical Irish foreign policy that is rights-based, that respects international law, that promotes human rights and development and gives concrete expression to our ideals of international solidarity.
What Labour will do
Overseas Aid
We will:
Pass our Development Cooperation Bill to establish Ireland’s official development aid / expenditure as 0.7 per cent of GNP annually.
The equivalent of 0.7 per cent of GNP will be paid in quarterly installments into our proposed Development Cooperation Ireland Fund regardless of whether funds from the previous year have been spent or not.
Reverse the decision to decentralise Irish Aid.
Ensure that Ireland Aid is appropriately resourced to deliver the highest standard of oversight, transparency and value for money in the spending of Irish development aid.
We will initiate a genuine dialogue on ‘good governance’.
Work with local partners on the ground in countries receiving Irish development assistance to ensure that aid is recipient-driven and targeted where it can be most useful.
Publish current and planned Irish aid contributions in Irish Aid programme countries
and encourage other donors to do the same.
Work within the Council of Ministers to ensure that EU aid is transparent and clearly targeted at achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Press for the extension of human rights into the development arena, for example the right to water.
Ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
Favour the establishment at the level of the UN of a Rapid Response Agency for natural and human disasters.
Trade
■ We support the Doha Development Round and the delivery of fair trade rules for the developing world.
We will seek to develop special measures for developing countries within the WTO which allow them to regulate essential domestic services.
We will work to ensure that Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and African Caribbean states are not exploitative and are compatible with the realisation of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
We will ensure that government departments purchase Fair Trade goods wherever possible.
Arms
We support an Arms Trade Treaty that will effectively control the international trade in arms, including small arms and light weapons.
We support a universal ban on cluster bombs
and will actively encourage other governments to do the same.
We will ensure full and transparent reporting of arms trading and brokering as detailed in the Control of Exports Bill.
We will apply extra territorial controls to brokering of small arms, torture equipment and death penalty equipment,
as well as those weapons covered by the EU Code of Conduct.
We will reinstate the practice of publishing export licensing data on the website of the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment.
We will develop the initiative of the New Agenda Group in relation to the Nonproliferation Treaty as to nuclear disarmaments,
and press under the Treaty for the compliance of the nuclear powers with their commitment.
Climate Change
We have set out our commitment to domestic greenhouse gas reductions earlier in this document.
We recognise that tackling global warming is indivisible from supporting development.
Development aid will be wasted if, within a few decades, the populations we are seeking justice for are struggling indefinitely with more disease, flooding and drought.
We also support the creation of an international Climate Change Fund to help vulnerable developing countries adapt to changing weather patterns arising from global warming.
This fund should be strictly separate to development aid.
Peace, Cooperation and Defence
Labour remains committed to the principle that Ireland should not become party to any mutual defence treaty or any EU agreement for common defence.
The Irish people prize their tradition of military neutrality and we intend to uphold our Labour tradition of positive neutrality.
However, military neutrality does not bind us to isolation or inactivity.
We are committed to seeing the Defence Forces playing a full part in the whole range of humanitarian and peace-related tasks,
including tasks of combat forces in crisis management.
We believe in putting positive neutrality into practice, for example with regard to human rights protection.
In relation to international security, Labour is committed to the United Nations, which, however imperfect, is our closest approximation to a universally accepted institution based on international law.
We will also play an active role in the development of European Foreign and Security policy,
such as is derived from the principles of international law.
Promoting peace at home
Labour believes that the international community should learn from the recent illegally declared war in Iraq.
We believe that positive compliance with international law
and the policy principles of positive neutrality require us to not allow our airspace or facilities to be used for such purposes as facilitating such a war,
or preparing for such a conflict.
We will institute a regime requiring compliance with human rights obligations
that will be implemented through monitoring and inspection measures.
Furthermore, in government we will not allow Shannon Airport or other Irish facilities to be used for the prosecution of any war, or military preparation for such, outside of international law, international humanitarian law, or in breach of the Charter of the United Nations.
In the case of Shannon, and consistent with our policy for more balanced regional development,
Labour in government is committed to facilitating the development and growth of civilian traffic volumes using the airport.
In accordance with the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation, we will put in place an adequate and effective regime for the inspection and search of civil aircraft,
so as to ensure that no aid or assistance is given to ‘extraordinary rendition’
and to guarantee the compliance of Ireland with international law and related conventions.
Peacekeeping and defence
Our defence forces will participate in international missions only where they involve the protection of international peace
and security and where they are lawful under the UN Charter and in accordance with international law.
Under no circumstances whatsoever will the Irish army engage in or assist international aggression
or any other act which is contrary to international law.
Participation in battlegroups under EU auspices will be in accordance with these governing principles.
Labour is committed to maintaining the ‘triple lock’: we will ensure that participation in the Nordic Battlegroup is limited to peacekeeping, peace enforcement and other actions which have government, UN and Dáil approval.
We will invest in the future of the Defence Forces as a modern, world class, light infantry force,
capable of participating in the full range of UN peacekeeping missions in as large a complement as possible.
We will further encourage and develop opportunities to contribute to international tasks for all branches of the military including the Reserve Defence Forces
and also for the Garda Síochána.
We will actively encourage lawfully resident nonnationals to enlist in the Defence Forces.
We will actively encourage the recruitment of women into the Defence Forces
and take a determined approach to stamping out bullying and harassment.
Conduct of Foreign Policy
We are committed to supporting the United Nations and its institutions,
including the Bretton-Woods institutions, while calling for necessary reform of these bodies.
Drawing on our rights perspective in foreign policy,
we stress the importance of our positive neutrality policy in developing strategies of human rights protection through the agency of the United Nations.
We are committed to the forward movement towards the indivisibility and universality of human rights.
Labour supports the delegation of peace keeping functions to regional authorities by the UN,
under appropriate mandate and control so as to enable speedy conflict prevention and resolution.
We will work towards the development of new institutional relationships that will assist in the anticipation of conflicts that are increasingly intra-state
and are thus not amenable to being addressed by conventional, and especially military, strategies.
In relation to the continuing loss of life in Palestine and Israel, Labour believes that any enduring peace will have to be based on acceptance of the principles of international law;
the resolutions of the United Nations; with the recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to a viable state
and the right of the people of Israel to live in security and peace and an end to violence of all kinds.
We believe it is urgent that countries such as Ireland give a lead in encouraging a dialogue with moderate Islam.
Labour will give the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs a more active role in the initiation of policy proposals, research and publication.
Irish appointees to the Bretton Woods institutions will be required to be ratified by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and to appear annually before the committee.
We will seek to eliminate the backlog in relation to ratification of UN conventions relating to human and natural welfare.
Labour favours the movement away from a dualistic approach to international law, and favours the entry into Irish domestic law of such international principles
as are agreed by the more advanced and rightsdriven members of the international community.
The European Union
The Labour Party is committed to a united and peaceful continent of Europe,
and a union of states working together to the benefit of all.
We believe that a democratic and inclusive Europe offers a more prosperous, culturally enriching and secure life for Irish citizens,
for other Europeans and for the citizens of the rest of the world.
In light of this we will work for:
A More Relevant Europe
incorporation of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights into the proposed EU Constitutional Treaty reflect our long-standing commitment to a more just and equal Europe for all.
This is why we support the Constitutional Treaty.
However, the momentum of the European project has stalled, largely because the public have not been persuaded of the need for change.
To address this critical problem, we will
Support the convening of an Intergovernmental Conference to agree Protocols on three key policy issues of great concern to Europe’s citizens.
These are climate change, global poverty and human trafficking – all complex problems which cannot be solved without a high degree of international cooperation.
These protocols would set out the powers necessary to deal with these challenges, state the intention of the Member States to act through national and EU structures and set out the concrete steps to be taken if the Constitutional Treaty enters into force.
Support a greater level of EU co-operation in tackling cross border crime particularly in the trafficking of drugs and people
and will work constructively with our European partners to ensure progress in this area.
■  Promote in advance of the review of EU spending in 2008/09,
a national debate involving the Oireachtas and social partners on the future of the EU budget.
A More Democratic Europe at Home and in Brussels
Labour has worked hard in recent years to ensure the Oireachtas can properly oversee what our governments do in Brussels.
We will continue to ensure greater democracy at home in relation to EU matters.
We will work to enhance Oireachtas scrutiny of EU proposals and EU decision-making.
We want all EU legislation to be made in public.
A Social Europe
We want a Europe that ensures a better quality of life for all its citizens.
We reject the race to the bottom as epitomised by the Irish Ferries debacle.
Through our allies in the PES we have developed a firm vision for the future of a renewed social Europe which values communities but embraces economic and social reform.
We will strive in government to promote these values Europe wide particularly by:
Urging the Commission to adopt clear headline targets for the EU to reduce the levels of poverty measured against GDP by 2010 and a clear way of measuring progress in this regard.
Pressing the Commission to produce a draft Framework Directive on Services of General Interest (i.e. public services) clarifying the rights and duties of such services under EC law.
Supporting reform of the EU social model which is based on the core values of the EU member states: equality, solidarity, redistribution.
A Globally Responsible Europe
The EU is a major economic world power.
It needs to use this power for development, to eradicate hunger, control the arms trade and foster democracy and human rights.
In the WTO we need to ensure greater openness and a fairer world trade system particularly for the developing world.
Labour will work for a globally responsible Europe by
Recognising the key importance of the EU Neighbourhood Policy and relations with the Russian Federation.
We believe as an EU partner Russia must show a strong commitment to human rights and real democracy.
Ensuring the fundamental spirit of the integration project which sought to create a true zone of peace, stability, prosperity and justice in Europe continues to be offered to our neighbours.
Supporting EU action to promote peace
and stability on the continent of Europe – as in Bosnia and Kosovo where Irish troops and police serve with distinction – and beyond, as in Gaza and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Working to ensure that EU aid and trade policies do not undermine the efforts of the poorest countries to grow and develop.
We particularly believe that the NEAP process needs to be re-examined in this light.
The Labour Party invites public support for a New Departure towards an ethical Irish foreign policy that is rights-based, that respects international law, that promotes human rights and development and gives concrete expression to our ideals of international solidarity.
Rewarding Work & Enterprise
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
This Party has achieved significant progress in reducing tax.
The top rate has been reduced from 48% to 41%.
Our commitment, should we be re-elected, is to further cut the top rate by another 1% in Budget 2008.
There have been substantial reductions in the basic rate of income tax too, down from 26% to 20%.
The net effect is that the income tax system has been made considerably more progressive under this government:
In 1997, a single person on the average industrial wage paid 22% of their income in income tax.
In 2007 such a person will pay just 9%.
In 1997, the top 1% of income earners contributed 14% of the total income tax take.
Now they contribute over 20%.
As a result, unemployment has tumbled from “old Europe” levels of over 10% with emigration under the opposition parties to less than 5%/ with considerable immigration today.
Current Background
There is a consensus amongst economic commentators that apart from a major external or internal shock the Irish economy should continue to grow strongly in a range from just under 5% to 5.7%.
This will generate a considerable increase in the resources available to the Exchequer.
The question is whether all of these resources should be spent further growing public expenditure?
The Progressive Democrats believe in returning a significant portion of the increased resources to the people by way of tax cuts.
The Progressive Democrats believe that tax reduction should be a strategic objective for the next government.
We believe that it will be possible to significantly reduce the tax bill of middle-income earners
while allowing for generous growth in public spending.
New Opportunities
Subject to maintaining budgetary prudence, in government the Progressive Democrats will:
Adjust tax bands so that a couple, both earning, can earn at least €100,000 and only pay income tax at the standard rate.
This would mean that a single worker could earn €50,000 and only pay income tax at the standard rate.
Increase tax credits so that couples earning up to €40,000 will pay no income tax.
This would mean that a single worker could earn €20,000 and pay no income tax.
Reduce the higher rate of income tax to 38% in the lifetime of the next government.
Reduce the lower rate of income tax to 18% in the lifetime of the next government.
Ensure no new, additional taxes / levies on employment.
Guarantee that those earning the minimum wage pay no income tax.
Continue to increase tax credits and bands so that inflation is not used as a tax-raising mechanism.
Our Record on Tax Reform
Making Stamp Duty Fair
New Ireland
Current Background
Property prices have risen dramatically over the last decade
and this has fuelled a massive rise in receipts of Stamp Duty.
Stamp Duty receipts have jumped from €0.5 billion in 1997 to €3.6 billion in 2006.
Stamp Duty operates in a way that is arbitrary and often unfair.
Consider these examples:
A couple who each own an apartment worth €300,000 would have to pay €45,000 in Stamp Duty if they were to simply buy and move together into a second-hand €600,000 house.
In other words, the couple would have to pay about one-and-a-half times the average wage just to move in together and without increasing their net investment in property.
A first-time buyer couple might decide to purchase a second-hand house which is on the market for €630,000.
They expect to pay Stamp Duty at 6% totalling almost €38,000.
But if the house price goes above €635,000 they have to pay Stamp Duty at a rate of 9%.
If the house price rose to €640,000, the couple would have to pay almost €58,000.
In other words, a rise in the house price of just €10,000 could trigger an increase in Stamp Duty of €20,000.
A couple whose children have left the family home might decide to sell their home in order to move into a smaller second-hand house costing €450,000.
They would have to pay almost €34,000 in Stamp Duty.
Michael McDowell raised the issue of Stamp Duty at a meeting of the Progressive Democrats on September 18th, 2006.
In his statement he said:
Stamp duty is an issue of huge concern for thousands of home owners and would-be home owners around the country.
It is our belief that there is scope for a significant re-adjustment of the stamp duty situation as it pertains to homeowners.
We intend in our election manifesto, which will be published next year, to address this issue head on.
The Progressive Democrats believe in speedily reducing the burden of Stamp Duty on owner-occupiers
and in reducing the unfairness of the current system caused by the lack of tapering relief.
We do not see any need to reduce Stamp Duty for professional investors.
New Opportunities
Subject to maintaining budgetary prudence, in government the Progressive Democrats will:
Abolish stamp duty for first time buyers
Make stamp duty fairer by “banding” rates so that owner-occupiers pay the higher rate only on the portion of the price over each threshold
Given the critical nature of this particular reform we will:
Implement our reform with an immediate effect.
Implement our reform via legislation enacted before the new Dáil rises for the 2007 Summer Recess.
These changes will mean:
Reducing stamp duty to be paid on the average national house price by €8,250 - from €15,500 to €7,250,
and reducing stamp duty charge to be paid on the average home in Dublin by €17,050 - from €32,250 to €15,200
The terms that currently apply regarding stamp duty exemption will also apply to the Party's new proposal to abolish stamp duty for all first time buyers.
That is:
A first time buyer is a person who has not previously purchased or built a house or apartment anywhere in the world and who is purchasing a house or apartment for use as their principal place of residence.
Where there is more than one buyer, each of the buyers must be a first time buyer to qualify for first  time buyer provisions.
The exemption applies only where the size of the property does not exceed 125 square metres / 1,345 square feet.
Also:
The ‘banding’ proposal applies only to principal place of residence.
Keeping the Country Moving: Safely
New Ireland
The Progressive Democrats in Government have devised and implemented policies to deliver increasing prosperity to our population
via economic growth.
Another product of our economic success is the 17% increase in the population of our country over the past ten years - now 4.2 million people.
By 2021 our population may well exceed 5 million people.
This population growth places incredible demands on our transport infrastructure
and Ireland is moving from a low base towards world-class transport infrastructure provision.
Significant strides have been made over the last decade in the area of infrastructural development.
We have invested €655 million to make our national rail network safe.
The National Development Plan (2000 – 2006) provided for the investment of €57 billion of public funds.
We have delivered, among other things:
526 kilometres of new roads including 173 kilometres of motorway and 137 kilometres of dual carriageway.
Projects completed include:
Dublin Port Tunnel
M1 Dublin – Dundalk
M4 Kinnegad – Enfield
M7 Monasterevin bypass
M7 Kildare bypass
M50 South-Eastern motorway
Second M50 bridge
Current Background
The recently published National Development Plan 2007 – 2013
sets out the framework to invest €184 billion over the coming 7 years in order to:
Eliminate infrastructural gaps.
Maintain the strength of our enterprise economy by investing in worker training and skills and by expanding our science, technology and innovation capacity.
Develop our social infrastructure
and address the needs of social inclusion.
Achieve balanced regional development.
Protect and improve our natural environment.
Economic growth is not an end in itself.
The Progressive Democrats believe we must not only end Ireland’s infrastructure deficit
we must create a platform to create balanced regional growth throughout the island
and a better quality of life for all our people.
In particular, we are concerned that the regions should not fall behind.
That means providing housing within an easy commute of work,
and cities and suburbs that are well-planned,
family friendly
and pleasant places to live.
Quality living requires the highest quality infrastructure across the State,
with well-thought out proposals to provide some counter-balance to the expanding Greater Dublin Area.
Over the lifetime of the next Government, the Progressive Democrats will build on the objectives of the National Development Plan to:
Fully implement Transport 21
and the new National Development Plan:
Create a road network,
in line with the timetable in Transport 21, that will see the completion of the major inter-urban routes and will upgrade links generally between the National Spatial Strategy gateway
Centres and improve the non-national road network;
Deliver a radically upgraded public transport system
in line with the timetable in Transport 21, especially in the Greater Dublin Area
(GDA), but with significant impacts in other areas;
Promote North/South co-operation
in infrastructure planning
and delivery to develop integrated all-island infrastructure for the benefit of all on the island;
Improve the infrastructure of the three State Airports
and provide support for investment in the regional airports;
Better equip the ports sector to meet national and regional capacity and service needs;
The Progressive Democrats commit ourselves to prioritising road safety measures in our transport and infrastructure plans.
The establishment of the Road Safety Authority in September 2006 is an important development and we will continue to support the Authority in its role to co-ordinate and advance the road safety agenda.
The Authority rightly has responsibility for the testing of drivers and vehicles,
oversight of the driver licensing system,
driver education
and the promotion of awareness of road safety in general.
It will also have responsibility for the road research element of the NRA,
which researches road accidents.
We will pursue policies to support and augment the work of the Authority over the next 5 years.
Keeping the Country Moving: Safely
New Opportunities
Public Transport
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Prioritise the statutory establishment of the Dublin Transportation Authority,
and establish a national regulatory framework
for public transport,
which facilitates the optimum provision of such services by way of a level playing field for all market participants.
Upgrade public transport services in provincial cities and in the regions,
including additional buses,
new bus priority measures
and new park and ride sites.
Mainstream accessibility for persons with disabilities across all modes of public transport, including fully accessible city buses and enhancing the accessibility of bus and railway stations.
Promote sustainable and integrated transport solutions,
including clean urban public transport modes,
clean vehicle technologies and fuels,
and walking and cycling.
(Please see our extensive environment policy chapter).
Introduce a fully integrated, customer-friendly, smart card ticketing system in the Greater Dublin Area,
facilitating the use of different transport modes
(bus, LUAS, DART, Irish Rail etc) in single journeys.
Invest €90 million under the NDP in the Rural Transport Initiative.
Implement our Access All Stations policy:
Establish a passengers' charter to guarantee improved access to commuter rail stations across the country.
Ensure all commuter railway stations will have affordable and accessible local feeder services,
subsidised as necessary,
based on best value for public money.
Instruct the new Dublin Transport Authority (DTA),
to carry out a study of feeder bus services, car parking and park-and-ride services for all commuter rail stations.
Ensure the DTA,
Íarnród Éireann Rail and Local Authorities have clear areas of responsibility for linking services and pedestrian access to stations.
Work to see that in large urban areas commuters will not have to
walk for more than 10 minutes to a stop for at least one form of public transport service, be it bus, LUAS, DART, Metro or suburban rail.
Develop a network of Park and Ride Facilities outside the M-50
as being critical to cutting commute times and to fully exploit the existing rail network.
Evaluate the scheduling and timeliness of bus and rail commuter services to support service operators deliver adequate and appropriate service.
Ensure adequate infrastructure so people may commute safely on bicycle and on foot.
Roads
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Complete the development of a European standard motorway and road system for Ireland.
Develop a new Outer Orbital Route to run from the M7,
and connect to the M4, M3, M2 and M1, serving the new Dublin regional port at Bremore.
To ensure that the orbital route does not become congested by short haul traffic, the number of off ramps will be strictly controlled.
M1 Motorway - Dublin to Border
Provide motorway standard road all the way from the present Dublin Port site to the border.
N2 Dublin to Monaghan, the border and on to the northwest
Complete a standard or wide two lane single carriageway from Dublin, to the border, and serving Donegal, Letterkenny and Derry.
M3 Dublin to Cavan and the Border
Provide motorway to link the North West, Cavan and North Meath with Dublin City by 2010.
N4 Dublin to Sligo
Provide a high quality link between Sligo and Dublin by 2015.
N5 Dublin to Westport and Castlebar
Complete high quality link between the strategically important towns of Westport and Castlebar and Dublin, by 2015.
Deliver bypasses of Ballaghadereen, Longford, Strokestown, and major improvements on the Castlebar/Westport section of the route.
N6 Dublin to Galway / N7 Dublin to Limerick / N8 Dublin to Cork / N9 to Waterford
Ensure major interurban routes are completed by 2010.
Deliver Galway City Outer Bypass in 2011.
Progress a bypass of Claregalway.
Progress an orbital route north of Limerick, linking the N7 and the Limerick-Ennis road.
Complete the N21 Adare Bypass- Newcastle West -Abbeyfeale route.
N11 Dublin to Rosslare
Provide motorway/high quality dual carriageway from south of Gorey to the M50 by 2010.
N15-N17-N18-N20-N25 Atlantic Corridor
Improve access between Letterkenny to Waterford via Sligo, Tuam, Ennis, Limerick, Mallow and Cork, by 2015.
N25 Rosslare to Waterford
Link Port of Rosslare with the Atlantic Road Corridor and the N9 and N11 by 2015.
N28 Cork to Ringaskiddy
Progress this scheme to facilitate docklands development.
M50 Upgrade
Provide 32km of motorway from 2 to 3 lanes in each direction (with a 4th auxiliary lane in places), from the M50/M1 interchange near Dublin Airport through to the Sandyford Interchange and the upgrade of 10 junctions along this route, by 2010.
Purchase the Westlink bridge and remove the toll-plaza.
Introduce barrier-free tolling in 2008.
Introduce free-flow interchange junctions.
Invest €13.3 billion in national roads and €4.3 billion in non-national roads under the NDP to:
Improve the road links between our main towns and cities.
Continue upgrading of road links
to Northern Ireland.
Target improvement of key national secondary routes.
Improve and maintain strategic non-national roads, which will complement the national roads investment.
Rail
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Focus NDP investment on the provision of enhanced rail services,
including either. hourly/two hourly services on the principal intercity routes serviced by modern rolling stock.
Complete the Metro North line from city centre to Swords via Dublin Airport,
and develop the Metro West line.
Integration with other modes will be maximised.
Enhance, link and extend the LUAS network to City West, Cherrywood, Docklands, Bray and Lucan.
Expand the capacity of the suburban rail network through city-centre resignalling, four-tracking the line between Hazlehatch and Heuston,
electrifying the Kildare line to Hazlehatch, the Northern line to Balbriggan, and the Maynooth line,
and re-opening the Dublin to Navan rail link
Commence the Heuston Docklands Interconnector
and the electrification of sections of the Dublin suburban rail network.
Develop the Atlantic Corridor rail link in order to release
the full potential of the Mid-West and West
Develop the commuter rail system (Tuam-Athenry-Galway) for Galway, and progress the phased re-opening of the Western Rail Corridor from Ennis to Claremorris.
Build a light rail system linking Cork city centre, Docklands, Douglas, Rochestown, Carrigaline, Airport, Bishopstown, and Ballincollig and extend the Middleton-Cork line to Mallow and Blarney.
Initiate an urgent feasibility study on commuter rail for Limerick,
and on the LASER (Limerick And Shannon Express Rail) Project.
Keeping the Country Moving: Safely
Air
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €1.9 billion in air transport
under the NDP
Extend overall capacity at Dublin Airport to cater for in excess of 30 million passengers by:
Opening a new Pier D at Dublin Airport, with a capacity for an additional 14 departure gates, by 2008.
Completing the second terminal at Dublin Airport by the end 2009.
Progressing the provision of a second runway at Dublin Airport.
Planning further terminal capacity provision at Dublin Airport in advance of inevitable demand.
Complete the Metro North connection from the Airport to the city centre.
Ensure the process of establishing independent airports - a policy driven by this Party - at Cork and Shannon is completed.
Support regional airports at Waterford, Farranfore, Knock, Sligo, Galway and Donegal,
complement the State Airports and to help promote regional development.
€96.5 million of capital funding will be made available under the NDP,
and deliver on a commitment of €7.5 million for the development of the City of Derry Airport.
Provide subventions to the regional airports for core operational expenditure
and to airlines operating public service obligation routes, while promoting commercially viable routes
from and between the regional airports.
Sea Transport
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Relocate the industrial activities of Dublin Port over time to Bremore in North County Dublin
and redevelop the port site for a high quality mixed use development of cultural commercial and housing as well as a port for cruise and passenger ferries
– creating A New Heart for Dublin.
Rapidly advance Cork Docklands development.
Create a major international air-sea freight hub on the Shannon estuary, which will integrate mid-western road, air and sea facilities.
Road Safety
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Work with and support the Road Safety Authority to prioritise road safety measures across all relevant government Departments and agencies.
Action will be taken in four specific areas:
Education
Making road safety training a mandatory element of the secondary school curriculum.
Encouraging and helping schools deliver age appropriate safety messages.
Ensuring effective safety campaigns using media to target various groups.
Guaranteeing an effective and efficient driver testing system.
Regulating the driving instruction industry to enable the delivery of quality tuition to learner drivers.
Implementing a scheme of training for vocational drivers.
Enforcement
o  Making certain all necessary and appropriate resources are provided to An Garda Siochána to ensure our road safety laws are properly policed and enforced.
Ensuring Ireland has an effective and efficient driver licensing regime.
Enforcing and monitoring compliance with roadworthiness testing regimes for motor vehicles and the rules relating to road haulage.
Engineering-
Providing adequate capability and resources to the NRA and Local Authorities
to ensure optimum road design, construction, maintenance, rest facilities and signage
– employing a ‘total system’ approach.
Evaluation-
Supporting the development of a comprehensive road safety research programme by the Road Safety Authority.
o  Ensuring all necessary road safety interventions are properly monitored for effectiveness.
o  Providing for the identification of hazardous crashed vehicles by the use of centralised crash data.
Keeping the Country Moving: Safely
Dublin Metropolitan Plan
The Progressive Democrats understand the strategic importance of a thriving capital city to the success of Ireland as a whole.
Consequently, we believe the individual elements below represent a comprehensive metropolitan plan for Dublin,
and we will prioritise its implementation in government:
Relocate the industrial activities of Dublin Port over time to Bremore in North County Dublin
and redevelop the port site for a high quality mixed use development of cultural commercial and housing as well as a port for cruise and passenger ferries – creating A New Heart for Dublin.
See www.newheartfordublin.ie
Upgrade public transport services in Dublin,
including additional buses,
new bus priority measures and new park
and ride sites.
Prioritise the statutory establishment of the Dublin Transportation Authority to facilitate the optimum provision of services by way of a level playing field for all market participants.
Significantly expand the bus fleet and bus priority measures.
Introduce a fully integrated, customer-friendly, smart card ticketing system in the Greater Dublin Area, facilitating the use of different transport modes (bus, LUAS, DART, Irish Rail etc) in single journeys.
Implement our Access All Stations policy (above) in respect of all of Dublin’s rail stations.
Ensure adequate infrastructure across the city so people may commute safely on bicycle and on foot.
Develop a new Outer Orbital Route to run from the M7, and connect to the M4, M3, M2 and M1, serving the new Dublin regional port at Bremore.
To ensure that the orbital route does not become congested by short haul traffic, the number of off ramps will be strictly controlled.
Complete construction of all the major interurban routes linking Dublin to our large provincial centres.
Focus NDP investment on the provision of enhanced rail services, including either hourly/two hourly services on the principal intercity routes serviced by modern rolling stock.
Complete the Metro North line from city centre to Swords via Dublin Airport,
and develop the Metro West line.
Enhance and extend the LUAS network.
Expand the capacity of the suburban rail network through city-centre resignalling,
quadrupling of track on the Kildare line and re-opening of the Dublin to Navan rail link.
Commence the Heuston Docklands Interconnector
and the electrification of section of the Dublin suburban rail network.
Extend overall capacity at Dublin Airport to cater for in excess of 30 million passengers by:
Opening a new Pier D at Dublin Airport, with a capacity for an additional 14 departure gates, by 2008.
Completing the second terminal at Dublin Airport by the end 2009.
Progressing the provision of a second runway at Dublin Airport.
Planning further terminal capacity provision at Dublin Airport in advance of inevitable demand.
Keeping the Country Moving: Safely
Better Public Service
New Ireland
Progress Made Since 1997
Ireland’s largest employer is the State which accounts for 40% of all economic activity,
spends over €50bn a year and employs almost 350,000 people in almost 600 Departments and Agencies.
It is critical to Ireland’s continued competitiveness that we increase productivity in all sectors of the economy - this applies as much to the Government as to the private sector.
The Progressive Democrats have contributed to significant government advances in public service management by:
Establishing the Gárda Inspectorate.
This is an example of implanting an engine for reform within a public service body.
Establishment of the National Treatment Purchase Fund
– Following the establishment of the NTPF, hospital waiting lists have fallen heavily.
This is an example of successful outsourcing.
Ending the vast expense of prison overtime.
Establishing the Health Services Executive.
As a society, we benefit from a depoliticised system area and the application instead of health and professional considerations.
The Shared Services Centre of the Department of Justice (based in Killarney) provides back-office services for the finance and administration Departments of a number of government departments.
This is an example of improving productivity by bundling provision of similar services for different agencies together.
The finance functions of various government Departments have much more in common with one another than with their actual parent Departments.
Despite much progress, there are well-founded concerns about the efficiency and responsiveness of many public services.
New Opportunities
The Progressive Democrats regard reform of the public sector as hugely important.
Such a reform process has to build on the strengths of the public sector and address any weaknesses.
As taxpayers, the people of Ireland need to be confident that best value for money is being secured,
that expenditure programmes are effective, and that these programmes are carried out efficiently.
Time must be made of the essence in public service delivery,
and the project management skills and personal accountability associated with the private sector
must be imported to the public service in cases where it is lacking.
The public service must construct and adhere to strict value for money criterion,
and every Government Department and State Agency must constantly self-evaluate its own effectiveness
and assess whether better, alternative methods of meeting objectives can be adopted.
To this end, the Progressive Democrats place at the heart of our policy on public service reform the establishment of a Public Service Inspectorate,
located in the Department of Finance, in order to drive forward efficiency,
increased value for money, effectiveness and customer responsiveness in our public services.
Public Sector Reform & Value for Money
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Establish a Public Service Inspectorate, located in the Department of Finance, in order to drive forward efficiency and customer responsiveness.
Use the customer charter process to improve service provision, accessibility for customers and service delivery across the Public Service.
Promote the further use of shared service centres
and appropriate outsourcing for central and local government functions in areas such as Human Resources, Information Technology and Finance.
Progress the public service decentralisation programme to allow interested public servants move from Dublin or their existing provincial location.
Appoint a Government Chief Information Technology Officer to ensure cost-effective implementation of government information technology projects.
Ensure performance measures for semi-state bodies
(e.g. Íarnród Éireann, Dublin Bus, ESB), which are already gathered by in-company inspectors,
are made public on at least a quarterly basis.
Better Public Service
Provide for binding Ministerial policy-directives to market regulators,
subject to Oireachtas approval, to enhance consumer protection.
Establish “TV Licence PLUS”, to licence all subsequent signal-receiving devices you own.
It may be purchased for an additional one-fifth of the cost of the standard licence.
Reform of the Democratic System
The Dáil – with its all too frequent wrangling – offers a poor example to the rest of the public service.
There is a need for a driver of efficiency within the public service.
And many government departments could be better defined to meet the needs of modern Ireland.
In Government the Progressive Democrats will:
Establish an independent Electoral Commission should be permanently established to take charge of:
Overseeing the overall election process in the State.
Compiling and maintaining the electoral register.
Setting the boundaries of Dáil constituencies.
Resist the implementation of any electronic voting system that cannot reliably, and to the satisfaction of the electorate, produce a transparent, verifiable printed voter audit.
Engage in a process of meaningful Dáil reform that will see greater number of sitting days and that maximises the work undertaken on those days.
Introduce increased use of technology in the legislature, to maximise efficiency and greater reflect the changing nature of modern business practice.
Establish an Oireachtas Channel as part of the roll-out of digital terrestrial television and radio services across the State.
Implement the key recommendations of the 2004 Oireachtas Committee report on Seanad reform.
Local Government Reform
In 1999, the Irish people amended the Constitution to give local government
a clear constitutional role.
In 2001, the Oireachtas voted to end the dual mandate in order to underline the need for separate democratic accountability
at local government level.
Despite these changes, local democracy in Ireland is extremely limited,
with an inadequate sense of local accountability.
Apart from a small number of reserve functions, the day-to-day activities of Local Authorities are almost exclusively carried out by public service management staff under the County Manager system.
The Progressive Democrats believe that the time has come to pilot the directly elected executive Mayor model
in a county or city council,
and evaluate its potential for later roll-out to other authority areas.
Therefore we propose:
To pilot a directly elected Mayor in one administrative area, with executive power for a fixed term.
The vesting of all possible expenditure programmes in the executive Mayor of the pilot area,
subject to annual approval of capital and current budgets by Local Authority members.
The re-designation of all existing current and capital funding programmes from central government as a common local government fund,
to be allocated in a manner prescribed by law as the entitlement of each county council.
The creation of a more effective Local Government Audit Office at national level
to identify and prevent the misuse and waste of Local Authority funds.
The establishment of a dedicated Local Government Ombudsman
in the relevant Department to provide citizens with a remedy in the case of justifiable complaints against the Local Authority.
Reorganisation of Government Departments
The Progressive Democrats propose a major reorganisation of government Departments to maximise cohesion,
and better reflect today’s challenges.
We support the linking of Energy and Environment, and removal of local government concerns – which needs greater focus.
Managing the equality agenda will become the responsibility of the Social Affairs Department.
We will also look at more effective Minister of State portfolios to manage the most pressing areas of these new Departments.
Taoiseach Public Works and Heritage Finance Foreign Affairs      Defence and Marine Justice and Home Affairs Environment and Energy Health and Children Enterprise, Employment and Communications Agriculture and Food Transport                                Culture, Sport and Tourism Education and Science Social and Equality Affairs Local Government, Gaeltacht and Community Affairs
Enhancing Competitiveness
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
A vibrant enterprise culture has always been seen by the Progressive Democrats
as central to national growth and development.
Since 1997 we have accorded priority to creating a climate, across the whole of government, in which enterprise could flourish.
Measures to promote enterprise and reward work included
A corporation tax rate of 12.5%.
A capital gains tax rate of 20%.
A personal income tax regime for low and middle-income earners that is the most benign in the EU.
A 45% reduction in motor insurance costs and a dramatic reduction,
in many cases of the order of 50%, in employer and public liability insurance as a result of the reforms brought in since 2002.
Significant direct State support for Investment through the Business Expansion Scheme and through IDA/Enterprise Ireland programmes.
High levels of investment in education and training
combined with growing support for Research, Technology and Innovation through R&D Tax Credits, R&D grants from EI/IDA as well as a huge investment programme in basic R&D and Industry/Third Level cooperation via Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions.
Investing in the modern infrastructure that is essential to modern business
and balanced regional development.
A major overhaul of competition law
so that competition across the economy was increased to the benefit of our international competitiveness and the domestic consumer.
This has resulted in both record levels of inward investment
and a vibrant indigenous enterprise sector
that together have transformed the country through a decade of high and sustained economic growth.
As a result, Ireland now boasts more people in employment than at any time in the history of the State
and we enjoy living standards that exceed the EU average.
This has provided a solid basis for overall social progress, with Ireland ranked 4th in the world on the United Nations Human Development Index.
Current Challenges
Many new EU members
and other emerging economies
view Ireland as a role model to be learnt from.
According to the OECD, Ireland is viewed as a “model country”,
due to the success of the State’s employment market policy.
But despite substantial progress in recent years,
Ireland faces a number of challenges today:
There is a global shift towards services and the knowledge economy as the key drivers of economic growth.
Globalisation and the rise of China and India.
These countries, with a combined population of over 2 billion, are producing hundreds of thousands of graduates each year.
Ireland is no longer a low wage economy
and competitor countries are increasingly emulating our low-tax model.
This makes it essential that we move to an even more knowledge-based economy with the capacity to develop and sell sophisticated goods and services on world markets.
This will require a first class business environment with high quality infrastructure.
New Opportunities
Promotion of Enterprise
In government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Continue to promote a positive approach to enterprise across all areas of government.
This will ensure that the creative strengths of our companies are fostered and matched with an increasingly educated and experienced labour force,
in a climate conducive to work and risk-taking.
Maintain and vigorously defend the 12.5% corporation tax rate
and the 20% rate on capital gains.
Ensure no new, additional taxes / levies on employment.
Adjust tax bands so that a couple, both earning, can earn at least €100,000 and only pay income tax at the standard rate.
This would mean that a single worker could earn €50,000 and only pay income tax at the standard rate.
Increase tax credits so that couples earning up to €40,000 will pay no income tax.
This would mean that a single worker could earn €20,000 and pay no income tax.
Reduce the higher rate of income tax to 38% in the lifetime of the next government.
Reduce the lower rate of income tax to 18% in the lifetime of the next government.
Guarantee that those earning the minimum wage pay no income tax.
Continue to increase tax credits and bands
so that inflation is not used as a tax-raising mechanism.
The State development agencies will prioritise the attraction and development companies with strong product development
and international sales capabilities through focused support for these activities.
Ensure that such companies have access to competitive sources of finance.
Invest over €8billion in Science, Technology and Innovation to build on the success of Science Foundation Ireland
and the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions.
Double the output of 4th Level graduates and provide greater support for applied R&D,
and enable Ireland to join the ranks of the world’s most innovative societies.
Complement Ireland’s historic commitment to education by a €26billion investment in education
and training
that will ensure we have the level of education and skills needed to compete in the rapidly changing world of the 21st century.
Give a firm commitment to the investment in needed infrastructure to boost productivity
and promote balanced regional development
including the completion of the inter-urban motorway network.
Guarantee a state-of-the-art communications network,
driven by competition,
to which all players in the market have equal access.
Fund nationwide broadband coverage.
Support consideration of the Dublin commuter belt as a ‘single region’ in terms of job creation
and investment-seeking activity by the IDA and other agencies and aim to create a series of economic clusters within the region.
Encourage the establishment of a voluntary database of workers and professionals living in the commuter region who are interested in working locally, to readily inform multi-national organisations of the adequate supply of skilled workers.
Consider the creation of a dedicated taskforce to identify the critical infrastructure needs
of the commuter belt and allocate targeted resources to accelerate the development of projects in the region.
Continue to reduce as much as possible the administrative and regulatory burden
on small and medium size businesses, to foster and encourage this vital sector.
Promoting Competition
Effective enforcement of competition is central to our international competitiveness and providing value for money to consumers.
The Progressive Democrats in government will:
Enhance the implementation and enforcement of the 2002 Competition Act by legislating to:
Allow Competition Authority to prosecute cases on its own initiative.
Provide for the imposition of administrative fines by the Competition Authority where anti-competitive activity or abuse of dominant position is established on the balance of probabilities.
If necessary constitutional provision will be made to this end.
Ensure that competition cases, receive priority in the scheduling of court cases.
If necessary, we will establish a dedicated “Competition Court” in order to fast-track competition cases.
Require the Competition Authority to accelerate the pace at which it completes reports into specific sectors.
Reports should normally be completed within strict time limits.
It will require a formal vote of the Authority to permit a report on a sector to exceed the pre-determined limit.
Commit the Government to respond, within 6 months at most, to any formal proposals from the Competition Authority
for the improvement of national competition policy.
Ensure that the planning process is not used to inappropriately stifle competition
by ensuring that Local Authorities provide adequate zoning for retail space.
Require planning bodies to have regard to consumer interests
and to consult with the Competition Authority if their decisions are likely to have a significant impact on competition.
Continue reform of the public transport market so as to promote private sector involvement
and competition so as to deliver greater choice and value for our citizens.
Empowering Consumers
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
The Progressive Democrats believe in empowering consumers by providing them with a choice of competing suppliers,
the right to information on competing products and protection
and ready means of redress from defective products/consumer fraud.
In government we have vigorously pursued the consumers’ interests.
Insurance – five years ago rising insurance costs were posing an enormous burden for households and a hidden tax on enterprise.
As Minister for Employment, Trade and Enterprise, Mary Harney established the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB).
As Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell reformed court procedures to combat fraudulent claims.
As a result of these reforms, the Irish Insurance Federation reports that car insurance costs have fallen by 45%.
There has also been a significant reduction in home and business insurance premiums.
On foot of a report by Michael McDowell, which was progressed tenaciously by Mary Harney as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) was established in 2003 with strong powers to protect consumers,
enforced through a statutory consumer director.
Abolition of the Groceries Order – this Order limited competition in the retail trade
and its abolition has led to significant retail price reductions,
with retailers stating they have reduced the price of thousands of items previously controlled by the Groceries Order.
The abolition of the cap on taxi licence numbers by Progressive Democrats Minister Bobby Molloy
transformed the market by vastly increasing the supply of taxis thus enabling more consumers to travel in comfort and safety.
An initiative by Mary Harney led to the establishment of the National Consumer Agency (NCA),
which ensures that the voice of the Irish consumer is heard and brought to the forefront of national and local decision-making in Ireland.
Current challenges
Despite substantial progress there is still much to be done to embed a consumer culture in Ireland as well as specific areas where consumer choice needs to be increased
and services reformed.
These include:
Reform of conveyancing
Regulation of auctioneers
Control and regulation of property companies
Greater choice and increased value for money for public utilities
Combating pyramid schemes
Clarity as to the rights of credit card users
New Opportunities
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Introduce greater competition
and choice in public utility markets
and amend the law to allow the government, subject to Dáil approval, to issue a public policy directive to any of our market regulators.
Introduce a system of e-conveyancing along the lines proposed by the Law Reform Commission.
Enact legislation to establish a Property Services Regulatory Authority on a statutory footing.
Evaluate the operation of the Private Residential Tenancies Board to ensure it can effectively carry out its functions regarding the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants,
operate a national tenancy registration system,
and provide information and policy advice on the private rented sector.
Radically reform the law so as to:
Regulate the management company sector for residential dwellings.
Put in place a proper legal structure for multi-unit (apartment) developments.
Significantly strengthen the rights of individual apartment owners / tenants, and ensure transparency and reasonableness, and fairness of service charges.
Ensure the establishment of a professional body representing residential management
agents to mirror the association of residential management agents in the UK.
Ensure that the planning process is not used to inappropriately stifle competition
by ensuring that Local Authorities provide adequate zoning for retail space.
Require planning bodies to have regard to consumer interests
and to consult with the Competition Authority if their decisions are likely to have a significant impact on competition.
Restructure the ESB’s transmission and distribution operations to produce savings in customer bills.
Enact and implement the Consumer Protection Bill,
which would outlaw the promotion and operation of pyramid schemes.
The Bill would also allow Courts compel rogue traders to pay compensation to consumers.
Request the Competition Authority to carry out an examination of the cost of credit cards in Ireland.
Protecting Our Environment
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
Ireland has a body of modern environmental legislation.
As EU Directives develop, this body of legislation needs regular updating.
Action taken by this government for the benefit of the environment includes:
Record levels of investment in waste recycling
and water services infrastructure.
Over €3.2 billion was spent under the NDP 2000 – 2006 on environmental infrastructure projects including over 300 water service projects.
Over €500 million was spent upgrading the water supply for over 500,000 people in rural households.
Action on emissions control
The National Emission Reduction Plan for large energy users
is significantly reducing sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions.
An ambitious National Programme
to reduce emissions of transboundary pollutants (sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia) by 2010 is being implemented.
This will greatly reduce air pollution.
Rapid progress has been made in meeting targets under the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive,
with secondary treatment compliance rising from 25% to 90% at the end of December 2005.
Action on waste management and recycling
The Plastic Bag levy was introduced in 2002 and is an outstanding success.
The fall in the consumption of plastic bags is estimated at over 90%.
The national recycling rate hit its target of 35% in 2006,
well ahead of the 2013 target date.
The Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2003 require all manufacturing and retail businesses participating in placing packaging on the market to segregate and have collected the packaging waste arising on their own premises.
The EU Directives on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment were fully transposed and implemented in 2005.
Current Background
Climate change is the greatest environmental problem facing us,
and our future generations.
It is true that poor economies can cause much greater environmental damage than stronger economies.
We also recognise the threat climate change
poses to the development goals of the world's poorest people.
Those who argue that we must go backwards if we are to maintain or achieve sustainability are wrong.
We believe that only a high-performance economy will generate the resources to successfully address the question of sustainability.
The right political leadership can deliver continued economic success
AND achieve world-best standards in terms of emissions control,
biofuel production and use,
and energy conservation.
New Opportunities
At the heart of the Progressive Democrats approach is the commitment to establish a Department of Environment and Energy
to drive a national programme across government that will ensure Ireland reduces its pollution and emissions
in line with our international obligations,
secures energy supply
and promotes maximum use of sustainable energy sources.
In relation to emissions we will ensure that our Kyoto target for 2012 is fully met,
and that we are in a position to contribute fully to meeting the EU target of at least a 20% reduction in emissions
below 1990 levels by 2020.
Specifically, this will mean:
Promoting efficient energy use
and energy conservation across the economy.
Maximising the development, production and use of biomass and biofuels.
Ensuring that 30% of electricity is generated from renewable sources by 2015,
and 33% by 2020.
Making Ireland a world-leader in terms of the development and use of renewable energy technologies.
Establishing, in addition to the new Departmental configuration,
an Independent Commission for Sustainable Development to provide independent advice to government on Ireland's sustainable development.
Action on Energy
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Provide for a massive increase in investment in onshore and offshore wind farms,
including investing €276 million under the National Development Plan.
Invest €270 million under the National Development Plan as part of our strategy to meet Ireland’s international obligations
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions set by the Kyoto Protocol.
In government the Progressive Democrats will commit to match best European standards
in energy conservation
and emissions reduction by:
Investing in our electricity network to continue to reduce losses of electricity, as a percentage of electricity distributed.
Upgrading the natural gas transmission and distribution network to reduce fugitive emissions from the network.
Maximising the potential benefit of Combined Heat and Power (CHP),
by supporting small scale CHP and large-scale biomass-fed CHP,
and additional research and development supports.
Developing and implementing a comprehensive Demand Side Management Plan, which will include the progressive provision of real-time electricity displays (Smart Meters),
linked to meters to provide information to consumers on electricity usage and its cost.
Progressing a National Ocean Energy Strategy
to help Ireland become a world leader in the development and deployment of ocean energy technologies,
and to see 500Mw of installed ocean energy capacity by 2020.
Raising the energy efficiency of all new homes by at least 40% by reviewing the scope, structure and form of the current building regulations,
thermal performance requirements,
use of high efficiency boilers, renewable energy systems,
energy efficient lighting,
as well as the scope for tighter insulation and air infiltration requirements.
Investigating the mandatory use of condensing boilers in home-heating systems.
Launching a €15 million multi-annual climate change awareness campaign.
Providing €50 million for grant assistance to homeowners who intend to purchase a new renewable energy heating system for either new or existing homes.
Continuing to provide appropriate exemptions from planning permission for the installation of micro-renewable technologies for homeowners
(wind turbines, solar panels, heat pumps and biomass systems).
Providing new energy efficient designs for schools
(2.3 times more energy efficient than international normal standards)
Encouraging one-off housing projects to use sustainable methods of construction
and to install renewable energy heating technology.
Introducing enforceable energy conservation guidelines,
including mandatory use of energy efficient lighting, for Government Departments, State Agencies, Local Authorities, the Health Service and the public sector generally.
This will help us meet a public sector target of a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to a 33% saving in energy use by 2020.
Ensuring that those responsible for the design and building of all new State buildings are required to consider renewable heating options by implementing the EU directive 2002/91/EC of the 16 December 2002 (Energy Performance of Buildings).
Investing €25 million in the Commercial Bioheat Support Scheme to enable companies and small businesses to obtain grants for the installation of wood chip and wood pellet boilers in large buildings and commercial premises.
Introducing the equivalent of an ‘Energy NCT’ for all commercial buildings over 5000 square meters to ensure that all heating and cooling systems are working effectively and at optimum level.
We propose the phased introduction of fines for non-compliance.
Phasing out the use of low-efficiency incandescent and halogen light bulbs over the lifetime of the next government, in favour of more energy efficient bulbs.
An environmental levy will be introduced on incandescent bulbs, to reduce their price advantage and encourage consumers to switch to CFL bulbs.
In government the Progressive Democrats will promote the indigenous production of biomass by:
Ensuring all past electricity power stations are co-fired by 30% renewable material by 2015 (this will lead to CO2 savings of 900,000 tonnes per year).
Guaranteeing that 12% of all residential and commercial heating will be powered by renewable sources (wood chips, solar, etc) by 2020 (5% by 2010).
In Government the Progressive Democrats will promote the indigenous production of biomass by:
Using every appropriate tax, excise relief and financial incentive
to make Ireland a world-leader in terms of renewable energy crop production and use.
(See our extensive agriculture policy section also).
Ensuring that adequate establishment grants are paid to farmers to plant willow and miscanthus to make certain that sufficient biomass is available.
Radically reshaping Irish agricultural policies towards increasing production of renewable energy, which will both provide a valuable source of renewable energy and simultaneously reduce agricultural sector emissions.
Leading a campaign at European level to remove all existing obstacles to maximum production of energy crops.
Facilitating the transformation of Bórd na Mona from a fossil fuel company into a sustainable energy enterprise,
and maximise Coillte’s forestry and wind farm potential.
Supporting enterprises to build anaerobic digester plants to convert slurry to biogas, to encourage the creation of a biogas industry in Ireland.
Action on Transport
In government the Progressive Democrats will increase the use of biofuels and reduce emissions by:
Producing a Sustainable Transport Action Plan, which outlines sustainable mobility indicators and targets, and the optimal policy mix to deliver a sustainable transport system.
Promoting the switch from private to public transport.
Transport 21 is a €34.3 billion capital investment framework for the transport system for 2006 to 2015, which will result in a switch from private to public forms of transport.
While €18.5 billion will be invested in the national roads programme, an additional €15.8 billion will be provided for public transport projects and for regional airports.
Introducing a biofuels obligation scheme, requiring that biofuels represent a given volume of overall sales, and that all petrol and diesel to have on average a 5.75% biofuel mix by 2009.
Working towards a 10% biofuel market penetration for the transport fuel market by 2020.
Making the excise relief
that public transport providers receive conditional upon their meeting increasingly ambitious annual targets in relation to their use of biofuels in their overall fuel mix.
Ensuring all new busses in the public fleet use a biofuel blend of at least 30%.
Require all major transport fleets to convert vehicles on a phased basis to biofuel,
and ensure that all new and replacement vehicles run on biofuel.
Implementing a National Efficient Driving Campaign.
Transforming the current VRT and motor tax system to one where the tax paid
is aligned to the emissions of the car.
Extending beyond December 2007 the existing preferential VRT treatment
available to hybridelectric, flexible fuel and electric vehicles.
Incentivising the conversion of all taxis in the State to run on biofuels
Leading Research and Development
In government the Progressive Democrats will assist Ireland become a world-leader in terms of renewable energy technology
research and development by:
Establishing a dedicated Renewables Venture Capital Scheme, under which Enterprise Ireland would partner with Venture Capital funds to provide finance for businesses developing renewable energy
source technology such as wind, tidal, and solar power.
Initial funding for the scheme will come from the allocation of seed and venture capital funding announced in the Budget (€175 million over a period of ten years), with further extra funding allocated as required.
Separating the research and education functions of Sustainable Energy Ireland
and focus research on more ambitious projects.
Given the strategic importance of Research and Development in this area research funding should be increased significantly.
Mandating IDA Ireland to give particular attention to attracting international Renewable Energy Research and Development facilities to Ireland.
Establishing a dedicated environmental research fund for which third-level institutions will compete.
Refocusing Teagasc towards sustainable energy promotion, education, research and development.
Funding research into the conversion of cellulose to ethanol,
with a particular emphasis on species suitable for Ireland
and promoting research co-operation with other countries interested in the same species.
Action on Waste, Water & Sewerage
In government, the Progressive Democrats will ensure Ireland has the optimal waste, recycling, water and sewerage systems
and infrastructure
to protect our shared environment by:
Upgrading and expanding water treatment capacity,
including an investment of €4.7 billion under the National Development Plan.
Cleaning up existing landfill facilities with investment of €753 million under the NDP.
Expediting the installation of landfill gas recovery at all existing sites under EPA licensing control.
Establishing a National Waste Management Agency to help set policy,
drive implementation and police standards in the waste management sector.
Progressing the National Strategy on Biodegradable Waste to ensure that 80% of biodegradable municipal waste is diverted from landfill by 2016.
Promoting the most developed recycling infrastructure possible for Ireland,
identifying market opportunities for materials recovered for recycling and producing a Market Development
Programme focusing on the priority waste streams of paper, plastic and organics.
Obliging all large supermarket and retail chains to set aside space in their stores to allow customers to dispose of packaging before leaving the store.
Building on progress to date made under the National Anti-Litter Strategy
by reviewing, among other things, the appointment of litter wardens by all Local Authorities,
the enforcement responsibility available to litter wardens, the level of fines for breach of litter laws,
the funding for and frequency of rural roads litter removal,
and the participation by all Local /Authorities in the "Clean to European Norms” scheme.
Resisting mass burn incineration of unsegregated waste
- which gives rise to toxic emissions and residual ash,
conflicts with long-term strategies to cut waste volumes by recycling and reduction, requires huge scale to operate efficiently and generates large volumes of traffic.
Ireland must take advantage of innovation
in the waste industry to deal with waste without recourse to mass-burn incineration.
Creating a National Water and Sewerage Services Office in the Environmental Protection Agency
to ensure the provision of an adequate and efficient network of water and sewerage infrastructure,
and oversee the implementation by Local Authorities of Water Services Investment Programmes.
Delivering incremental capacity as required in critical areas of drinking and wastewater treatment rather than postponing improvements until larger-scale projects can be delivered.
Targeting new funding and programmes to protect and improve water quality in our lakes and rivers,
coupled with new public awareness campaigns and speedy incorporation of relevant EU directives into Irish law.
Conserving Our Natural Environment
In government, the Progressive Democrats will work to protect and enhance Ireland’s natural environment by:
Investing €167 million under the National Development Plan in areas of special conservation.
Ensure Local Authorities zone as ‘hands-off’ all sports,
recreational
and education
related lands, to prevent development on land important to communities and to preserve these urban “green lungs”.
Require all Local Authorities
to legally secure the title on all open spaces and public amenities.
Investigating the feasibility of a National Wildlife Park
to house indigenous Irish species along the lines of the Scottish Wildlife Park.
Targeting new funding and programmes to protect and improve water quality in our lakes and rivers,
coupled with new public awareness campaigns and speedy incorporation of relevant EU directives into Irish law.
This will also include measures to eradicate and prevent the spread of plant species damaging to our lakes,
such as lagarosiphon and zebra mussels.
Supporting with funds a volunteer Wildlife Protection Corps to assist in the protection of our natural environment
and in the education of young people and other citizens in the value of our natural environment.
Building on our progress on salmon protection,
to promote more fisheries protection initiatives
including evaluating how water bailiffs and angling clubs can supplement protection measures.
Bringing forward new legislation to create a network of Marine Protected Areas that represent all habitats and species.
Such a network will include some areas that are highly protected to stop all damaging commercial and recreational activities.
Creating at least one major undersea nature reserve, in the lifetime of the next government.
Effective Planning
New Ireland
Planning is a critical area of policy as the decisions taken now will have consequences not just for this generation of Irish people but for generations to come.
Good planning supports functioning communities
and the development of social capital.
Bad planning leads to the destruction of communities,
the rise of anti-social behaviour
and an overall lowering in the quality of life of these people who are unfortunate enough to have to live with it.
Planning has become an even more central political issue in recent years
as the explosive growth of our cities has resulted in traffic congestion
and a serious deficit in physical and social infrastructure in many areas.
New Opportunities
In government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Create a National Planning Monitoring and Enforcement Office in the relevant Department, to police the planning system.
This Office would have a mandate to ensure that planning laws are enforced effectively and uniformly across the country.
It would also have the power to investigate breaches of the planning law,
to seek legal redress against developers and, where appropriate,
individuals responsible for breaches of the planning law by development companies.
In addition it would compile and publish a “Defaulters Register” of developers or others who had previously not kept to planning conditions agreed with a Local Authority.
In relation to new housing developments, the Office would be able to ensure compliance by planning authorities with directives requiring developers to provide social infrastructure (schools, open spaces, recreational facilities etc.)
and ensure completion of estates.
Ensure the ‘hands-off’ zoning by Local Authorities of all sports, recreational and educationrelated lands,
to prevent development on land important to communities.
Permit land swaps by Local Authorities
only following public discussion and a formal public consultation process.
Require all Local Authorities to legally secure the title on all open spaces and public amenities.
Create a Geographic Information System (GIS) national planning database to collect all the relevant planning information to provide statistics on planning in Ireland in real time.
Information from this database will be available to all relevant Government Departments and should (using predictive modelling) form the basis of planning the roll-out of public services such as education and health,
where possible
Propose a more accurate definition of a ‘local person’ in planning guidelines and development plans to mean either a person born and reared in a rural area;
a person who has lived in a rural area for at least 7 years and who has forged strong links with the local community.
Ensure that in areas of outstanding scenic amenity,
planning permission will not be easily obtained.
Remove responsibility for hearing appeals, including those on rural housing, from the current board of An Bórd Pleanála
and give to three regional boards operating under the aegis of An Bórd Pleanála and based on the EU election constituencies.
Post all planning decisions on the internet and the reason for the decision given,
including the names and contact details of the engineers/architects who submitted the original proposals.
Limit enurement clauses, which prevent the selling on of a site once planning permission has been granted, to 7 years.
Allow relaxation of enurement clauses only where a rural dweller can supply definitive evidence that he or she must relocate because of employment or other significant commitments.
Combating Crime, Delivering Justice
New Ireland
Significant progress has been made in the fight against crime since 1997,
and especially since 2002 when Michael McDowell became Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform:
Increased Garda numbers
- Significant recruitment has increased the size of the Garda force from 10,700 in 1997.
By the end of 2007 the force will have 14,300 recruits (including trainees).
We will increase this number to 15,000 by the end of 2008,
and if re-elected up to 16,000.
Increased civilianisation (use of civilians to free Gardaí from clerical duties) will also increase the number of Gardaí on the beat.
Unprecedented Garda funding
– At €1.4 billion, the budget for the Gardaí has been increased by over 130% since 1997.
Garda Reserve - Michael McDowell established the Garda Reserve in order to secure the links which the Gardaí
have in our communities
and to encourage practical patriotism.
More prison places
- A new cell block at Portlaoise and new prisons in County Cork and at Thornton in north Dublin will substantially increase the number of prison places.
More CCTV systems - At present there are 10 Garda CCTV systems currently in place in Bray, Cork, Dundalk, Dublin (North Central), Dublin (South Central), Dundalk, Dun Laoghaire, Galway, Limerick and Tralee as compared to 4 in 2002.
Contracts for Ballyfermot, Clondalkin and Tullamore, have already been signed by the Garda authorities
and implementation of these systems is now underway.
Tougher life sentences – Following an intervention by Michael McDowell, prisoners serving life sentences for murder are no longer considered for release after serving just seven years of their sentence.
At least 12 years must now pass before an adult convicted of murder, can be considered for release.
In the case of murder committed in the course of or in the context of violent criminality - such as robbery, gangland activity or drug crime - no consideration of release on licence will be given until at least 15 years has elapsed.
Targeting middle level drug-pushers
- A nationwide joint Garda National Drugs Unit/Criminal Assets Bureau initiative in now in place which targets the assets of middle ranking criminals involved in drug dealing.
A key feature of this initiative is An Garda Síochána’s deployment of asset profile officers in each Garda region.
Supporting victims of crime
- In March 2005, Michael McDowell established the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime with a three-year remit to devise an appropriate support framework for victims of crime into the future
and to disburse funding for victim support and assistance measures.
ASBOs – Anti-social behaviour orders have been introduced this year.
Senior Gardaí can apply to the District Court for an “order” which would prohibit a person from behaving in an anti-social manner.
Similar to civil injunctions (breaches of which are punishable as a criminal contempt) a breach of an ASBO will be a criminal offence.
Office of the Garda Ombudsman
– This independent office was mandated by An Garda Síochána Act 2005.
The Garda Ombudsman will replace the Garda Síochána Complaints Board and is expected to be operating in the coming months.
Garda Inspectorate
- An Garda Síochána Act 2005 also mandated the establishment of the Garda Inspectorate.
The principal job of the GI will be to review Garda operations and administration on behalf of the Minister for Justice
and to provide him with advice on best policing practice.
Tougher laws against gangland crime
– The recently passed Criminal Justice legislation has significantly strengthened our law in confronting serious crime:
Right to silence
– The law now provides for inferences to be drawn as to the credibility of a defence if details of that defence are not mentioned under Garda questioning.
Bail
- A Garda Chief Superintendent is now allowed give his or her opinion that the applicant for bail is likely to commit serious offences if granted bail.
The applicant is required to provide a statement of his or her assets and income /as well as details of his or her previous criminal record and details of previous bail applications.
Those granted bail may be subject to electronic monitoring, to ensure they are complying ]
with the conditions set down by the Court.
The prosecution authorities are being granted a right to appeal against a grant of bail or against any conditions attaching to bail, where granted.
Sentencing: Second Grave Offence
- A person who commits any one of a list of scheduled grave offences and, within 7 years,
commits another one of those offences will be subject to a penalty of imprisonment equal to at least three quarters of the maximum laid down by law for that second offence.
Where the second offence carries a potential maximum of life imprisonment, a sentence of at least 10 years should be imposed.
Sentencing: Conditions - A person who has been imprisoned for one of the scheduled offences may be made subject to a 'crime prevention order'.
That would require the person to observe any conditions laid down by the court.
These may include a condition that he or she keeps the Gardaí informed of his or her movements.
The order may last for up to 10 years or until the maximum sentence for the offence, had it been imposed, would have expired.
Sentencing: Drugs – There will be a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 10 years
in cases where a convicted person had drugs to the value of €0.5m.
o  Detention Periods – Maximum detention periods will be extended to 7 days in murder, kidnapping and other serious offences involving firearms or explosives.
This would be of major benefit in combating gangland crime.
Retention of Samples – We now allow for the indefinite retention of  fingerprints,
DNA, palm prints
and photographs of suspects.
Current Background
While crime ranks high in public concern, the reality is that crime rates today are actually lower than they were in the past.
The headline crime rate in 1983 was 29.3 per 1,000 population.
In 2006 the figure had fallen to 26 even though recording of crime had probably increased due to the introduction of the Garda Pulse system and the fact that more items are insured.
But regardless of whether crime is a greater problem or a lesser problem than in the past, it remains a serious problem which we are committed to combating.
And there is no doubt that gangland crime and drug crime are running at very serious levels.
For that reason, the Gardaí were asked to set up Operation Anvil.
This is one of the most intensive special policing operations ever undertaken in the State.
It is intelligence-driven and targets those involved in gun crime.
In addition, the importance of child protection
was highlighted by the Supreme Court’s decision last summer to declare unconstitutional the crime of statutory rape.
New Opportunities
If elected to the next Government the Progressive Democrats propose the following further reforms over the lifetime of the government:
An Garda Síochána
Garda numbers - In line with the commitment given in 2002, the number of recruited GardaÌ has already increased from 12,200 to 14,200,
and will be raised to 15,000 by the end of 2008.
If re-elected the Progressive Democrats will further increase the strength of the Force to 16,000.
Civilian Support – In order to ensure that provincial full time Gardaí are not deployed in routine administrative duties and to provide back up to the front-line policing function, an extra 1,200 administrative and back up staff will be attached to An Garda Síochána.
These staff will provide administrative, technical, H.R., training and analysis service to the Force.
Crime Analysts - The Force will be assisted by the establishment of a specialist crime analysts’ service
operating at both local and regional levels.
Garda Reserve – The Garda Reserve has been established and is recruiting new members.
The Progressive Democrats in Government will accelerate the recruitment process across the State and bring the strength of the Reserve to 3,200 members.
Garda Equipment - The Progressive Democrats will ensure that Gardaí have world class equipment:
The Tetra Digital Radio Network will be completed.
Gardaí will be given all necessary protection equipment including batons, ballistic vests, spray kits,
in line with the advice of our Garda Siochana Inspectorate.
The Garda car fleet renewal programme will be completed and sustained.
A new tactical training centre has been acquired and will be developed.
Real and virtual firing ranges will be made available for all members who carry firearms.
Extensive investment will be made in I.T. equipment including the following: ·
updating of PULSE
· computerised finger print and DNA records
· vehicle registration I.D. equipment with access to appropriate data bank, /with fixed locations and on-board vehicle scanners.
Garda Efficiency - The Garda Inspectorate will report on the efficiency and effectiveness of An Garda Síochána including rostering, deployment and related issues.
The Progressive Democrats will also ensure that a COMP-STAT system is put in place to ensure that Garda numbers and resources are matched to changing “on the ground” circumstances,
on the basis of a regular ongoing analysis at local and regional level.
Ombudsman - The Garda Ombudsman Commission which has been established will be made fully operational on the basis of adequate resources.
Garda Accommodation - The Progressive Democrats will ensure that responsibility for Garda Stations building and maintenance is devolved to a single unit
which will include legal and planning expertise and will ensure that split responsibilities are no longer a cause of delay.
Garda Management - It is essential that the management of An Garda Síochána be modernised and kept in line with best international bench-marked standards:
There will be a Management Board with expert lay membership to advise the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners.
A special Oireachtas Committee will be established to ensure appropriate democratic accountability by the Force
and to compliment existing Ministerial accountability to the Dáil.
Members of the Oireachtas Committee will participate with members of the PSNI Board in an All-Ireland Policing Forum.
The Progressive Democrats will complete the network of Local Policing Committees
and will adjust Garda policing districts that they correspond with local government boundaries.
CCTV systems – we will roll out Garda CCTV systems in the following locations: Athlone, Carlow, Castlebar, Clonmel, Drogheda, Dungarvan, Ennis, Kilkenny, Kinsale, Mullingar, Portlaoise, Sligo, Tallaght and Waterford.
We will strongly support Community based CCTV and special CCTV schemes for sheltered and senior accommodation.
Victim support
– we will double funding for victim support over the lifetime of the government.
ASBOs – we will monitor closely the implementation of ASBOs to ensure that they prove effective in the fight against petty crime
and anti-social behaviour.
D.N.A. and Forensic Science - The Progressive Democrats will provide for a comprehensive DNA and Forensic Science Service for the State including the construction of a new Forensic Science Laboratory which was recently announced.
Criminal Assets Bureau
- The CAB will be further strengthened and at local and regional level provision will be made to deploy its power and resource in respect of assets,
wealth and property accumulated by criminals who are engaged in low-level smuggling, drug dealing and theft.
Re-Balancing the Criminal Law
The Progressive Democrats strongly believe that the Criminal Justice system must be the subject of a major overhaul to make it effective and fair.
The Progressive Democrats will bring forward proposals to deal with the issues raised and considered in the Report of Balance of Criminal Law Group published in March 2007.
Our aim is to keep the Criminal Law effective and fair.
The Rebalancing Package will respect fundamental human rights
and at the same time make the criminal justice process fairer from the point of view of the victim and the community.
Our proposals will include the following:
Character Evidence - In a case where an injured party has died or has become incapacitated and is unable to give evidence, and where the accused attacks their character, the accused will be cross-examined as to his or her character without the permission of the court.
The prosecution will be entitled to use evidence regarding the defendant's character in cases where a defendant has made efforts to attack the character of an incapacitated injured party or has through any other means tried to introduce evidence as to his/her own good character.
Exclusionary Rule – Courts will have discretion to admit evidence obtained in good faith having considered all of the circumstances and the rights of the victim.
Defendants in jury trials will be required to outline their defence to the jury at the beginning of the trial.
Videos of Garda Interviews - Videos of interviews will only be given to suspects after charges are pressed.
It will be an offence to show such videos to other persons without lawful excuse.
Pre-Trial Disposal of Issues - In order to avoid a situation where juries are forced to endure long breaks in between the hearing of evidence,
all issues around the admissibility of evidence be disposed of before juries are sworn in.
Re-opening Acquittals Following New Evidence - Legislation should be enacted to give a right to the prosecution to complain in respect of miscarriages of justice on the basis of new or newly discovered evidence.
Identity parades - The injured party should be allowed identify the suspect through a one-way screen.
Victim Impact Statements - A judge should be able to direct that certain portions of a victim impact statement would not be reported upon or broadcast.
Courts & Legal System
The Progressive Democrats will reform the way in which our courts operate:
Judicial Council - The Progressive Democrats will proceed with the establishment of a Judicial Council with the following functions
Ensuring that sentencing guidelines are developed and applied;
Educating Judges on a continuing basis;
Dealing with complaints of judicial misconduct.
Court of Criminal Appeal - The Court of Criminal Appeal will be strengthened and its membership will be made more permanent with a view of ensuring a consistent approach to sentencing for serious crimes.
Court of Civil Appeal - The Progressive Democrats will establish a Court of Civil Appeal between the High Court and the Supreme Court to deal with appeals on matters which have no major constitutional consequences.
Commission on the Courts - The Progressive Democrats will establish an independent Commission to prepare a report on the structures, composition, working methods and efficiency of the Court system within 18 months and to make proposals for reform.
Legal Costs - The Progressive Democrats will complete the process of reform of the law relating to legal costs on foot of the Haran and Millar Reports.
Community Courts and Restorative Justice - The Progressive Democrats will reform the District Court’s procedures for dealing with low-level criminal behaviour by introducing a system of community court jurisdiction in which persons who admit to such offences will be required to undertake immediate reparation to the community by participating in short informal community service projects such as cleaning up graffiti, cleaning vacant houses, and assisting in community re-cycling initiatives.
The Progressive Democrats will pursue the objectives of restorative justice in accordance with the aims of the National Commission on Restorative Justice which has been established and will report in 2008.
Family Courts - Transparent information about the functioning of the Family Court system will be made available by the Courts Service.
Civil Law Reform
The Progressive Democrats will reform our civil law in a number of ways:
Land Law and Conveyancing - The Progressive Democrats will implement the Land Law and Conveyancing Bill and will make rapid progress towards immediate registration of land transactions and towards e-conveyancing.
Defamation - The Progressive Democrats will enact the Defamation Bill.
The issue of privacy law reform will be revisited with a view to ensuring that injunctions cannot be used to muzzle the press on matters of genuine public concern.
Civil Partnership - The Progressive Democrats will bring forward a proposal for protection and fairness for unmarried persons who are in long-term cohabiting relationships
– regardless of the sexual orientation (if any) of their relationship.
Prenuptial Agreements - The issue of prenuptial agreements will be addressed in the light of the expected report on the matter.
Children’s Rights Referendum
The Progressive Democrats will bring forward comprehensive proposals designed to create a consensus on the constitutional protection of children from sexual abuse,
including the absolute zone of protection for younger children.
Sexual Offences
The Progressive Democrats will enact a single Sexual Offences Act as part of the recently established Criminal Law Codification Project.
We will restore the absolute liability of child sex abusers in line with the recommendations of the recently published All Party Committee Report on Sexual Offences.
We will put the necessary Constitutional Referendum to the people as a matter of priority.
Café Bars
We will revisit and seek the introduction of café bars in line with the proposals in 2005, on foot of the 2003 the Liquor Licensing Commission recommendation.
Prisons & Rehabilitation
The Progressive Democrats are determined to reform and expand the Irish Prison Service so that those who are sent to prison are treated humanely,
given incentives to re-train
and rehabilitate themselves,
are kept in a drug free, secure environment and are prepared, where appropriate, for re-integration into society.
We strongly support measures that encourage and support prisoners in their endeavouring to live law abiding and purposeful lives as valued members of society.
Prison Capacity – We will develop modern, new prisons at Thornton, Co. Dublin and Kilworth, Co. Cork.
It is intended that Thornton will be able to house 1,200 prisoners.
Kilworth will house up to 500 prisoners.
These new prisons will allow the existing city-centre prisons of Mountjoy and Cork to be redeveloped.
New accommodation at Wheatfield, Shelton Abbey, Loughan House, Castlerea and Portlaoise will also be constructed.
Drugs-Free Prisons - The Progressive Democrats will implement a drug-free prisons policy in all prisons and places of detention,
involving mandatory random drug testing for prisoners
and proper programmes to counter addiction.
Isolation Units - A number of special isolation units will be established within the prison system for the accommodation of prisoners who are a major risk to society through organised crime links.
Mobile Phone Blocking – We will roll out the technology currently being piloted to make it impossible for prisoners to use mobile phones while in prison.
Probation - The Progressive Democrats will strongly support the further development of the Irish Probation Service
to ensure that persons at risk of re-offending are given a clear pathway to leading law-abiding lives.
Rehabilitation - Resources freed up by the ending of the overtime scandal in our prison system will be allocated to training and rehabilitation programmes.
Our Inclusive Society
New Ireland
There has been a massive reduction in poverty in this country in the last decade with at least 250,000 people, including some 100,000 children,
lifted out of deprivation.
This has largely been achieved as a result of the unprecedented fall in unemployment
and the large increases in the level of social welfare payments, particularly in recent years.
Social welfare rates have increased faster than both the rate of inflation
and the rate of growth in earnings thus providing a significant increase in real living standards for the less well off.
Much of the remaining poverty in today’s Ireland is concentrated amongst particular groups of people and in particular geographical areas.
We are strongly committed to eliminating this remaining poverty from our society.
This requires a much more targeted approach tailored to meet the specific needs of these groups,
as well as maintaining a dynamic economy with full employment to facilitate their full inclusion in society.
New Opportunities
In our overall fiscal framework we have provided for the resources necessary to fund an ambitious targeted programme of poverty reduction.
As a result in Government the Progressive Democrats will pursue the overall objective of the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-16:
Building an Inclusive Society, namely the reduction in the number of those experiencing consistent poverty to between 2% and 4% by 2012,
with the aim of eliminating consistent poverty by 2016.
Achieving this will include the implementation of the following key commitments.
Children
In government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Increase the early childcare supplement from €1,000 to at least €2,000.
Invest €12 billion under the National Development Plan to provide childcare services,
child protection
and recreational facilities for children,
and educational help
for children from disadvantaged communities and those with special needs.
Provide an extra 50,000 new childcare places by 2010.
Make schools accessible to students outside normal school hours in order to address the needs of commuting families.
Develop the capacity to provide one year’s free community based pre-school education initially for children from low-income families/deprived areas
with a commitment to extending it to all children over time.
Maintain the value of Child Benefit in real terms.
Maintain the combined value of child income support measures at 33% - 35% of the minimum adult social welfare payment rate.
Further enhance the Child Dependent Allowance, which was increased in Budget 2007,
and extend it to all low-income families regardless of labour force status so as to eliminate poverty traps.
Provide €60 million under the National Children’s Strategy to advance the interests and well being of children, under the National Development Plan.
Older People
In government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Increase the basic state pension to €300 per week (or 36% of the expected average industrial earnings then) by 2012.
Introduce an option whereby people may defer receipt of their State pension in return for higher payments in later years, recognising that many people over 65 wish to continue working, /on a whole or part time basis.
Continue the unprecedented expansion of community care for older people that we have put in place since 2005,
with additional home care packages, home help hours and palliative care.
Establish an Ombudsman for Older People as a focused, statutory office to be an advocate for older people, as well as providing a dedicated service for redress.
Enhance community services to older people including using the Rural Social Scheme to provide support services
to elderly people in remote rural areas.
Develop 500 primary care teams to improve access to services in the community,
with particular emphasison meeting the needs of holders of medical cards.
Improve provision of specialised infrastructure for older persons
and / or persons with disabilities via increased thresholds for the Essential Repairs and Disabled Persons Grants Scheme and the Housing Aid or the Elderly Scheme.
Establish a nationwide Anti Social Isolation Scheme entitled ONE- 2- ONE to assist those people in communities who are lonely and isolated.
This will be community-based scheme in each county, initially run on a pilot basis.
Local people and neighbours will become the outside link with the world for older people who might otherwise be isolated geographically or socially.
It will involve recruiting and training ‘neighbours’ who will visit older people on a weekly basis and provide them with companionship.
Evaluate our rural post office network with a view to helping it retain and enhance its role as a valuable social hub in small and rural communities,
and help rural post offices develop new capabilities in a variety of services to the benefit of smaller communities.
Also, examine the adequacy of post office accessibility in areas of rapid development.
Introduce free, off-peak parking for people eligible
for the free travel pass.
Introduce an entitlement to a contributory pension for women with insufficient contributions who left employment prior 1973, by reforming the Homemakers Scheme.
Introduce a scheme to alleviate the burden of waste-collection charges
for OAPs.
People of Working Age
In government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Provide active tailored support (including childcare) for those on long-term social welfare
to help them access education training and employment,
with an overall aim of reducing by 20% the number of those whose total income is derived from long-term social welfare.
Maintain basic social welfare rates of at least 30% of Gross Average Industrial Earnings.
Ensure that supplementary welfare payments are based on family income rather than labour force status so as to eliminate “poverty traps”.
Provide additional supports to increase the employment opportunities available to people
with disabilities with a target of having at least 7,000 extra people in employment by 2010.
Provide people on lower and middle incomes with increased incentive to provide for later life.
We will introduce a Special Pension Incentive Account (SPIA) where the State will contribute €1 for every €2 contributed by the individual.
This will be available to all individuals earning up to twice average industrial earnings (currently €66,400), regardless of their tax liability.
It will be in lieu of other pension tax relief and contribution limits will be in line with those
available under the current tax relief scheme.
In any tax year, people investing in their pensions will be able to elect for this new scheme of benefits or for the existing scheme of benefits.
As under SSIAs the individual will be able to choose from alternative investment options provided by registered financial institutions who agree to a regime of maximum charges and a code of practice designed to ensure that the benefit of the state contribution is not offset
by excessive charges.
In addition we will request the National Pension Reserve Fund to provide an option whereby individuals can, for a modest fixed fee, contribute to a fund linked to the performance of the NPRF.
Deliver increased social housing output to meet the accommodation needs of some 60,000 new households.
Support for Carers
Carers play an invaluable role in our society, particularly by enabling older people and people with disabilities to remain in their own homes.
In 1990 we introduced the carers allowance and since then it has been a valuable source of support for carers on low incomes.
As of April 2007 the income disregard for the carers allowance will be increased to €320(single) / €640(couple) per week.
In order to provide an incentive to a wider range of carers the Progressive Democrats in government will, as part of a new National Carers Strategy, at least double the disregards over the life of the next government to €640(single) / €1280(couple) per week.
Transforming Healthcare
New Ireland
The agenda for the Progressive Democrats in the next government will be to lead Ireland towards excellence in all aspects of healthcare in our country.
This will mean transforming patients’ experience of health services, so that they will know that they,
and they alone, are put first.
We believe there is no impossible barrier to Ireland achieving excellence in health.
We are doing it on the economy;
we can do it on health.
With the commitment and determination of all in health working towards shared goals,
we can achieve the excellent patient-centred services we all wish to see in our country.
We have started a major reform programme in this Government and there is no going back.
The foundations for excellence have been laid.
And the improvements are now coming, in A&E, cleaner hospitals,
shorter waiting times,
cancer care,
cardiac care,
GP services,
and a new Children’s Hospital.
Progress since 1997
Since 1997, there have been tremendous improvements in health.
For example
Waiting times for heart operations cut dramatically 1997: 70% of children wait over a year for heart operations.
2007: no child waiting over a year.
1997: 75% of adults wait over a year for heart operations.
2007: most offered treatment within months.
National Treatment Purchase Fund has cut waiting times for the most common operations cut from years to months
Public patients are now offered a definite appointment for treatment in a private hospital if not treated within three months.
40,000 more cancer patients discharged from hospitals, a 70% increase
People surviving cancer longer, cancer mortality down 9%
15% decrease in mortality in the under 65 age group achieved in 2001, three years ahead of target set in the first National Cancer Strategy 1996
Smoke-free, healthier workplaces 2004: smoking banned in workplaces, setting international trends
National cancer screening programmes introduced 1997: no cancer screening anywhere
2007: Breastcheck brought to all regions; national cervical screening to start.
300,000 more patient discharges from public acute hospitals
Acute hospital beds: fastest expansion ever
Increase of acute hospital bed capacity by 1,200 beds between 2001 to 2005, and by over 1,600 since 1997.
Largest ever expansion in services for people with disabilities in first-ever multi annual funding commitment, started in 2004
€900m programme being implemented.
24,000 people getting day services,
8,200 in residential care
and 4,000 getting respite services.
Largest increase healthcare staffing:  2,394 more doctors/dentists;
8,460 more nurses,
four times m ore A&E consultants
Progress under Mary Harney
Since September 2004, Minister Mary Harney has brought real progress and reforms to health.
She has achieved measurable improvements to A&E services
– now improved by over 40 per cent.
She has introduced new legislation to set and enforce standards of care in nursing homes;
for the first time, each patient will have an individual care plan.
She has cleaned up hospitals with the first-ever national hospital hygiene audit.
She has put services for older people on the top of the agenda,
with €400 million new funding over two budgets, to provide new home care, home help and long term care.
There are five times more home care packages for older people now than in 2005.
She has invited private investment to build new hospitals faster than ever at public hospital sites,
freeing up 1,000 beds for public patients.
She is ensuring that new consultants are hired on a new contract so that patients will be seen faster and discharged faster from hospital.
She is taking major new steps to bring fairness for public patients in hospitals.
In the first major reform of medical regulation in 30 years, she has put a majority of lay people on the Medical Council,
and ensured Fitness to Practice hearings are held in public normally.
She has expanded the role of nurses to provide faster patient services through nurse prescribing, for example.
She has brought in the first major overhaul of Pharmacy regulation in 130 years for patient safety.
This also now allows, for example, Irish people who qualify as pharmacists in the UK to open pharmacies here without artificial restrictions or delays.
She has expanded free GP care for families on low incomes with the GP visit card.
She has made the means test for the medical card much easier,
and made the largest increase in that means test for 30 years.
See www.progressivedemocrats.ie for a full set of achievements in health.
Current Challenges
It is now time to use these improvements to transform the experience of health care for patients.
Our economic success has delivered substantial new resources for health.
At the same time, we all know we cannot simply spend our way to excellence in healthcare.
Everyone agrees that we cannot simply scale up the old system.
We need to continue changing the way the system works for patients, so that patients’ needs come first.
The additional investment we will make in hospitals and in community services will work to deliver better, sustainable patient services
by matching funding with changed work practices and arrangements.
The fact that our population is relatively young offers us tremendous opportunities to build better health care services that will be sustained for decades ahead.
The next stage in reform will be all about setting and enforcing standards,
and providing progressively stronger guarantees for patients of what they can expect from their health services.
In leading health policy, the Progressive Democrats in government will ensure that:- Patient safety and quality care will drive all our decisions
- The patient interest will be put first and responsiveness to patients will be greatly improved in practical ways.
We will continue to invest high levels of public funding in health services
and facilities with financial incentives
built in for the results we seek for patients.
We will provide as many services as possible in the community,
close to people, and supporting independent living.
We want people to retain their independence for their full lifetime in as much as humanly possible.
We will encourage and require local management to solve specific problems.
We will empower managers, staff and clinicians to work together to make improvements for patients in their own areas.
We will encourage innovation by both public and private providers in health for faster, quality patient services.
We will bring public and private to work together for all patients;
we will not freeze out the private sector.
We will bring forward and implement recommendations of the Commission on Patient Safety recently established by Minister Mary Harney.
This will deal with all aspects of system design and procedures that affect patient safety.
New Opportunities
12 Guarantees to Patients
We will progressively introduce Patient Guarantees of what people they can expect from their health service.
We will ensure that these are real and practical, not aspirational.
We believe that organisations and processes should be driven by the results that patients expect.
We will work with the HSE to organise their operations of particular services so that real guarantees to patients will be managed and met.
We will start with the following twelve guarantees:
Guarantee of an offer of an appointment for treatment from the National Treatment Purchase Fund,
initially after three months’ waiting, reducing to two months for elective procedures.
Guarantee of seven day a week discharges from hospital.
Patients in hospital will be discharged as soon as medically ready.
No patient will stay in hospital waiting over a weekend for a doctor to make a discharge decision.
Guarantee of quality cancer care for people in every region.
Cancer patients in all parts of the country will receive the same quality standard of care.
The cancer centres will be required to manage services to meet target, short treatment times for each aspect of cancer care.
Guaranteed frequency of screening calls for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer.
Guarantee that all children needing cardiac and cancer care procedures will be treated as soon as medically ready.
Guarantee that all beds in publicly-funded hospitals will be routinely available to all patients, starting at co-location campuses.
Guarantee that standards of hygiene and infection control are enforced for patient safety,
with the ultimate sanction of withdrawal of a license for failure to adhere to standards.
Guarantee that hospitals will be organised to meet the target that no-one will wait for admission or discharge at an A&E Department beyond six hours from the time they arrive.
Guarantee that no-one will face unaffordable nursing home care costs.
Guarantee that clear standards are communicated, set and enforced in nursing homes and residential care settings.
Guarantee that patients will have available a range of high quality, primary care,
mental health
and community health services,
accessible locally in modern centres and delivered by teams of skilled GPs and other professionals.
Guaranteed assessment for services
and a personal plan for persons with disabilities.
Implementing these guarantees will require constant focus and excellent procedures,
where progress is measured and managed to achieve the results.
They will also require change in the way things are done throughout health
and cannot be achieved without the reformed working arrangements we envisage.
Management, clinicians and health professionals all have a part to play.
Well-managed budgets are also required.
We believe these service guarantees will be achieved and sustained where there is overall budget discipline
and a drive for efficiency, effectiveness and value for money.
If budgets are not managed well in health care, service levels will not be sustained.
We will work with the Health Service Executive to ensure that every aspect of our health services operate with clear, respectful communications with patients and their families.
Major priority: Older People
New Ombudsman for Older People
We give this commitment to older people
– we will do our utmost to ensure that you are supported to live in your home for your lifetime.
We will continue to give the highest levels of priority to services for older people.
We will continue the unprecedented expansion of community care for older people
that we have put in place since 2005, with additional home care packages,
home help hours
and palliative care.
We will support a five-year strategy on hospice and palliative care, based on the recommendations of the 2001 Report of the National Advisory Committee on Palliative Care, with appropriate funding and a dedicated manpower and training programme.
We will appoint an Ombudsman for Older People
to further support standards and quality care for health and wider public services for older people,.
This will be modelled on the office of the Ombudsman for Children, which the Government established by statute in 2002,
and will provide a focused, statutory office to be an advocate for older people,
as well as providing a dedicated service for redress beyond existing organisations.
New, enforced nursing home standards
We will ensure that high standards are set and enforced for nursing home care.
We will strongly support and implement new HIQA role, especially in nursing homes and in public residential care centres and homes.
Minister Mary Harney has introduced the first-ever standards for individual care plans in nursing homes,
adding to physical standards of facilities.
For the first time, these standards will also apply to public facilities.
We will ensure that the Health Information and Quality Authority
and the Office of the Chief Inspector of Social Services will set and enforce standards fairly and openly.
Implement the Fair Deal for nursing home care costs so care is affordable for all
We will implement the Fair Deal from the start of 2008.
For at least the last 13 years, the system of support for people needing nursing home care was unfair, unpredictable and, in many cases, financially devastating.
No government addressed this huge problem, until Minister Mary Harney brought to Government the Fair Deal that was adopted as policy,
meaning entirely new, fair, transparent rules for sharing of the cost of nursing home care.
This will mean everyone will make some contribution to the cost of care, on a fair basis,
and the State will pay all the balance,
even when there are price increases.
No-one will ever be asked to contribute more than four fifths their own, actual, disposable income.
A Deferred Contribution of a maximum of 5% of the value of a principal private residence (2.5% for a spouse) will be made for each year of care – up to a maximum of three years.
After three years in care, no additional amount will be added.
It will be an option if people or their families wish to pay the deferred charge upfront.
This means, for the first time,
No family members will be required to come up with cash to pay for their parent’s care and,
of course, there will be no means testing of relatives.
No person in care, their spouse or a dependant child
will ever be forced to mortgage or sell their house to pay for care.
Patients and their families will not be exposed to rising nursing home prices.
People will be supported equally in public and private nursing home places.
Overall, the State will continue to meet more than two-thirds of the cost of long term care in our country.
In the context of the Fair Deal, we will also invest in new public long term care places.
Minister Harney has already provided funding for 800 new beds in 2007, over 400 of which will be in the public sector.
A further 400 public long term care beds will be put in place in 2008.
We will finalise the national review of long term care bed needs, in the context of the target that no more than 41/2 per cent of people over-65 should need residential care places.
New Licensing & Standards for hospitals and health care
Our strategic goal for hospitals in the next term of government is to set and enforce explicit standards for the first time.
We will bring forward and implement recommendations of the Commission on Patient  Safety recently established by Minister Mary Harney.
This will deal with all aspects of system design and procedures that affect patient safety.
One of its key tasks is to make recommendations on a system of licensing of hospitals.
We will introduce legislation for a mandatory licensing system for all hospitals in the country.
Patients in all hospitals, public, private and voluntary, will increasingly be guaranteed transparent standards of care,
and those standards will be enforced by the new Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) which Minister Mary Harney has now brought on to a statutory level.
The legislation will have a robust inspection and reporting regime.
Ultimately, the Authority will have the power to withdraw a license from a hospital,
as well as from other health care settings such as clinics.
This will be a very challenging regime for hospitals
and will strengthen assurances to the public that standards are set and enforced in all health care settings.
Enforce standards of hygiene and infection control
Our pursuit of explicit and transparent standards will mean we will press for ever cleaner hospitals until all reach a standard of excellence that is continuously raised higher.
We will continue with the national hospitals hygiene audits that were commenced as a result of Minister Mary Harney’s actions on A&E.
Ireland has already a low rate of Healthcare Acquired Infections by European standards, but a relatively high rate of MRSA infection.
Reducing MRSA infections will require many actions, including reducing the rate of antibiotic use.
This is one of the main reasons for Ireland’s high MRSA rate.
We will relentlessly pursue actions to achieve reductions in MRSA infections,
first, with a 30% target reduction, and then moving on to put Ireland in the top half of European countries for MRSA control.
We will ensure that HIQA sets and enforces a clear standard on Healthcare Associated Infections,
and that the new system of licensing will put a strong emphasis on all infection control.
Ultimately, hospitals will risk losing their license if they fail to control infections to a specified minimum standard.
New Patient Compensation Scheme without litigation
Because mistake do happen, we will introduce a streamlined patient compensation scheme to ensure that patients can receive compensation for medical and healthcare errors
without lengthy legal processes involving the establishment of liability in law.
We will use the successful model of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to ensure patients get speedy and fair compensation.
We will also seek to remove a blame culture in relation to medical mishaps,
so that there can be real learning from mistakes.
In this context, we will seek to alleviate as much as possible the burden of impending litigation from doctors and health care professionals.
Improved hospital and work practices for faster care
We will work with the HSE to measure, manage and reduce the time it takes to admit patients to hospitals (whether through A&E or planned admissions);
and, we will also measure, manage and reduce the time it takes to discharge patients.
We will invest in new and more sophisticated medical technologies,
in upskilling our doctors and other professionals,
and in developing new purpose built facilities to further increase day care treatments each year.
We have greatly strengthened the diagnostic capabilities of our acute hospitals in the past decade,
and we will continue to invest in better, speedier and more effective diagnostic technologies through the health capital programme.
We will develop community diagnostic centres allowing primary care teams and GPs easier and faster access for their patients,
and enabling hospital diagnostic services to concentrate on more acute cases.
We will implement the new consultants’ contract that will provide for teamwork and management among consultants,
in turn helping to raise the standards of patient safety and quality care.
The new contract will enable us to add 1,500 new consultants in a planned expansion of services.
The new consultants’ contract will mean patients are seen by a senior doctor faster, are admitted to hospital faster and are discharged faster.
Patients will be discharged every day of the week from hospitals.
Faster care, fairer access, more efficient hospitals
We will ensure much faster access for public patients to hospital services,
using a combination of investment in public hospitals;
closer management of private work in public hospitals,
and purchasing services for public patients, where necessary, from private sector providers.
We believe there is no need to introduce a compulsory insurance system to achieve this goal of equity of access.
We will implement new services and new investments without further reviews or bureaucratic delays using, where appropriate, the private sector and philanthropic initiatives to best effect including in
The new national tertiary Children’s Hospital
The new Central Mental Hospital
A new acute hospital in the North East
A new Rehabilitation Hospital
The new Cancer Control Strategy,
including the National Radiotherapy Network.
We will continue to invest substantially in public hospitals according to the capital funding set out in the National Development Plan
– over €2 billion will be spent between now and 2013 on acute services.
We will support the building of new hospital facilities to free up about 1,000 public beds through the co-location initiative.
This is far and away the most cost effective and fastest way of providing 1,000 extra beds.
Over 400 public more will be added through the public capital programme.
With these, and the 1,200 new beds since 2001, we will be very far advanced towards the Health Strategy goal of 3,000 new beds by 2011.
This government has already increased public acute hospital beds at the fastest rate in modern times
– about 170 per year more, compared to 30 per year under the previous government.
We will carry out a further review to analyse acute hospital bed needs up to 2020.
We will also focus public capital investment on refurbishment and creating more single occupancy rooms.
We will seek to get the best use out of beds, with more use of day case procedures
and reducing the length of time patients stay in hospital at least to European averages (for the age structure of the population)
We will guarantee that all patients will have access to all publicly-funded beds in every public hospital, starting at co-location campuses.
This will end the situation for many years where about 20 per cent of beds are reserved for private patients.
We will strongly support the new co-located facilities at public hospitals to maximise the potential for shared services between public and private hospitals to benefit all patients
We will systematically purchase services for public patients from private sector providers,
expanding the National Treatment Purchase Fund,
where value for money and faster services are achieved
We will re-organise the payments system for treatments provided by hospitals so as to ensure funding rewards productivity for patients.
It will be focused on moving to a procedure basis for payments to hospitals as much as possible,
within a budget provided by taxpayers,
so that the public system can pay in the one way for treatments in both public and private hospitals.
We do not need a new, compulsory insurance tax to change the payments system.
This will help bring better incentives and productivity to hospitals.
We will not, however, introduce tax-funded fee per item payments solely to consultants in public hospitals,
while all other staff are paid on a salary basis.
We will provide as wide a range of services in local hospitals as possible, where patient safety and quality can be assured.
We will create hospital networks where local hospitals are linked with larger regional hospitals for integrated and higher standards of clinical care for patients.
Where appropriate, and it makes sense for patients, we will encourage the development of primary care services on or adjacent to hospital sites.
Where hospital services are re-organised,
we will require that the HSE does so in a manner that commands the confidence of patients and of the public,
so that no service is changed without a demonstrably better one being put in its place.
New regulation of medical and health professionals in the public interest
The public interest has to be the over-riding concern in the way all medical and health care professionals are regulated.
We will continue the overhaul we have started to the range of legislation that governs the regulation of health professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, health and social care professionals and nurses.
We will create a modern, open regulatory regime that is responsive to patients’ needs and is also supportive of continuing professional development and competence assurance.
Since the public interest and open accountability must come first, no professional regulatory body will be controlled by members of that profession themselves.
We will implement and support the new Medical Council to regulate medical professionals in the public interest.
Minister Mary Harney has brought forward the first overhaul of medical regulation law in nearly 30 years.
With a lay majority on the Council and on the Fitness to Practice Committee, we will ensure that medical regulation is carried out transparently and with modern accountability.
We will support the work of the Medical Council in the area of continuing competence assurance.
Minister Harney introduced regulatory arrangements for twelve health care professions for the first time which includes a Health and Social Care Professionals’ Council with a lay majority.
We will ensure that the Registration Boards to support the newly established Council are operable before the end of 2007.
She has also put the regulation of pharmacy on a new, modernised footing through the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.
We will continue to bring forward modernised legislation to regulate the business of pharmacy services in the public interest.
During the lifetime of the next government, we will also modernise the legislation relating to the regulation of dental services through the Dental Council,
and nurses and midwives through An Bord Altranais.
Continued high public funding with value for money
With the reformed health structures in place, the challenge is now to get best value for taxpayers’ money in a system of health funding that is sustainable.
The easy political choice is to offer more of the same, and more of the same for free.
We believe the more sustainable and financially sound approach is to use taxpayers’ money to support people who need support,
rather than offering free benefits to people who are already well off and can afford,
for example, health insurance or visits to the GP.
It is no answer simply to make more promises and continue spending more until health spending reaches 15 or 20 per cent of national income.
Anyone, anywhere in the world, who has looked seriously at health spending recognises this.
We envisage that, with the correct policies, our economy can grow by an average of 5 per cent per annum for the next five years.
That will mean we can, and we will, bring public health current spending to approximately €21 billion by the end of a five year term of government, up from €14 billion now.
We are committed to a level of public investment in health capital projects that has already put Ireland highest in the OECD (alongside Norway) in terms of public capital investment as a proportion of national income (0.6 per cent of GNP).
Few other governments in the world can make these commitments.
As a party we are committed to these high,
and sustainable, levels of public investment in health.
Private sector involvement
We will also actively encourage the private sector to play an integrated role in the provision of health services in Ireland.
We wish to see innovation in the interplay between public and private sectors.
This is now the European trend.
And it has been the tradition for all our modern history, in hospitals, and especially in front line community services.
Other parties would now freeze out the private sector.
It is against European developments to cut off a role in public health policy for the private sector.
We believe patients want quality-assured care.
The vast majority of the Irish public do not reject the private sector in health
– they are as happy to be treated in a private hospital as a public hospital.
Public patients who have used private hospitals paid by the National Treatment Purchase Fund have expressed high levels of satisfaction.
The use of the private providers for public patients prevents a divide into a two tier health system in our country.
As we license all hospitals, they should all be available for use by the State as service providers to patients.
The co-location hospitals projects will free up public beds in our hospitals
and will offer excellent opportunities for public and private management to work together at large public hospital sites.
In summary
- Public investment in health will continue to be the predominant form of funding.
We are committed to continuing sustainable growth in the levels of public spending and public investment in health.
We will take measures also to support a competitive health insurance market
and to continue support for community rating so that health insurance remains affordable for older and sicker people;
We envisage a fair share of health costs between State and individuals;
the cost to individuals should never be a barrier to accessing necessary health care; and contributions to any costs of care should be based on means.
We do not believe the expansion of free services for all, irrespective of means, is the best use of scarce taxpayers’ resources.
We do not believe compulsory health insurance is necessary in addition to compulsory taxation to fund our health services.
We believe that hospitals and service-providers will ultimately be paid on results and outcomes achieved
The HSE will be required to set and achieve value for money targets and management held accountable for these
The best use for public health services will be made of land assets held by the HSE.
Excellence in community services and health promotion
We believe that people want more and better health services to be delivered outside hospitals, that is, in community settings.
The community based health services are the ones that most people encounter.
We will work to ensure that entitlements to health benefits such as medical cards, GP visit cards, and community drugs schemes
will be simplified, easier to obtain, and better co-ordinated with other income support payments provided by the State.
We reiterate in this manifesto the community health and health promotion strategies and implementation plans brought forward by the Government in recent years, ranging from Mental Health,
Primary Care, Childrens’ Health,
Obesity,
Alcohol Abuse
and Traveller Health.
Space does not permit us to reiterate all the goals and actions of these strategies but we remain committed to their implementation.
We summarise some elements of these strategies:
We will implement and fund expanded multi-disciplinary primary care teams around the country, and developing new out of hours services
We will work with the private service providers and the private sector to implement a major nationwide facilities development programme
for primary care and community health services in line with the National Primary Care Strategy
We will fully implement the largest expansion in services for people with disabilities
that the government commenced in Budget 2005
We will implement new community-based cardiac and chronic disease management services using innovative technologies and new ways of working
We will bring forward legislation to deal comprehensively with Assisted Human Reproduction
We will support nurse/midwife-led initiatives in providing health care, for example, in developing new, patient-friendly models of maternity services.
We will develop and implement a national Rehabilitation service,
including new, purpose built National Rehabilitation Hospital beds, and stroke units across the country
We will bring forward a comprehensive development programme for national Palliative Care services to include new and more accessible facilities and services across the country
We will fully operate the Sexual Assault and Treatment Units pioneered under this government and further review additional centres when existing units have a track record to analyse
We will simplify, make fairer and more understandable, the eligibility for all health and social services;
we will build on the radical changes
we have introduced to the means test for medical cards and GP visit cards in the last two years to ensure that these benefits are made available promptly to those who need them.
In the past two years, we have increased annual funding by €50 million to begin implementation of the Mental Health strategy,
A Vision for Change which will replace the old psychiatric hospitals with modern community based services and new acute units attached to general hospitals.
We intend to complete this ambitious programme in the lifetime of the next government.
We will focus resources, awareness and new forms of interventions and supports to help reduce the tragedy of suicide in our country
We will develop and implement a new national Oral Health policy, which will include service targets for public dental services and orthodontics
We will seek to negotiate new wage agreements excluding tobacco from the Consumer Price Index for that purpose
We will introduce the ban on sunbed use for children
We will take actions to change the culture of binge drinking and excessive use of alcohol;
we will continuously review the effectiveness of voluntary restrictions on alcohol advertising,
and require more ambitious actions by the industry where there is evidence of their effectiveness.
We will work with other Government departments,
with communities and with young people to combat the scourge of drugs, alcohol and other substance misuse that afflicts our society
Recognising the unacceptably high levels of death and injury on our roads, and the consequences for individuals and families, and on our health services,
we will work with the Road Safety Authority and other government departments in education and public information programmes to heighten awareness on road safety.
(Please see our transport policy chapter)
We will work with our counterparts in Northern Ireland to improve services for people in our border  communities
We will also work to bring forward agreed all-island programmes that bring practical health benefits to all people on the island,
and we will remove, where possible, any practical barriers to all-island cooperation.
New work arrangements, new health pact for Ireland
A critical step towards a change agenda that will deliver excellent patient services will be for all in health to work together as never before.
There are 120,000 people working in public health services,
and many thousands more in the private sector.
The recent social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, contains a wide range of commitments.
With so many areas covered, the potential for a truly transformative agreement for health services remains to be achieved.
We intend to pursue that opportunity now.
The Progressive Democrats will constructively work in a new health forum that will challenge all health participants to pursue the shared goal of achieving excellence in patient services.
We see the outcome as a Health Pact for Ireland containing specific, time deliverable actions for implementation starting in 2008.
In these discussions, we are prepared to challenge, and to be challenged.
Fundamental issues will be addressed to ensure better organisation of work practices and working times
for best patient care – and more satisfying, productive work for health professionals– across all services, especially in hospitals.
We also seek a working environment in health that is constantly open to change, innovation and the use of new technologies for delivering more services and better patient care.
We intend that a showcase for changed work practices and organisation
should enable faster and most efficient implementation of the new Cancer Control Strategy.
This strategy, published by the Government in 2006, has received widespread support.
Cancer is a major service priority for the whole population.
Cancer services involve nearly all aspects of health service planning and delivery: major capital investment,
recruitment of a wide range of highly specialised professionals,
research,
patient services in the community
and on a day care basis,
population screening,
standards and quality assurance;
the best organisation of hospitals and payments processes.
We have a big agenda for change and excellence in health.
It is a complex and challenging task.
But it is also compelling.
And that is why the Progressive Democrats seek a mandate for ambitious health reform that puts patients first.
Educating For Success
New Ireland
Ireland’s education system has done an excellent job,
firstly, in educating our people and, secondly, in providing a strong foundation for our recent economic growth.
Irish students are performing commendably in international comparison, scoring higher than the OECD average in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA):
Irish students came 6th out 40 countries for reading literacy.
Irish students came 17th out of 40 countries for mathematical literacy.
Irish students came 16th out of 40 countries for scientific literacy.
Considering the factors behind variations in performance, the latest PISA report commented:
Variations in student performance, in the PISA study, are strongly associated with parental background…
But there are many things that schools can do to enhance performance.
Key areas for consideration include:
Modern, adequately staffed schools
Enhanced school management capabilities
Strong child protection measures
Special needs and schools in areas of disadvantage
Integration of foreign students
Support for our third-level sector
New Opportunities
In government, the Progressive Democrats will make sure communities have modern adequately-staffed schools,
when they need them by:
Investing over €5billion under the National Development Plan in schools infrastructure,
schools development, and Information and Communications Technology in schools.
Increasing the primary school building capital budget from €305 million in 2007 to over €400 million in the lifetime of the next government.
Increasing the post-primary school building capital budget from €241 million in 2007 to over €320 million in the lifetime of the next government.
Establishing a new Schools Development and Building Planning body.
This will have lead responsibility for assisting communities with the planning of new schools
and the expansion of existing schools.
It will also assist potential patrons to develop suitable plans and structures.
Putting in place strict and enforceable conditions on planning permission to guarantee large new developments include school facilities to cater for immediate and inevitable demand.
Ensuring that once planning permission has been granted for a new development this information is communicated to the Department of Education and Science so it can engage in the provision of a new school immediately.
Reforming the system for allocating teachers to schools, using a five-year rolling cycle for each school where current enrolment and projected demand for places is considered.
Schools must have adequate and stable teacher numbers irrespective of annual fluctuation, and be able to respond to rapid number increases.
Moving to teacher allocation based on age profile of students, not simply on total school enrolment, and pursuing a target of having a maximum of 25 children per class in national schools.
Considering a new supplementary allocation system whereby a small cohort of teachers are employed directly by the Department of Education and Science,
and can be allocated to any of a number of schools within a specific small area at short notice.
A review of the security of tenure and entitlements of substitute teachers will also be held.
Increasing the capitation paid to all primary schools, including Gaelscoileanna and Educate Together, to the same level as that paid to secondary schools to allow, among other things, increased opportunity for students in science and the arts.
In government, the Progressive Democrats will enhance and strengthen the management capabilities of schools by:
Establishing a National Forum on the Future of School Governance and Ownership
to allow all stakeholders have input into how Ireland can ensure it has the optimal arrangements for a 21st century education system.
Putting in place a formal and adequate framework of support, training and assistance for school principals and boards of management,
within the Department of Education and Science.
Funding management and administration training for elected members of School Boards,
and ensuring every large school has a full-time secretary.
Providing more democratic and accountable management of our schools by encouraging schools to have at least half of the members of the Board of Management elected by parents
and have teachers elect at least one representative.
Encouraging all Boards of Management to ensure representation of concerns of students
with disabilities,
immigrants,
members of the travelling
community and other minority groups in the school.
Enhancing support for national primary and secondary curriculum reviews to speed-up assessment and implementation of change.
Child Protection
The Progressive Democrats will promote the strongest child-protection measures in schools
by establishing a child protection unit within the Department of Education and Science.
This Unit will provide oversight and support to Patrons and Board of Management on all issues related child welfare.
It will work to guarantee a joint-organisational response to child welfare cases.
It will ensure that every school annually produces a localised, school specific anti-bullying programme.
We will also investigate how parenting classes can best be delivered via the school and / or VEC system, to support parents of school-going children.
In government, the Progressive Democrats will continue to prioritise schools in areas of disadvantage
and students with special needs by:
Progressing the key recommendations contained in the “Implementation Report: Plan For The Phased Implementation of Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act, 2004”, namely to address:
Pre-school provision to support early intervention for all children with special education needs.
Supporting inclusive education in schools.
Support for professional training and development.
Promoting effective integration.
Developing effective appeals and mediation systems.
Planning curriculum access and support certificated progression.
Implementing review outcomes.
Supporting development of further and continuing education.
Strengthening the relevant research structures and capacity.
Increasing the number of NEPS psychologists from 127 today to over 200 in the next two years
Focusing investment on speeding up the assessment and resource allocation elements of the special needs process,
and evaluating how a system like the National Treatment Purchase Fund could assist in this area.
Building on progress to date on the integration of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
Evaluating the various available approaches to address special needs to ensure Irish schools promote methods that best suit the child and reflect best international research and practice.
Ensuring resources and assistance are allocated to special needs students in a manner that best supports the student, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of the class as a unit.
School Transport
The Progressive Democrats in government will reform the present, out of date and inadequate school bus transport catchment area structure
to ensure an efficient and accessible school bus system for communities across the country.
The system must be safe, flexible and responsive to rapidly changing settlement patterns, and must assist pupils in rural areas in accessing the fullest range of subjects.
The Progressive Democrats will promote the successful integration of foreign students into classes by:
Initiating a review of teacher training practices to ensure teachers are properly equipped to teach the growing number of students from abroad.
Provide for 600 teachers under the National Development Plan for language supports in the education sector by 2009.
Increasing dramatically the resources dedicated to English language teaching
to help students from abroad.
Making these increased English language teaching resources available to the parents of students
from abroad where possible, out of school hours.
Learning Resources
In Government the Progressive Democrats will:
Ensure that school children in low-income families are provided with extra funds for textbooks, via an increase in the back to school allowance.
Encourage the fullest possible use of Information Technology so as to reduce the quantity of textbooks required
and ensure that students have access to the most up-to-date information.
Increase significantly, funding for local library-book schemes.
Make grinds and revision materials available free of charge on the Internet for all subjects on the Leaving Certificate syllabus to increase accessibility to a greater number of students.
Provide increasing support for the adult education sector,
to further promote life-long learning and progress the key recommendations of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Science Report on Adult Literacy in Ireland
In government, the Progressive Democrats will continue to strongly support our Third Level sector by:
Investing €2billion under the National Development Plan to support greater equity of access to Higher Education.
Increasing opportunities for students with a disability,
mature students
and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds,
including members of the Travelling Community
and refugees to progress to higher education.
Speeding up delivery of the key recommendations in the McIver Report, to support and enhance the Post Leaving Certificate sector.
Considering the allocation of extra points to higher-level maths in the CAO system in order to better prepare students for third-level science and engineering courses.
Establishing a University for the South East incorporating campuses at Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow.
Implementing the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation,
which will provide massively increased resources to third level institutions,
double the output of fourth level graduates, and encourages greater commercialisation of research.
Promoting enhanced co-operation between Institutes of Technology and Universities,
and the business community to develop further practical courses reflecting the local economy and job market.
Guaranteeing that third-level fees for undergraduate courses will not be re-introduced.
Abolishing fees for part-time third-level courses
with an initial prioritisation for those who have not previously benefited from third-level education.
Undertaking a root and branch review of the Third-Level grants system to ensure:
A unified and simplified system.
A fair and equitable means-test process, that takes account of real living costs of students.
Formal consultation with student representative bodies on how student living costs are best calculated.
A flexible grant system for persons in difficult circumstances,
families on very low incomes, students with disabilities,
immigrants, members of the travelling community /and other minority groups.
A responsive and efficient application and notification process.
Advancing Disability Policy
New Ireland
Providing services for people with disabilities is a majority priority of the Progressive Democrats.
In government we have made significant progress for the disabled:
The Disability Equality Section was established within the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
It provides a focal point for disability equality policy and legislation development.
It was established arising from a recommendation by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities (Report 1996).
Budgeted and dedicated expenditure on the disabled
(by the Departments of Health; Social Community and Family Affairs; and Education) has increased to four times the level in 1997.
The Disability Act was passed in 2005.
The Act establishes a statutory basis for:
An independent assessment of individual needs and related service statement;
Access to public buildings, services and information;
Sectoral plans for six key Departments which will ensure that access for people with disabilities will become an integral part of service planning and provision;
An obligation on public bodies to be proactive in employing people with disabilities;
Restricting the use of information from genetic testing for employment and insurance purposes;
A Centre of for Excellence in Universal Design aimed at making products and buildings accessible and usable for everyone, especially for people with disabilities.
Current Background
A key question relating to the Disability Act was whether services should be rights-based.
Our legislation brings Ireland to the highest international standards for the legal basis for services.
The Progressive Democrats are committed to introducing rights of assessment, appeals, provision and enforcement for the disabled.
New Opportunities
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €19.2billion under the People with Disabilities Programme in the National Development Plan
Implement the National Disability Strategy.
Improve provision of specialised infrastructure for older persons
and / or persons with disabilities via increased thresholds for the Essential Repairs and Disabled Persons Grants Scheme and the Housing Aid for the Elderly Scheme.
Provide increased funding for families
with disabled children
to assist them to make their homes "life time adaptable" for their disabled children.
Develop a scheme to give targeted assistance to families
that have a number of children/persons with disabilities.
The scheme will allow the addition of extra facilities for each person with a disability, access improvements, and other special requirements in the home.
Secure passage of the Comhairle (Amendment) Bill to establish a personal advocacy service for people with disabilities in relation to applications for obtaining services.
Implement the sectoral plans for the disabled
published by six Government Departments in September 2004.
Complete the multi-annual investment programme worth €900 million targeted at high priority disability support services to run until 2009.
Progress the key recommendations contained in the “Implementation Report: Plan For The Phased Implementation of Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act, 2004”, namely to address:
Pre-school provision
to support early intervention for all children with special education needs
Supporting inclusive education in schools
Support for professional training and development
Promoting effective integration
Developing effective appeals and mediation systems
Planning curriculum access and support certificated progression
Implementing review outcomes
Supporting development of further and continuing education
Strengthening the relevant research structures and capacity
Ensuring Equality
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
This government has made significant progress in the area of equality:
Ireland’s equality legislation was completely modernised by the Employment and Equal Status Acts.
These acts established the Equality Authority
and the Equality Tribunal.
The funding for the enforcement of equality legislation has been significantly expanded.
Additional funding for equality was provided under the National Development Plan 2000 – 2006.
The introduction of the minimum wage by Mary Harney, while she was Minister for Employment, Trade and Enterprise
helped thousands of women in low-paid jobs.
Female participation on state boards has been further increased.
The Gender Equality Unit was established under the National Development Plan in order to provide a support and advisory service on achieving gender equality.
Over the course of the NDP 2000 – 2006, the numbers of women in the Irish labour market increased by 26% (compared to 17% for men).
New Opportunities
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €148 million to build on earlier NDP achievements in combating gender inequality.
Vigorously pursue policies that tackle negative attitudes to ageing leading to prejudice against older people,
negative understanding of ageing leading to stereotyping of older people;
and negative treatment of older people, including discrimination against them on the grounds of age.
Continue to promote gender equality as a priority for government.
Transfer the ‘equality’ function from the Department of Justice to the new Department of Social and Equality Affairs .
Establish COSC – the Irish Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, to provide enhanced co-ordination and leadership to address the problem of domestic violence
and violence against women.
It will cover issues of domestic violence against men and children.
Continue to provide funding to tackle the problem of domestic violence,
support victims, support awareness raising campaigns aimed at encouraging victims to seek assistance
and fund campaigns to alert and alter public attitudes to the crime.
Funding will also be available for programmes that work with the perpetrators to recognise and change their violent behaviour.
Strongly support and fund initiatives under the National Women's Strategy 2007 - 2016  developed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to:
Establish a comprehensive framework of objectives, actions, targets and indicators to push the advancement of women in Ireland
Equalise the socio-economic status of women
Ensure the well-being and engagement of women in society as equal and active citizens
“Equality proof” government policy in order to maximise the impact of equality policy.
The new Department with responsibility for Equality, in collaboration with the Equality Authority,
will provide technical assistance to other Departments in proofing their policies to avoid unanticipated negative impact on any of the groups protected under the equality legislation.
Work with the Equality Authority to ensure our labour market accommodates diversity and enhances access,
participation
and outcomes
for groups experiencing labour market inequality on grounds covered by equality legislation.
Managing the State’s Property
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
Since the Progressive Democrats proposed the restructuring of the State’s property portfolio much has been achieved.
The rationalisation and consolidation of office accommodation in Dublin – under the direction of Minister Tom Parlon - has resulted in the sale of surplus office accommodation.
In 2006 alone, €221million was raised for the Exchequer by such sales.
Current Background
Continuing to improve State asset management means using state property in the most efficient and costeffective manner to serve the needs of the people.
Unused or derelict assets can be used to provide funding
for the benefit of those most in need.
The Progressive Democrats believe that further action can be taken to realise and maximise these benefits.
New Opportunities
In government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Establish a new State Property Management Agency to track and to manage State property assets.
Make this Agency the single reference point for all public sector organisations on the available land
and ensure that wider government objectives, including housing needs and regional economic and housing strategies, are factored into land disposal decisions.
More Homes, Better Homes
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
Rapid economic growth has brought with it unprecedented demand for housing.
The market has responded and built over 600,000 houses since 1997.
In 2006, the total number of houses and apartments completed was 93,419.
In Ireland we are now producing homes at a rate of over 20 per 1,000 residents, the highest in Europe.
This has enabled an unprecedented number of people avail of home ownership.
But rising house prices keep home ownership out of reach for too many.
Current Background
A increasing supply of high-standard housing should be available at affordable and reasonable cost to those on the average industrial wage.
Increased supply is the key element in addressing the property price issue facing prospective Irish homebuyers.
‘High-standard’ not only refers to the size and condition of the home, but also its location in terms of the occupants family and work connections.
New Opportunities
In government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Continue our successful policy-approach of significantly increasing housing supply to reduce the cost burden on homebuyers.
Abolish stamp duty for first time buyers
Make stamp duty fairer by “banding” rates so that owner-occupiers pay the higher rate only on the portion of the price over each threshold
Given the critical nature of this particular reform we will:
Implement our reform with an immediate effect.
Implement our reform via legislation enacted before the new Dáil rises for the 2007 Summer Recess.
These changes will mean:
Reducing stamp duty to be paid on the average national house price by €8,250
- from €15,500 to €7,250, and reducing stamp duty charge to be paid on the average home in Dublin by €17,050 - from €32,250 to €15,200
Release 660 acres of land near Dublin city centre and over 500 acres in Cork City Centre (North Docks and South Docks) for development.
Development of housing will be prioritised.
Invest €17billion under the National Development Plan to expand the range of tailored social housing supports and an accelerated programme of renewal and improvement of the existing stock.
Invest €4billion in support for people seeking accommodation in the owner-occupied sector through the provision of affordable housing;
to assist in the upgrading of the physical condition of homes with particular emphasis on those who are most in need including the disabled and the elderly, under the National Development Plan.
Evaluate the application of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority model to others large urban area developments.
Make more affordable housing available
by holding open, transparent procurement competitions for available State-owned land.
The land should be provided to the developer that scores best against pre-published State -set criteria, not necessarily the one offering the highest monetary price.
Build on progress made under the Homelessness – an Integrated Strategy 2000, to continue to address factors resulting in homelessness
- not only related to the provision of accommodation, but also to health, care and welfare,
education and training and prevention
in order to effectively tackle homelessness in Ireland.
Prioritise the development of high-standard affordable homes by amending and expanding the use of Special Development Zones and / or a new permit scheme.
Create a National Water and Sewerage Services Office in the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the provision of an adequate and efficient network of water and sewerage infrastructure, and oversee the implementation by Local Authorities of Water Services Investment Programmes.
It will oversee and expedite water service provision to new developments.
This will speed up supply and reduce the cost of new, as the cost of the developer providing services will not be passed on to the buyer.
Promoting Peace, Providing Defence
New Ireland
Support for the UN and for multilateral arrangements
in relation to the preservation of international peace
and security remains the cornerstone of our approach to international relations.
Appropriate and adequate support for Óglaigh na hÉireann is also a core objective for the Progressive Democrats.
We are committed to supporting their role in contributing to the security of the State principally against the threat of armed aggression
and providing other services as required, thus contributing to Ireland’s political and economic well being.
We also re-affirm our backing for their activities to promote the coordination of emergency planning functions across all Government Departments
and other key public authorities and to oversee the emergency planning process in general.
Our commitment is evident in the Defence budget topping €1 billion for the first time in 2007.
In government, the Progressive Democrats have demonstrated our unshakeable committed to vindicating the sole legitimacy of the Permanent Defence Forces under the control of the Oireachtas,
as provided for in our Constitution.
We will continue to challenge and resist any dilution of this legitimacy in public debate and political discourse.
And we will continue to highlight the failings of any others to lend total, unequivocal and exclusive support to our Defence Forces
and Garda Síochána as the rightful forces of law and order.
New Opportunities
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Continue to work through the United Nations and European Union to contribute positively and effectively in international relations,
particularly in areas like human rights,
conflict resolution, peace-keeping
and development.
Strengthen the Defence Force numbers from 10,500 to at least 11,500,
plus 250 extra personnel for training programmes, over the lifetime of the next government.
Strongly support our Defence Forces on overseas service
and those assigned to the Rapid Reaction Force, to ensure Ireland continues its noble participation in peacekeeping missions
and to ensure that the European Union has the necessary capacities to provide responses in the area of crisis management.
Provide the strongest support for our Naval Service,
including maintaining the ongoing investment in the training and equipment needs of the Naval Service,
ensuring modern headquarters and administrative buildings and maintaining the eight-ship flotilla.
Ensure that money accrued from sale of military lands will be ring fenced and used for capital investment in Defence Forces.
Ensure Defence Forces Training is properly accredited via the Higher Education and Training Awards Council.
Committed to Overseas Aid
New Ireland
Ireland’s overseas development aid (ODA) programme is rightly a source of pride to our citizens,
and reflects a longstanding commitment to humanitarian endeavour by generations of Irish people, lay and religious.
As a non-aligned country, human development in poor countries is a major plank of Irish Foreign Policy.
The Progressive Democrats have always delivered maximum support for, and investment in, our ODA programmes.
We view ODA programmes - which prioritise the reduction of poverty, inequality and exclusion in developing countries - as an integral expression of Ireland’s identity in the global community.
In our Deputy Leader, Liz O’Donnell TD, we are fortunate to have one of the leading champions of this policy on the international scene,
and her dedication to this cause, as Minister of State and since, has helped Ireland set and meet commitments that have benefited many of the world's poorest people.
The Party's commitment to this area in government is evident in the steady growth of the total ODA budget.
In 1997 this total was €157 million.
In 2007, Ireland achieved the first target set of 0.5% of GNP (three years ahead of the EU target of 2010) with ODA spending in the region of €813 million.
Ireland is now a leader in Overseas Development Co-operation.
Over the five-year term of the next government we must reach the UN Official Development Assistance spending target of 0. 7% of GNP (by 2012),
and continue to pursue excellence both in the delivery of the official government aid programme,
and in making it easy for individuals to support the needs of the people of developing countries.
New Opportunities
In Government, the Progressive Democrats will:
Ensure the Irish Aid programme remains a central part of Ireland’s foreign policy, and
strengthen the policy coherence between our aid programme and other policy areas.
Maintain the clear focus of the Irish aid programme to ensure its maximum impact in terms of improving the lives of the poorest people.
Ensure the allocation of overseas aid has an ethical, social and democratic ethos by establishing an Ethical Advisory Committee,
comprised at least in part of respected external independent experts, which would advise Ireland Aid and the government on these issues and provide for independent audit and oversight of the Programme.
Encourage continued and increased strategic engagement of Irish Aid with major stakeholders in Ireland, in order to strengthen the quality as well as the public ownership of the aid programme
Maintain the untied nature and poverty focus of the Irish Aid programme, precluding the use of aid money for security, migration, trade or commercial purposes.
Reach 0.6% of GNP target by 2010, i.e. spending in the order of €1.2 billion in that year.
Reach the 0.7% of GNP in 2012, i.e. ODA spending in the region €1.5 billion in that year.
Ensure that the necessary staffing and capacity is provided to manage the expanding budget.
Work to ensure targeted and transparent spending on the Millennium Development Goals both in the EU instrument for Development Cooperation
and in the annual EU budget.
Ireland will work within the Council of Ministers to ensure that these targets are applied across all developing countries with which the EU has partnership agreements.
Support the cancellation of unpayable debts of impoverished countries through a fair and transparent international process, and use Ireland’s influence in international institutions, such as the IMF and World Bank,
to ensure that poor countries are not required to undermine their own development in order to qualify for debt cancellation.
Work with employers groups
to promote facilitation of the payment of charitable contributions via direct payroll systems.
Ensure that the annual individual and corporate tax return contains a section which will allow the taxpayer to voluntarily pay an additional 1% of the tax due that year,
with that amount to go directly to overseas aid, and (crucially) that amount will be additional to the Exchequer provision for overseas aid.
In no way will these extra funds be used to replace existing Exchequer allocations to overseas aid.
This will allow taxpayers to make a contribution to developing countries with a minimum of inconvenience.
Provide free travel and pension arrangements
for Irish missionaries returning from long-service abroad.
Legislate to regulate the charity sector,
and examine how VAT is levied on charitable organisations.
Recognise in our environment policy the threat climate change poses to the development goals of the world’s poorest people.
(Please see extensive earlier chapter)
Supporting Rural Life & the Agri-economy
New Ireland
Thankfully, people in rural Ireland nowadays have the choice to work off-farm if they wish.
But for those who do want to farm for a living or choose to live in rural Ireland,
we must do everything we can to ensure they are able to do so.
This Party will ensure national policy reflects this necessity.
We do not support the removal of development controls in rural Ireland,
but we believe that with a more balanced and just approach to rural planning,
we can create rural communities with a sustainable future
and allow people within these communities to reap the many benefits associated with country living.
In addition, the Progressive Democrats believe we must not only end Ireland’s infrastructure deficit
we must create a platform to create balanced regional growth throughout the island
and a better quality of life for all our people.
In particular, we are concerned that the regions should not fall behind.
Quality living requires the highest quality infrastructure across the State,
with well-thought out proposals to provide some counter-balance to the expanding Greater Dublin Area.
Our comprehensive transport and infrastructure policy contains such proposals
The Progressive Democrats hold Ireland’s agriculture
and the food and drinks industry to be crucial components of our economy,
and believe in targeted supports to develop a vibrant and sustainable sector
capable of meeting the complex demands of modern consumers while providing a strong economic return.
Funding of almost €1.7 billion is being made available to the Department of Agriculture and Food in 2007,
an increase of 18% on last year.
Last year Agrivision 2015 was published, which set out the actions required now to ensure the success of Ireland’s agri-food sector in the future.
The Progressive Democrats will continue to support all appropriate action to ensure a vibrant rural economy,
society
and environment,
which also exploits opportunities in non-food areas,
and our goal is to put in place and implement the right policies to allow the Irish agri-food sector to flourish through all stages of production.
New Opportunities
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €8 billion under the National Development Plan for the development of the agriculture and food sectors
€6 billion on enhancement of the environment and countryside
€1. 7 billion on agriculture
and forestry competitiveness
€290 million on food industry capital infrastructure and marketing
Fund nationwide broadband coverage,
ensuring among other things that rural Ireland has access to necessary technology.
Implement our extensive transport infrastructure policy to, among other things, ensure necessary access via our critical tourism routes across the country.
Invest €90 million under the NDP in the Rural Transport Initiative.
Enhance community health services to older people including using the Rural Social Scheme
to provide support services to elderly people
in remote rural areas.
Further develop out-of-hours GP services to enhance services to communities across the country.
Implement new community-based cardiac and chronic disease management services using innovative technologies and new ways of working
Provide as wide a range of services in local hospitals as possible,
where patient safety and quality can be assured.
We will create hospital networks where local hospitals are linked with larger regional hospitals for integrated and higher standards of clinical care for patients.
Reform the present, out of date and inadequate school bus transport catchment area structure to ensure an efficient and accessible school bus system for communities across the country.
The system must be safe, flexible and responsive to rapidly changing settlement patterns, and must assist pupils in rural areas in accessing the fullest range of subjects.
Establish a nationwide Anti Social Isolation Scheme entitled ONE-2-ONE to assist those people in communities who are lonely and isolated.
This will be community-based scheme in each county, initially run on a pilot basis.
Local people and neighbours will become the outside link with the world for older people who might otherwise be isolated geographically or socially.
It will involve recruiting and training ‘neighbours’ who will visit older people on a weekly basis and provide them with companionship.
Support a negotiated and agreed approach to addressing access to land for hill-walking and other recreational activities.
Evaluate our rural post office network with a view to helping it retain and enhance its role as a valuable social hub in small and rural communities,
and help rural post offices develop new capabilities in a variety of services to the benefit of smaller communities.
Upgrade and expand water treatment capacity, including an investment of €4.7 billion under the national development plan.
Support the right of rural dwellers to build in their local area.
Propose a more accurate definition of a ‘local person’ in planning guidelines and development plans to mean either a person born and reared in a rural area; a person who has lived in a rural area for at least 7 years
and who has forged strong links with the local community.
Remove responsibility for hearing appeals, including those on rural housing, from the current board of An Bórd Pleanála
and give to three regional boards operating under the aegis of An Bórd Pleanála and based on the EU election constituencies.
Post all planning decisions on the internet and the reason for the decision given, including the names and contact details of the engineers/architects who submitted the original proposals.
Limit enurement clauses, which prevent the selling on of a site once planning permission has been granted, to 7 years.
Allow relaxation of enurement clauses only where a rural dweller can supply definitive evidence that he or she must relocate because of employment or other significant commitments.
Fund measures to attract young and trained people into farming
and evaluate new support measures for qualifying young farmers establishing themselves in farming for the first ten years, for example, via a reduced loan-interest scheme to develop his/her business.
Support the setting up of young farmers via increased young farmer installation aid to encourage the continued rejuvenation of the farming profession.
Review how tax system is applied to farmers particularly, to maximise fairness.
Apply stamp duty relief for farm consolidation, where two farmers exchange land, where only one farmer meets the consolidation criteria.
Invest in measures to facilitate the early retirement of older farmers and farm workers with the
aim of creating opportunities for younger farmers to enter farming or to increase/consolidate their holdings.
Consider a five-year transition period to facilitate the retirement of the farmer and entry of the new person into the family farm in a mentoring capacity.
Facilitate the establishment of effective farm partnerships
and remove any current unhelpful and unnecessary restrictions.
Support agricultural education
and training in response to the increased competitive pressures in farming.
Fund the Farm Improvement Scheme to assist farmers with the capital costs of modernisation.
Support will be provided for investments that improve overall performance and market orientation.
Implement the key recommendations of the Malone Report including incentive payments to sheep farmers.
Recommend the age limit for BSE testing of cattle be increased from thirty to thirty six months.
Review the “thirty day” compulsory brucellosis testing of cattle so that farmers benefit from an ‘actual thirty-day movement period’ and also consider allowing farmers slaughter 10% of their herd without compulsory test.
Ensure the speedy incorporation into Irish law of the derogation for farmers under the Nitrates Directive.
Continue to negotiate to make the cross-compliant inspection regime user friendly.
Ensure a fair and proportionate inspection regime.
Work to reduce the administrative burden faced by farmers by advocating a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach to Departmental inspections where practical, with 14-day notice the norm except where such notice would remove altogether the value of the inspection.
Guarantee vigorous defence of Irish and European agriculture interests at the World Trade Organisation.
Promote “subsidiarity” in the European Union, to mean what it should mean: only those things which must be done centrally will be done centrally.
Defend and protect decoupled single payment to farmers and resist any reopening of the CAP budget.
Continue to fully protect the live export trade, which offers competition in the market place for Irish farmers.
Focus investment on projects with a renewable energy element.
Use every appropriate tax, excise relief and financial incentive to
make Ireland a world-leader in terms of renewable energy crop production and use.
Radically reshape Irish agricultural policies towards increasing production of renewable energy.
Refocus Teagasc towards sustainable energy promotion, education,
research and development.
Ensure that adequate establishment grants are paid to farmers to plant willow and miscanthus to make certain that sufficient biomass is available.
Ensure farmers in disadvantaged areas
who produce energy crops can receive the disadvantaged area ] payment where appropriate.
Continue to support appropriate proposals at EU level to further integrate environmental considerations into agriculture policy,
and support all reasonable steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector.
Promote awareness among farmers of the benefits of low emission technology for slurry spreading which reduces the need for additional chemical nitrogen,
and develop mechanisms aimed at increasing the uptake of this technology.
Ensure adequate funds are available for the revised Farm Waste Management Scheme, introduced in March 2006, to help reduce water pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources,
prevent further such pollution, improve water quality and safety
and prevent eutrophication of rivers and lakes.
Review annually the standard costings used to determine grant aid.
Invest in continued improvement in quality through breeding improvement and development actions, to maximise the potential of breeding and production of the cattle, sheep and equine sectors.
Use the Beef Quality Assurance Scheme to support the objective of continued penetration in high value export markets, and increase participation to 30,000 farms by end of 2008.
We will also establish a similar Lamb Quality Assurance Scheme.
Progress the introduction of the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme this year.
Ensure the highest-standards and necessary traceability requirements are applied to food products imported into the European Union
to guarantee equity and fairness to domestic producers, and ensure full transparency to maximise consumer confidence.
Invest 6€ million under the NDP to address the public good aspect of the agri-food
sector and, in particular, its contribution to the environment and the countryside,
including the enhancement of biodiversity, water quality, heritage and environmentally-friendly systems of farming.
Ensure adequate facilities to enable agricultural colleges and local training centres to achieve best educational practice
and provide students with a top class-learning environment.
Invest €640 million under the National Development Plan to provide a scientific foundation and support for a sustainable, competitive, market oriented and innovative agriculture, food and forestry sector.
Support with funding the Research Stimulus Fund for research in sustainable agricultural production,
including advances in animal and plant biosciences, animal and plant health, agri-environment and biodiversity, non-food land use, rural economy and other areas.
Fund research that is relevant to the needs of a diverse modern, innovative, market-led food industry.
Ensure continued agricultural land use and thereby help maintain the countryside by providing financial support to those farming in areas formally classified as agriculturally disadvantaged.
Use the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) to support Irish farmers who enhance the environment to a level above mandatory requirements.
Payments will be made under the scheme to farmers who, on a voluntary basis, make agri-environmental commitments that go beyond the relevant national and EU mandatory environmental requirements.
We will ensure that the scheme has maximum availability.
Make support payments directly available to organic farmers both during conversion and after full organic status has been achieved.
Provide support for continued afforestation and the integration of forestry with agriculture,
adopting a whole-farm approach and encouraging the establishment of agri-forestry systems.
Provide capital investments in the marketing and processing of agricultural products where there are real market opportunities to ensure the repositioning of the Irish food industry as a diverse modern, innovative and market focussed food sector.
Make funding available to the agri-food sector by Bórd Bia by way of a portfolio of leading edge market intelligence, promotion and market development services
for companies engaged in developing increased and value added business, particularly in continental EU and Asian markets.
Support with funding small and speciality food enterprises,
targeted initiatives to promote consumption of fruit and vegetables, and promote the marketing by industry of new and innovative products to cater for new consumer tastes and needs.
Support farmers
to enable them set up alternative complimentary businesses on farms.
Co-operating in Peace: Northern Ireland Policy
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
Reaching agreement on the Good Friday Agreement is one of the central achievements of this government.
The Agreement provides the framework for both communities to work together in peace.
It also settles the constitutional question
and makes clear that the people of Northern Ireland have the final say on their constitutional status.
Paramilitary activity has dropped dramatically as a result of the Agreement.
Much practical progress has also been made.
The North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) has met 65 times.
But fully implementing the Agreement has proved difficult and time-consuming.
Unionists were reluctant to enter the Northern Ireland Executive while the IRA retained its arsenal.
The IRA was reluctant to live up to the aims of the Agreement that full decommissioning would have taken place within two years.
In late 2004, talks were held at Leeds Castle to resolve these issues.
We stood firm in the face of the refusal of the IRA to commit themselves to respecting people’s human rights.
Within months that position was vindicated when the IRA carried out the Northern Bank robbery and associated kidnappings.
Later, IRA members brutally murdered Robert McCartney.
Current Background
The IRA has decommissioned its weapons.
Sinn Fein has endorsed policing
and the PSNI.
On the 26th March last, we witnessed unprecedented, positive and welcome developments with agreement between Sinn Fein and the DUP on the restoration of the devolved institutions.
This new Executive must be able to discharge its responsibilities with full and immediate effect from May onwards.
Other issues that remain open regarding Northern Ireland include:
Eliminating sectarianism at local level.
Promoting cross-border social and economic activity.
Enhancing cross-border cooperation between the two governments.
New Opportunities
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Refocus the work of the International Fund for Ireland,
whose Secretariat is jointly provided by both Governments, to target reconciliation activities in the most deprived and marginalised communities
in Northern Ireland and the border counties.
Work to develop an all-Ireland energy market.
Continue working with the Northern Ireland authorities
to jointly promote Ireland as a tourism destination.
Work closely with the Northern Ireland authorities
to keep Irish agriculture disease-free.
Broaden out the agreement for Donegal people requiring cancer treatment to get it in Belfast
to include more medical services and more people living along the border.
Promote personnel exchanges
between the Garda Siochána and PSNI.
Ireland and the European Union
New Ireland
Progress Since 1997
The Progressive Democrats strongly support the European Union.
We have always supported the various constitutional treaties as they were put to the Irish people.
Our Party constitution has set as one of our aims to ‘promote a European Union dedicated to liberal and democratic principles’.
The current government has made substantial progress advancing Ireland's interests in the European Union:
Ireland entered the European Monetary Union in 1999.
This government achieved agreement with the EU on a single, low rate of corporation tax.
This government has protected the requirement for unanimous decisions on taxation in negotiations for the Nice Treaty and for  the draft EU Constitution.
We established the National Forum on Europe to promote open and considered debate on Europe.
We have strongly promoted the work, begun at the Lisbon European Council in 2000,
to enable the EU to enhance its competitiveness so as to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world.
We secured approval of the Nice Treaty together
with a constitutional amendment excluding the State from taking part in a Common European Defence policy.
Ireland successfully negotiated agreement of the draft European Constitution.
Current Background
The European Union currently faces two major challenges:
Winning public support for the draft Constitutional Treaty.
Promoting the Lisbon agenda.
New Opportunities
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Promote ratification of the draft European Constitution as a fair agreement,
which balances national sovereignty with the need for the EU to operate efficiently.
Promote a Partnership view where the European Union operates as a partnership of nations working together for their common good in practical and sensible ways.
We agree with the Laeken Declaration which stated that what citizens expect is:
More results, better responses to practical issues and not a European superstate or European institutions inveigling their way into every nook and cranny of life.
Oppose those who push a Federalist view, which would seek to establish a European Super-State.
Oppose those who seek to misappropriate the EU for the sake of having arguments with the USA.
Promote ‘subsidiarity’ to mean what it should mean: only those things which must be done centrally will be done centrally.
Strenuously oppose any attempt to remove the requirement of unanimity for EU decisions on taxation.
Immigration and Integration
New Ireland
Background
Rapid economic growth and the accession of new members to the European Union has transformed Ireland from a net emigration country to a net immigration country.
Many immigrants play key roles in our economy.
There are three separate elements that comprise the flow of immigration:
EU citizens - persons who are entitled to come here to reside or work (with the exception of citizens of Bulgaria and Romania).
Citizens of non-EU countries - persons who must apply for a residence permit (to reside) and for a work permit (if they wish to work).
They do not have an entitlement to come here, and there are cases where persons remain here illegally without a permit or after a permit has expired.
Asylum seekers - persons not entitled to work while their application for asylum is considered.
About 90% of asylum applications are rejected.
The challenge facing us is to afford protection to genuine refugees while ensuring that our immigration laws
and procedures are respected not only in the interests of our own citizens but also in support of international efforts to combat transnational crime syndicates which exploit migrants.
Progress Since 1997
The Government has made considerable progress in the area of immigration and integration:
EU Citizens
When the EU expanded on January 1st, 2004 to include the 10 “Accession States”,
Ireland made the generous decision to allow the citizens of these States to come and work here without work permits.
Only the UK and Sweden joined us in that decision – the other 12 member States did not.
When Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU on January 1st, 2007, the Government decided to take a cautious approach.
Romanian and Bulgarian nationals will continue to have to apply for work permits to work in Ireland.
However they will be given preference over migrants seeking to come and work in Ireland from non-European Economic Area countries.
Non-EU Citizens
On September 6th 2006, Minister Michael McDowell, TD published the general scheme of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill.
The principles which underlie the Bill are:
No foreign national has an absolute right to come here.
The immigration system must protect security and good order in the State.
Human rights must be fully respected.
Economic and social sustainability in Ireland.
Drawing a clear distinction between those who are here legally and those who are not.
Selectivity – the Employment Permits Act sets out provisions aimed at attracting highly-skilled people in particular sectors.
It also provides that they can bring their families with them.
Provision will be made for long-term residence permits (modelled on the US Green Card system).
Asylum Seekers
Asylum seeking has been controlled by a series of measures which has cut the flow of application from 11,634 in 2002 to 4,314 in 2006, a 63% reduction:
Changes were made to our asylum legislation to introduce the “safe country of origin” concept in September 2003.
This means that asylum seekers must apply for asylum in the first safe country they arrive in (rather than use such countries as a transit point from which to travel to Ireland).
Carriers’ liability was introduced in September 2003 to deter airlines and other carriers from bringing illegal immigrants into Ireland.
Rent supplement to asylum seekers no longer provided.
Legal sanctions against employers have been introduced to penalise the employment of illegal immigrants in the Employment Permits Act, 2003.
The citizenship referendum meant that children born to asylum seekers were no longer automatically entitled to Irish citizenship.
Genuine asylum seekers under U.N.Programmes have been increased from 40 to 200 per year.
Integration
The National Action Plan Against Racism reflects our general approach to integration policy.
It incorporates intercultural frameworks which involve principles of inclusion,
Ireland made the generous decision to allow the citizens of these States to come and work here without work permits.
The challenge now, of course, is to extend our horizons; to go beyond antiracism measures
as we begin to understand the totality of initiatives needed to work towards societal cohesion.
The State-run Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) has established an Integration Fund aimed at encouraging and facilitating cross-cutting projects which will have a major leverage effect in the integration area.
These projects cover English language training,
information provision to immigrants and interpretation
and translation facilities.
(Please see our extensive education chapter also)
New Opportunities
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Promote integration as a two-way process, which requires give and take on both sides.
We have little historical or constitutional basis for seeing ourselves as having a monochrome, monofilament authentic Irish identity.
While the precise agenda for our common space needs to be debated and agreed, they must surely include essential items;
obedience to our national laws, freedom from discrimination of any sort (including gender),
and inclusion in the democratic process.
Use the NDP to promote immigrant integration (€36 million), language support (including 550 additional teachers -€637 million) and to continue funding the National Action Plan Against Racism €27 million).
Pass and implement the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill.
This will set out a clear and fair structure for immigration from non-EU states in the future.
The new law will make clear that those who are present illegally in the country will be deported and refused access to welfare and other Government services.
Continue to accelerate the processing of asylum applications.
A programme of major investment in IT systems will enable the State to control immigration through the visa system and through immigration ID cards with biometric details.
Consider tightening the asylum system.
In particular, consideration is being given to a scheme which already operates in the UK and the Netherlands.
This would compel asylum seekers to remain in asylum centres while their applications are being considered.
They would not be locked into these centres but their asylum application would lapse if they abscond.
Such a system already operates in the UK and the Netherlands.
This system limits fraud (via illegal employment and multiple welfare receipts) by asylum seekers.
Transfer the ‘equality’ function from the Department of Justice to the new Department of Social and Equality Affairs , with responsibility for integration policy.
Access for Success: Sport Policy
New Ireland
Our Party is firmly of the view that participation in sport
is central for the health and well being of the nation.
Sport is part also of our unique cultural heritage.
Over the last decade we are proud to have been part of a Government that has delivered huge increases in financial support for sport and sporting infrastructure
throughout the country and across all sports.
Since 1997 we have invested almost €1 billion in sport, with an increase of over 30% in the budget for sport in 2007 - providing in excess of €316m.
Our sport policy is aimed at encouraging and facilitating increased participation
and access to sport
and physical activity by providing community-based, multi-faceted sports facilities at local level- for all.
Increased participation plays a vital role in promoting physical and mental health,
fitness,
positive social interactions, skill enhancement,
and general well being
- as well as helping to reduce the likelihood of anti-social behaviour.
Research shows that participation in sport improves general behaviour,
respect for authority, discipline, attention levels, self-confidence and attitude to peers.
Recent ESRI research carried out on behalf of the Irish Sports Council shows that a large proportion of the population are not gaining the full health benefits of participation in sport.
The single largest barrier to participation is the lack of facilities;
specifically safe, affordable indoor recreational facilities, where the participants and community have a sense of ownership.
Such facilities can provide a focal point to develop social cohesion and community spirit.
New Opportunities
In Government the progressive Democrats will:
Invest €991 million in sports infrastructure under the National Development Plan.
Deliver funding for the following:
Development of the national centre of excellence for sport
Redevelopment of the stadium at Lansdowne Road
Continuation of the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme
Provision of sport and recreational facilities on a nationwide basis
Continued development of horse and greyhound racing industries
Develop a network of Community Sports Complexes (CSC) across the country to facilitate the Lifelong Involvement in Sport & Physical Activity (LISPA) Model proposed by the Irish Sports Council.
Invest National Development Plan and other sports capital funds to provide these new facilities.
Construct five pilot CSC projects, one each, in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, each fully funded by the State.
Thereafter, hold tendering competitions for State subsidy to construct and manage each CSC across the country.
Ring-fence land / facilities available under Party’s State assets management policy (see earlier section) for CSCs where appropriate.
Ensure each CSC contains facilities for active participation in as wide a range of sports as possible.
Ensure each CSC is staffed with qualified NCEF (National Certificate in Exercise and Fitness) personnel.
Make the management of each complex an exercise in local democracy.
Each CSC will be managed by the local community with a clear charter of direction to ensure maximum benefit to the community.
Introduce a Holistic Education & Activity Development Scheme (HEADS), which will see the creation of a Corps of Professional Trainers to co-ordinate voluntary youth activity in communities to provide support and expertise to community groups.
This will strengthen communities and help prevent the rise of anti-social behaviour.
Provide seed-capital funding to encourage the establishment of more youth cafés across the country.
Cherishing Our Culture & Language
New Ireland
We recognise the importance of Ireland’s cultural heritage
and support continued provision of the capital infrastructure for our national cultural institutions.
We also seek the development of the private sector cultural industry via appropriate financial support for projects to improve the cultural infrastructure in Ireland.
In 2007, over €216m is being provided for arts and cultural projects in Ireland.
We have delivered unprecedented level funding for arts and culture and will continue to confirm our support for the arts and culture via significant funding over the lifetime of the next government.
Almost 1. 6 million people in the Republic of Ireland can speak Irish
and 92% of people surveyed feel that promoting the Irish language is important to the country, to themselves personally or to both,
and the Progressive Democrats share that view.
In government we have affirmed our support for the development and preservation of the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in the Statement On The Irish Language 2006.
Creideann muid go bhfuil tábhacht ar leith ag an nGaeilge do mhuintir, do shochaí agus do chultúr na hÉireann.
Tacaíonn muid go láidir le Ráiteas i Leith na Gaeilge 2006 a foilsíodh le gairid.
Tá an Ghaeilge sainiúil don tír seo mar theanga labhartha pobail
agus dá bhrí sin tá sí ríthábhachtach d’fhéiniúlacht mhuintir na hÉireann agus don oidhreacht dhomhanda.
The Party believes that the Irish language is of particular importance for the people, society and culture of Ireland.
As a spoken community language, Irish is unique to this country and is, therefore, of crucial importance to the identity of the Irish people and to world heritage.
New Opportunities
In Government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €1,130 million in Ireland’s cultural infrastructure
and the Irish language under the National Development Plan
Seasfar leis an stádas faoi leith atá ag an nGaeilge sa Bhunreacht agus i ndlíthe na tíre ar nós Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla 2003,
An tAcht Oideachais 1998,
An tAcht um Phleanáil
agus Forbairt 2000 agus An tAcht um Chraolacháin 2001.
The special status given to the Irish language in the Constitution and in legislation such as the Official Languages Act 2003, the Education Act 1998, the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Broadcasting Act 2001, will be upheld.
Cuirfear Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla I bhfeidhm go hiomlán.
Forbrófar cearta an phobail an Ghaeilge a úsáid agus iad ag plé leis an Stát agus le dreamanna eile agus déanfar socruithe cuí chun é seo a chur I bhfeidhm.
The Official Languages Act will be fully implemented.
The right of the public to use Irish in dealings with the State and with other bodies will be developed and the appropriate arrangements to deliver this will be put in place.
Tabharfar spreagadh agus tacaíocht do phobal na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht agus lasmuigh de,
an Ghaeilge a thabhairt don chéad ghlúin eile mar theanga teaghlaigh.
Chuige sin, cuirfear réimse leathan seirbhísí ar fáil trí mheán na Gaeilge.
The Irish language community inside and outside the Gaeltacht will be given encouragement and support to transmit Irish to the next generation as a living household language.
Towards this end, a wide range of services in Irish will be provided.
Tabharfar tacaíocht ar leith don Ghaeltacht mar cheantar labhartha Gaeilge.
The Gaeltacht will be given special support as an Irish-speaking area.
Déanfar an Ghaeilge a theagasc mar ábhar riachtanach ó leibhéal na bunscoile go leibhéal na hArdteistiméireachta.
Cuirfidh an curaclam ar chumas na ndaltaí an Ghaeilge a labhairt agus a scríobh go cruinn, chomh maith le tuiscint a thabhairt dóibh ar fhiúntas na teanga dúinn mar phobal.
Chun na críche seo, déanfar infheistíocht fheabhsaithe i bhforbairt phroifisiúnta
agus i dtacaíocht leanúnach do mhúinteoirí maraon le i soláthar téacsleabhar agus acmhainní,
agus I dtacaíocht do mhodhanna nuálacha teagaisc agus foghlama.
Irish will be taught as an obligatory subject from primary to Leaving Certificate level.
The curriculum will foster oral and written competence in Irish among students and an understanding of its value to us as a people.
This will be supported by enhanced investment in professional development and ongoing support for teachers, as well as in provision of textbooks and resources, and in support for innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
Cuirfear oideachas lán-Ghaeilge ar ardchaighdeán ar fáil do dhaltaí scoile arb é mian a dtuismitheoirí/gcaomhnóirí é.
A high standard of all-Irish education will be provided to school students whose parents/ guardians so wish.
Gaelscoileanna will continue to be supported at primary level and all-Irish provision at post-primary level will be developed to meet follow-on demand.
Leanfar leis an tacaíocht a thugtar don réamhscolaíocht Ghaeilge
agus déanfar breis forbartha ar an gcóras oideachais tríú leibhéal trí mheán na Gaeilge.
Irish language pre-school education will continue to be supported and third-level education through Irish will be further developed.
The State will continue to support Foras na Gaeilge in the context of the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999.
High quality broadcast services through the medium of Irish will be ensured, especially through the continuous development of RTÉ, Raidió na Gaeltachta and TG4.
Tabharfar gach cúnamh agus tacaíocht don Aontas Eorpach i bhfeidhmiú an chinnidh
an Ghaeilge a bheith ina teanga oibre agus ina teanga oifigiúil san AE ón 1 Eanáir 2007.
Every assistance and support will be given to the European Union in implementing the decision to make Irish a working and official language in the EU from 1 January 2007.
Leanfar le treisiú na hoibre atá ar bun ag An Roinn Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta agus ag na gníomhaireachtaí agus na comhlachtaí a thagann faoina scáth,
ar nós Foras na Gaeilge, Údarás na Gaeltachta agus Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn go náisiúnta
agus chun í a chaomhnú agus a threisiú sa Ghaeltacht.
In order to promote Irish nationally and to preserve and strengthen it in the Gaeltacht, the work being done by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and by agencies and bodies which come under its aegis, such as Foras na Gaeilge, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge will continue to be reinforced.
Leanfar agus déanfar forbairt ar úsáid na Gaeilge sa Gharda Síochána agus sna Fórsaí Cosanta.
The use of the Irish language by the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces will be continued and developed.
Aithníonn an Rialtas an ról fíorthábhachtach atá ag an earnáil dheonach Ghaeilge agus leanfar ag tabhairt tacaíochta di.
The Government recognises the vital role of the Irish language voluntary sector and will continue to support it.
Supporting the Arts
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €1,130 million in Ireland’s cultural infrastructure
and the Irish language under the National Development Plan
Ensure that Ireland’s National Collections are housed in appropriate modern facilities
and displayed in the most appropriate fashion.
Support our National Cultural Institutions to pursue positive educational and outreach programmes
expanded to take account of the multi-cultural society, / which now exists in Ireland.
Promote universal access to arts and cultural facilities by the exploitation of technological developments through the commencement of a digitisation programme.
Provide funding for a new National Concert Hall,
a new National Theatre
and for additional facilities for the conservation and safeguarding of collections.
Fund major capital developments at the other National Cultural Institutions,
including the provision of a repository at the National Library;
delivery of a number of projects at the National Gallery in line with the Gallery's development control plan a major programme of works at the National Museum at Collins Barracks
involving the development of the new Centre Block exhibition galleries;
providing a building to house the Asgard at Collins Barracks where it will be conserved; and evaluating proposals to locate a sports museum at Collins Barracks.
Ensure funding for the enhancement of facilities at the Irish Museum of Modern Art
and the provision of additional exhibition space for IMMA;
invest in upgrading the Crawford Gallery in Cork which has recently been designated as a National Cultural Institution;
enhance the Chester Beatty Library, progress shared off-site storage facilities for the National Cultural Institutions, provide new headquarters for the National Archives.
Continue to fund flagship commemorative projects.
Develop cultural facilities across the country,
by exploiting the potential for sharing by the Dublin-based institutions of national resources with regional institutions.
Support a new Access Programme,
which will aid arts and culture facilities throughout the country.
Change & Opportunity in the Marine Industry
New Ireland
The Progressive Democrats ongoing strong commitment to a marine industry
that has long-term economic, social and environmental sustainability,
is needed at this time more than ever.
We are aware of the significant regulatory and environmental challenges
facing the marine sector,
and are determined to equip the industry to meet each of these so it can grow and develop.
Our responsible approach to the changes required in response to the increasingly competitive international food market and the conservation challenge has been evident in our recent policy approach.
For example, since 1999 we have linked any change in the salmon drift net policy to a fair compensation package for fishermen.
Thanks in part to our determined stance in government, the changes in drift netting last year were accompanied with a €25 million compensation scheme for nets
and a further €5 million to develop economic activity in communities affected by the change.
We will continue to promote and implement marine policy that protects and promotes the sector,
and the communities who work in it, in a sustainable and responsible way.
New Opportunities
In Government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €442 million under the National Development Plan including:
€216 million on Seafood Development
€203 million on Fisheries and Coastal Infrastructure
Draw on the key recommendations of the Cawley Report, the vision for the Irish seafood industry by 2013,
where all sectors can be described as ‘‘a sustainable, profitable, competitive and market-focused seafood industry making the maximum long-term economic and social contribution to coastal communities
and Ireland as a whole.”
Support measures required to manage the transformation required in the fishing fleet
so as to achieve a balance between fleet capacity and the resources available.
Ensure government policy is focussed on quality seafood supply
that is reliable and competitive and enables action required in environmental management
and the maintenance of the economic and social fabric of fishing communities.
Invest the application of technological innovation in aquaculture to further develop environmentally sustainable techniques.
Establish set-up funds to attract investment from the wider food processing industry,
to facilitate the restructuring of the sector
and the development of an appropriately scaled processing industry capable of  competing within an increasingly cost competitive market
and of attracting investment from the wider food industry.
Set a sales increase target in excess of 40% in seafood exports and a minimum 10% growth in domestic seafood sales,
and instruct Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia to strengthen inter-agency co-operation agreements on seafood marketing to achieve these targets.
Develop our harbour infrastructure
to facilitate increased landing and downstream activities, especially at the five Fishery Harbour Centres, Howth, Dunmore East, Castletownbere, Ros-An-Mhíl and Killybegs.
Subject to feasibility and prioritisation of resources, other strategic harbours such as Greencastle, Kilmore Quay and Cromane will be developed to meet increased demands.
Promote other industries such as aquaculture,
tourism
and the leisure industry,
and maximize the scope for diversification to marine leisure and other activities through the utilisation and development of our coastal infrastructure,
to provide alternate means of employment for communities dependant on fishing
Invest €23 million under the National Development Plan to protect the coastline from erosion
and manage the problem of coastal flooding
so as to minimise its impact on the commercial and social activities of coastal communities.
A Welcoming Ireland: Tourism Policy
New Ireland
In our last general election manifesto, we outlined the main requirements for success in the tourism industry
- product, people, and access / supporting infrastructure – and we pursued policies to develop each of them.
That approach in government has delivered significant success.
Today our indigenous tourism industry supports 150,000 direct jobs,
and generated an estimated €4./6 billion in foreign revenue earnings in 2006.
The Progressive Democrats believe this approach will serve us again over the period of government
and help Ireland achieve ambitious targets of double overseas tourism revenue to €6 billion by 2012,
with an associated increase in visitor numbers of 10 million in 2012.
New Opportunities
Product
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €317 million in enhancing Ireland’s tourism product and infrastructure under the National Development Plan.
Implement our extensive Culture & Irish Language policy.
(Please see earlier chapter)
Provide increased capital investment in visitor attractions and visitor activity facilities.
Market Ireland internationally on an all-island basis as a tourism destination supporting the marketing of new access routes
and the international marketing of niche special interest products
Ensure increased use of e-marketing and websites in line with general industry trends and in
building capacity/competitiveness in the industry and the State Agencies
People
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Invest €149 million on tourism training and human resources under the NDP.
Ensure targeted investment in the education
and training of the tourism workforce, both domestic and non-national.
Sustain structured education opportunities in our third level institutions.
Continue the roll out of initiatives, in collaboration with organisations recognised as experts in the personnel, marketing and financial management areas, aimed at improving management
capability and networking in SMEs and microenterprises at regional level.
Access and Supporting Infrastructure
In government the Progressive Democrats will:
Implement our extensive transport infrastructure policy to, among other things, ensure necessary access via our critical tourism routes.
(Please see earlier chapter)
Invest €335 million under the NDP marketing Ireland abroad as a tourist destination.
Target investment in infrastructure and services relevant to tourists on major new events
and other innovative products that will attract additional visitors.
Continue to support the provision of a National Conference Centre in Dublin as an essential element of national tourism infrastructure.
The Conference Centre, when fully operational, is expected, according to a number of independent estimates, to generate additional foreign revenue earnings of between €25 million and €50 million per year.
From the Party’s Constitution
Our Core Values
Build in Ireland a democratic society organised on republican principles,
in which legislation, where possible, allows citizens freedom of choice free from unnecessary state interference
and regulation, taking into account the views of minorities.
Promote policies that allow individuals, each in their own way, reach their maximum potential
and protect and help weak and deprived members of society and promote social justice for all
Establish and maintain laws that safeguard the rights of the individual and to minimise
unnecessary regulation by the State in the affairs of its citizens.
Ensure that while society gives the individual rights,
the individual has a corresponding responsibility towards society.
Promote liberal economic policies that: foster competition and innovation;
reward initiative and encourage ever-greater economic and political participation by all its citizens;
and promote subsidiarity and balanced regional development.
Foster a fair and just system of taxation that promotes the work ethic and encourages creative endeavour.
Ensure that the wealth produced by this nation is wisely used to afford a decent standard of living to all its citizens.
Ensure that the legislative, judicial and administrative arms of government function
independently, effectively and with accountability to safeguard the common good.
Conserve, protect and enhance the natural, the physical and the built environment of Ireland,
promote sustainable development
and foster civic awareness and pride.
Promote unity of the Irish people by peaceful means based on consent and pluralist principles.
Promote and maintain laws that reflect the independence of both Church and State
while valuing the contribution to society of religious and philosophical beliefs.
Promote and support the development of community
and voluntary organisations.
Safeguard and develop all strands of Irish culture,
language
and heritage.
Promote a European Union dedicated to liberal and democratic principles.
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD
Our farming community has served as the backbone of rural communities
and the food manufacturing sector for decades.
A thriving farm sector remains a key priority for Fine Gael.
Irish agriculture has changed hugely in the past decade and in this altered environment, Irish farmers face enormous challenges if they are to survive.
Fine Gael believes that with the right combination of political leadership,
State support,
smart thinking
and a progressive farming community Irish agriculture can transform our food industry into a world leader.
A Viable Future for Irish Farmers
Fine Gael will help farmers grow and develop their enterprises,
through targeted State supports, investment in food research and development and enhanced training and education.
Freedom to Farm
We will conduct an audit of existing regulations with the target of reducing all bureaucracy by one quarter during our first 18 months in Government.
Fair Inspections
Fine Gael believes farmers are entitled to advance notice for cross compliance inspections,
the opportunity to rectify infringements before they face penalties and a code of practice for the conduct of inspections which applies to inspectors and farmers.
Farm Consolidation and Expansion
We will remove the barriers to consolidating holdings or transferring them through generations by tackling anomalies in our tax code,
most notably by restoring Capital Gains Tax rollover relief which is holding farmers and farming families back.
Fine Gael will structure tax relief on leased lands to ensure that they encourage longer leasing periods of 15 years and more.
Installation Aid and Early Retirement
We will increase the level of Installation Aid
and reform the Early Farm Retirement Pension to ensure maximum participation in both schemes and facilitate the transfer of land holdings.
We will also ensure that the ERS remains above the State Old Age Pension rate.
Farm Partnerships
Fine Gael will introduce specific Farm Partnership legislation to resolve current anomalies with partnerships and to give a secure legal basis for all such partnerships.
Inheritance
We will examine the feasibility of introducing a programme similar to the Australian Model which facilitates planned inheritance.
REPS
Fine Gael will continue to support REPS and will work to encourage increased farmers participation, particularly amongst more intensive farmers.
Food Production and Processing
We will position Ireland as the leading global food producer in terms of quality, innovation and food research and development.
We will invest in strategic R&D programmes,
food business development initiatives
and new marketing and promotion measures to achieve this.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Smarter Marketing of Irish Food
Fine Gael will introduce a single food label for all Irish produce, ‘Green Ireland’, which will be a simple, single, easily recognisable food label to be used on Irish food in both domestic and international markets and which emphasises Ireland’s ability to produce green, quality, healthy food.
The Consumer
We will ensure that the consumer is protected and served by ensuring the supply of good value, safe, traceable and clearly labelled Irish food produce.
Imports
We will seek at EU level to have new regulations introduced to ensure that all meat and foodstuffs imported from outside the EU are clearly labelled as such and meet the same standards of production and quality as is required by EU farmers.
Research and Development
We will set a target to bring investment in R&D in the food industry to a similar level to that in other leading global food producing countries.
Dairy
We will increase the level of support and technical assistance provided to dairy farmers to give farmers the know-how to enhance the profitability of their dairy holdings.
We will introduce an independent monitoring system of milk testing which will include protein as well as butterfat.
Fine Gael will promote investment in the development of more modern product mixes such as functional dairy foods, nutraceutical foods, casein products and milk by-products.
Sheep
Fine Gael will implement the recommendations of the Malone Report and will introduce a support scheme for farmers to improve the quality of our sheep sector to assist farmers in producing a premium quality product.
Beef
Fine Gael will develop programmes and initiatives to improve the breeding and quality standards of Irish beef production targeted toward better production standards and reaching a higher output quality.
We will remain committed to the live export market and will strive to open up new export markets and reopen markets
closed during the current FF-PD administration.
All Ireland Animal Health Regime
We will prioritise the establishment of an all-Ireland animal health system in conjunction with the authorities in Northern Ireland.
Forestry
Fine Gael is committed to the Forestry Environmental Protection Scheme - it is a vital tool in increasing our afforestation rates, particularly amongst existing REPs farmers.
We will keep the scheme and its rates of payment under review to ensure that it achieves its aim of significantly increasing our levels of afforestation.
WTO Talks
• Fine Gael will not support any more agricultural concessions at the WTO talks.
We believe that the EU have gone far enough and must not go beyond the 2005 offer.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Education and Training
Fine Gael will introduce a food business and enterprise module dealing with all aspects of food production
as part of the Agricultural Science curriculum at second level education.
Existing farmers will have the opportunity to access ongoing, flexible training and education to ensure that their product matches consumer demands.
Agriculture Ombudsman and Customer Service
We will expand the functions and duties of the existing Agriculture Appeals Office to create an independent Office of the Agriculture Ombudsman.
We will improve customer service within the Department of Agriculture and Food to ensure that farmers can receive a faster and more efficient response to their queries and have access to more flexible opening hours.
Biofuels
Fine Gael will remove excise duty on biofuel to create a market for its use amongst motorists.
We will provide seed capital for Producer Groups consisting of up to 50% of the costs of setting up the group, subject to a maximum of €300,000 per group.
We will reform the existing Energy Crops Scheme to address barriers to increased energy crop production and re-position forestry grants to promote the growth of forestry for wood energy sector.
Organic Farming
Fine Gael will introduce imaginative, effective solutions to encourage more farmers to go organic.
We will ensure that establishment funding for organic producers is fully drawn down,
remove set-up barriers such as those in REPs,
increase area payments for organic farms, reform labelling of organic products,
improve education and training and enhance marketing and promotion of organic foods, especially through new sales channels such as over the Internet or through farmers markets.
Farmers Markets
We will amend planning laws to mandate that all local authorities designate public spaces for farmers markets.
Farm Labour
Fine Gael will put in place support structures such as continued farm training, education and language programmes which will be offered by Teagasc to all farm workers to attract and retain workers in the sector.
Farm-to-Farm Trading
Fine Gael will introduce incentives to promote increased farm-to-farm trading and to reduce input costs.
Fruit & Vegetable Promotion
Fine Gael will support the on-going nationwide roll out of the “Food Dudes” Fruit and Vegetable Promotion programme to all primary schools in Ireland.
Minister For Animal Welfare
We will assign a Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture with responsibility for all matters relating to animal welfare, and transfer responsibility currently resting with other Departments, in particular the control of dogs, to his/her office.
A full audit of existing animal welfare and control legislation will be carried out and, if deemed necessary, new legislation shall be brought to the Oireachtas.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
ARTS
Ireland has a strong artistic heritage that is seen in the high quality of our literature, drama, music, and visual arts.
The arts are very much a part of the Irish society, defining us as a people and a nation.
Education
We will support local education partnerships between schools and artists to facilitate artists working directly with schools.
We will increase the number of schools offering music and art to Leaving Certificate level.
We will support the clustering of schools in offering enhanced subject choice and extracurricular activity.
Inclusion
We will support and encourage opportunities for the participation, appreciation and enjoyment of art for people with physical or intellectual disabilities
and those with mental health problems.
We will create a forum of arts organisations and local groups to enhance artistic inclusion among the
various ethnic groups in Ireland.
We will create incentives for artists and organisations that work to further arts inclusion,
enhance multicultural participation,
and promote arts workshops and festivals in major cities.
We will promote touring as it presents opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds and locations to have greater access to the arts.
We will provide incentives for performing arts groups or arts organisations to undertake regional or national tours.
Touring Collection
We will establish a touring collection of important Irish art and artefacts which will be on show in public buildings throughout the country to ensure widespread public access.
Libraries
We will expand the services provided by local libraries
and propose an increase in library access to disadvantaged areas.
Audit
We will audit the level of provision of local arts centres and facilities, to identify communities that are without access to these services.
Arts Council
We will increase funding to the Arts Council, in particular monies used to promote and support individual artists and arts organisations.
Traditional Arts
We will provide increased support to artists and groups
involved in the creation and promotion of Irish traditional arts.
National Theatre and National Concert Hall
We will support the redevelopment of both the National Theatre
and the National Concert Hall.
Arts Forums
We will promote the creation of arts forums that can expand the voice of Ireland’s arts community and
facilitate a more effective dialogue between the Arts Council, national and local government, and artists.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Filmmaking
We will support Irish filmmaking,
and evaluate the current tax and relief schemes for those employed in the acting community.
Access
We will expand student and family access to national arts institutions, especially with a view to ensuring access to those on lower incomes.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
COMMUNICATIONS
Fine Gael believes the basis of future economic growth depends heavily on a modern, efficient and responsive communications infrastructure.
We will ensure that Ireland embraces the latest technology and becomes a world leader in the field.
BROADCASTING
Indigenous Broadcasting
We will establish in law the principal of setting aside at least 0.05 per cent of Government funding for broadcasting.
This would equate to a €13m increase in funding in Year 1 and a guaranteed increase year-on-year commensurate with the increase in overall spending.
Fine Gael believes that one of the most important social challenges facing the next Government is to ensure that Irish television audiences are offered home-produced programming.
Broadcasting Bill
We will implement the Broadcasting Bill
and ensure the speedy establishment of the Broadcasting Authority.
Digital
We will ensure that Digital Television is provided quickly to enable the switching off of analogue transmissions by 2015.
We will create a dedicated TV service,
to be broadcast via digital terrestrial television, dedicated to the coverage of Oireachtas Éireann.
Local Radio
We will take steps to ensure that shareholders in local radio stations - often from outside the State - do not dictate the pace of change in local radio content.
We will instigate five-yearly reviews of local radio licences to ensure original commitments, including the provision of local content, are met.
We will entrust the Broadcasting Authority to establish clear criteria about provision of local content.
Fairness and Balance
We will charge the Broadcasting Authority with ensuring all political coverage is fair and balanced.
TG4
We will fully support the independence of TG4 from RTE and will make its future success a top priority.
TELECOMS
Competition and Reducing Prices
We will stimulate competition in the mobile phone market by granting extra licences to those operators who wish to enter the market.
We will overcome obstacles to entry by compelling existing operators to allow competitors access their networks in line with ComReg’s regulations, backed by a European Commission ruling in January 2005.
We will compel mobile phone operators to display a Typical User Price (TUP), similar to APR for bank loans, on all plans to help consumers make an informed choice.
Phone Masts
We will encourage greater co-location of masts between operators to ensure fewer mast sites spring up throughout the country.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Broadband
Fine Gael in Government will adopt a two-stage strategy to revolutionise broadband access in Ireland recognising that Ireland has one of the lowest take-ups of broadband in the EU
and the total failure of Government policy in this area, with many householders and businesses unable to connect to a broadband service.
We will immediately prioritise the extension of access to basic broadband services across the whole country.
Other countries with similar population density and settlement patterns, such as Norway and Northern Ireland, have achieved 100% coverage of basic broadband services long ago.
We will ensure it happens here.
We will move quickly to put in place so-called Next Generation networks that will improve on the existing broadband service as a second stage in our strategy to create a fresh vision of our future telecoms needs.
The fastest broadband available to households in Ireland is still slower than that available in many countries.
We will achieve this vision in a way that will be efficient and speedy and will not be characterised by an overblown budget or an inordinate delay.
A number of options are available.
One possibility is to create a brand new infrastructure under State control.
Another possibility is the pooling, integration and further development of existing telecom assets of private and public bodies under the management of a new Public Private Partnership, with organisations taking ownership shares in the new entity commensurate with the value of the assets contributed - subject to control by the State of the infrastructure.
We will work, over a short and well-defined period, with ComReg and the industry participants to agree a plan to achieve this vision in the shortest time and most cost effective manner.
AN POST
Securing An Post’s Future
We will remain committed to the future of An Post.
We will ensure the provision of an efficient, reliable, next day delivery postal service throughout the country in both urban and rural areas,
based on the retention of the maximum possible number of electronically upgraded post offices.
We will identify and address the issues of haphazard or non-delivery of post in numerous areas for a variety of reasons, some of which are technical.
We will make a special effort to encourage taking on board a variety of services including the annual updating of the voters register and general on-line services such as motor taxation and bill pay,
in addition to Fortis Bank, thereby enhancing the services to the community and providing for people who might not be familiar with on-line services.
We will provide for a P.S.O., the financial equivalent of that provided in a number of European Countries.
We will modernise, improve and upgrade the service as a result of the foregoing.
We will encourage all Government departments to use banking and other services now available through An Post.
Postcodes
We will scrap all plans to introduce postcodes to this country.
We view these plans as nothing short of a Junk Mailers Charter.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
COMMUNITY, RURAL AND GAELTACHT AFFAIRS
Fine Gael believes that strong and vibrant communities are critical to the well being of our nation.
Our communities, both urban and rural, must be supported by the State to achieve this goal.
Fine Gael is committed to achieving a more equitable society, to alleviating disadvantage, to tackling social exclusion and to ensuring a greater balanced regional development across Ireland.
RAPID
We will develop a strategic Action Plan for the RAPID programme which will clearly set out the aims, targets and methods of implementation of the RAPID programme, with a strong emphasis on targeting increased funding to tackle educational disadvantage as an effective method of addressing social exclusion.
DRUGS AND THE COMMUNITY
Fine Gael will develop and implement a National Addiction Strategy which addresses both drug and alcohol abuse and the interactions between the two.
We will strengthen the work of the Drugs Task Forces to ensure that they have the resources and manpower to tackle drug misuse in local communities, particularly the problem of cocaine misuse.
We will give increased priority to the rehabilitation pillar of the National Drugs Strategy to help drug misusers to become drug free by providing alternatives to methadone treatment,
and providing greater assistance with training,
education
and accommodation.
Fine Gael will ring fence monies seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau
for drug prevention and treatment programmes benefiting communities most impacted by drug misuse.
We will reduce waiting times for drug treatment services by increasing the number of treatment places available.
COUNTRYSIDE RECREATION
Fine Gael will increase the number and range of countryside walks
available to the public while ensuring that the interests of property owners are protected.
We will seek to maximise the spin-off benefits from rural recreational pursuits
in areas such as in the rural tourism, food and enterprise sectors.
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Fine Gael will promote alternative locally-based enterprises for rural dwellers, particularly part-time farmers.
We will build an Enterprise Hub in each county by merging all existing State agencies in each county, such as County Development Boards, Leader programmes and Pobal-assisted schemes to develop
one single overarching Enterprise Hub in each county.
Fine Gael will target rural development funding to economic activities which have strong growth potential such as energy projects,
micro enterprises such as specialist food production and sustainable tourism projects.
Fine Gael will, under the CLAR programme, continue to prioritise investment in the provision of critical infrastructure and services in rural Ireland such as local roads,
water and waste schemes,
and village enhancement schemes.
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Fine Gael will channel State resources strategically to community development work which combats inequality, poverty and social exclusion.
We will improve collaboration and co-operation between State agencies, development groups and local communities to ensure that State investment yields the maximum benefits to local communities.
We will give communities greater opportunities to participate and make decisions on the rejuvenation and development of their communities to create vibrant, sustainable and empowered communities.
AN GHAELTACHT
Is í an Ghaeltacht tobar agus foinse na Gaeilge.
Is chuige sin atá gá le polasaí dearfach lena caomhnú agus lena forbairt go h-eachnamaíoch, go sóisialta agus go cultúrtha.
Déanfaimid
Infrastruchtúr na Gaeltachta a fheabhsú o thaobh cumarsáide, bóithre, séarachas, uisce agus seirbhisí riachtanacha eile.
Le blianta anuas cailleadh fostaíocht sna tionscail thradisiúnta sa Ghaeltacht.
Déanafaimid treániarracht postanna bunaithe ar an téicneolaíocht nua-aimseartha agus an teanga a chruthú sna ceantair Ghaeltachta.
Tabharfar na hacmhainní agus an tacaíocht is gá d’Údarás na Gaeltachta leis na spriocanna seo a bhaint amach.
Caithfear cás speísialta a dhéanamh do na Gaeltachtaí beaga maidir le seirbhísí agus fostaíocht.
Cuirfear seirbhís leathan-bhanda ar fáil i ngach ceantar Gaeltachta.
Bunófar cúrsaí breise do dháltaí agus d’ábhair múinteoirí a leanfaidh i rith na bliana agus a úsáidfidh áiseanna na gColáistí.
Tá sárobair a dhéanamh ag RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta agus ag TG4.
Tabharfar an tacaíocht atá riachtanach dóibh chun leanúint ar aghaidh agus forbairt mar is gá a dhéanamh ar a seirbhísí.
THE ISLANDS
Fine Gael will strive to improve the transport links for our island communities between our islands and the mainland.
We will provide enhanced broadband connections to our island communities.
We will ensure that islanders have equal access to health care and other social services.
Fine Gael will to seek to maintain and grow island communities through targeted investments which will develop strategic services and which promote job creation for our islands.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
DÁIL REFORM
The need for fundamental reform of Dáil practices and procedures is acknowledged across all parties.
Progress has been slow and no reforms have been introduced during the lifetime of the current Dáil.
Fine Gael will change how the Dáil works, making it responsive to the issues of concern to the nation.
Sitting Days
We will ensure that the Dáil routinely sits for four days a week from Tuesday to Friday.
We will make Fridays real sitting days and include an Order of Business and Question Time.
Business could include items for which it is often difficult to find a time at the moment (reports etc) and could also include some Private Members Time.
Leaders Questions
We will take Leaders questions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
To compensate for the requirement for the Taoiseach to be present on Thursdays for Leaders questions, we would consider agreeing to a reduction in the time allocated for ordinary Taoiseach’s questions
Recess
We will make recesses significantly shorter.
The Dáil will rise not earlier than mid-July and should return not later than mid-September.
The Dáil should sit until the third week of December and return not later than the third week of January.
One specific week in each Dáil session should be designated for the taking of European-related issues.
Questions
We will allocate more time to oral questions while, as a quid-pro-quo, reducing the number of oral questions being submitted.
At present only a fraction of questions tabled for oral answer are actually answered orally in the Chamber with  more than 90% never being reached.
We will reverse the significant reduction in ministerial accountability   that has occurred over recent years through the establishment of so many new State agencies or bodies - such as the Health Service Executive.
Standing Orders will be amended to require Ministers to place on the Dáil record answers provided by agencies or boards within a specified time limit.
We will permit written questions during the summer recess.
Replies will be published once a week in a supplement to the Official Report and on the Oireachtas website.
We will amend Standing Orders to place an obligation on Ministers to ensure that questions are answered properly and fully.
The Ceann Comhairle will be given additional powers to police this.
Private Members Time
We will expand Private Members Time.
The additional time will be allocated on a lottery basis to individual members - including Government backbenchers.
Adjournment Debate
We will revamp the adjournment debate format.
It will be renamed ‘the topical issue’ debate and there will be a minimum of five, taken around the middle of the day with provision for questions at the end.
A Minister or Minister of State from the relevant department will be required to be present and there will be an end to the practice of one Junior Minister responding on behalf of a number of Departments and reading scripts they know nothing about on a range of subjects.
Standing Order 31
We will review the Standing Order 31 procedure.
Requests are rarely granted given that, in theory anyway, it means the abandonment of all other Dáil business for that day.
However, requests for Standing Order 31 adjournments of Dáil business, which are read out on the Order of Business, are being misused to ventilate issues which clearly have no prospect of meeting the criteria set out in Standing Orders.
We will suggest a minimum number of signatories would be required for a Standing Order 31 request.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
DEFENCE
In Government, Fine Gael will develop the role and capacity of our Defence Forces to fulfil security tasks at home,
and to play a full part in the international peace support role
which Ireland will actively develop in co-operation with the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN).
EU Security and Defence
We believe that Ireland should be a full participant in an EU
security and defence arrangement.
We will develop and support participation in the EU battle group concept.
Triple Lock
We will reform the “triple lock” mechanism to allow for full national sovereignty over the Permanent Defence Force (PDF).
PDF numbers
We will permit the PDF to achieve a strength of 10,500 plus 250 in training.
This will allow the PDF to reach a maximum total strength of 10,750 which would include personnel in training.
Emergency Planning
We will streamline the approach to emergency planning
and legislation will be introduced to underpin Ireland’s preparedness and capacity to cope with emergencies, whether from terrorism, or environmental or natural disasters.
Rapid Response Corps
Fine Gael will support the Rapid Response Corps, consisting of personnel from the public and private sector and designed to enhance Ireland’s response to humanitarian disasters.
This initiative will be brought under the remit of the Department of Defence.
Reserve Defence Force
We will expand the remit of the Reserve Defence Force (RDF) to allow for overseas service, and review labour law to allow for this change.
Young Offenders Project
We will develop a new initiative for young offenders,
in partnership with the Prison Service, which will couple education and vocational training opportunities within a structured and demanding programme.
This initiative will be made available to young offenders nearing their time for release or as an alternative to shorter prison sentences.
Military Archives
We will increase staffing allocations and enhance resources to facilitate the use of and access to the Military Archives by members of the public and the Defence Forces
Naval Service
We will expand and improve the facilities available to the Naval Service at Haulbowline, County Cork.
We will replace the three oldest ships in the Naval service flotilla over the term of a Government.
At the time of the decommissioning of these ships, we will examine the feasibility of equipping at least one of the new replacement vessels to participate in humanitarian operations overseas.
This would entail the provision of medical equipment and facilities to allow the vessel anchor close to areas of humanitarian disaster or political upheaval and offer medical assistance.
Electronic Surveillance
We will encourage the use of electronic surveillance equipment to ease the burden of Regimental Duties.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Air Corps
We will develop the Air Corps capability to provide a twenty-four hour Air Ambulance service,
and enhance the ability of the Air Corps to perform Search and Rescue duties.
Retirement Age
We will amend the retirement age of officers - Commandants from 56 years to 60 years,
and Lt-Colonels from 58 years to 60 years.
Further Education for Other Ranks
We will provide an opportunity for other ranks (O/Ranks) with five years service or more to avail of further education up to and including third level by the provision of facilities and study time at each barrack location.
Investment
We will ensure that funding obtained from the disposal of defence lands will be invested in the Defence Forces.
Use of Biofuels
We will ensure that Defence Force vehicles will convert, where practical, to forms of biofuel.
Review of White Paper
We will review the Defence White Paper within 12 months of entering Government.
Primary Radar
We will ensure that there is a primary radar service available countrywide to enhance national security.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
DISABILITY ISSUES
The long awaited Disability Bill is now the Disability Act 2005.
The challenge is to accelerate progress for people with a disability in the post-Disability Act era.
Fine Gael is committed to ensuring that the National Disability Strategy and the departmental Sectoral Plans will be implemented in full.
OPPORTUNITY AND REFORM
Funding
We will ensure that there is transparency in the funding for disability services,
that funding provides value for money for people with disabilities, that there are standards of services applied in particular to residential services and that the thrust of disability policy enables participation rather than creating additional barriers.
Services
Fine Gael will progress towards a system where people with disabilities are enabled to access their own support services.
We must offer people with disabilities choice and control over the type of services needed and to enhance independence and autonomy.
Reform
We will promote the concept of the “money following the client” rather than block granting services providers
as at present as this could lead to a more person-centred and responsive model of service provision.
Standards
We will ensure that national standards for services, which are still at draft stage with the Department of Health, are finalised, implemented and monitored.
We will ensure that services provided are appropriate to the client and protected by rigorous standards.
Fine Gael will bring in a Patient Safety Authority to protect the standards applied in residential and day settings for people with disabilities.
We will promote services which are targeted to provide care appropriate to people’s needs.
Disability Strategy
We will appoint a Minister for Disability Issues to coordinate and implement the National Disability Strategy at Government level
and accelerate progress on Departmental Sectoral Plans.
We will create an Office for Disability Issues to provide advice and support the Minster in implementing the National Disability Strategy, overseeing the distribution of multi-annual funding for disability support services and the dissemination of information on individuals rights and entitlements.
We will develop a Partnership Forum to improve dialogue between voluntary and community groups and the Government.
Cost of Disability
Fine Gael will introduce a cost of disability payment for people who have been in receipt of means-tested Disability Allowance for a specified period of time.
Discussions will be held with groups and organisations representing people with disabilities before this scheme is introduced.
Independent Living
Fine Gael will support independent living by creating employment and training opportunities
and by providing adequate home help and home care services.
Fine Gael will aim to accelerate the progress on the Transport Sectoral Plan
and to provide a fully accessible and comprehensive public transport system to meet the needs of those who rely upon it.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Irish Sign Language
In Government, Fine Gael will give increased recognition and support to Irish Sign Language (ISL) services.
We will develop a module on ISL Education for use in secondary schools in transition year.
We will increase the number of ISL interpreters to ensure sufficient interpretation services are accessible to the deaf community nationally.
We will ensure the prompt screening of all new born babies to identify hearing impairment at the earliest possible stage.
Fine Gael will introduce a formal accreditation programme and registration system for ISL interpreters.
EDUCATION
Speech Therapy
We will create a speech therapy service within the education system to cater exclusively for children and young people needing this service.
NEPS
We will expand the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) bringing all schools under the cover of this service,
and ensuring that the waiting time for a NEPS assessment for any child is no longer than one school term.
Special Needs and Autism
We will ensure that recommended and necessary educational supports are allocated to children who need them, making it a priority to ensure that children with physical or intellectual disabilities receive the best education and best chance to reach their full potential.
We will support diversity in the education of children with autism,
recognising that both intensive education and mainstreaming can be seen to work for individual children.
Where a period of intensive education is professionally recommended for children with autism we will support this education.
Vetting of Staff
We will ensure that all new teachers and school support staff are vetted prior to taking up employment,
and will also introduce the retrospective vetting of all those currently working in our schools.
We will ensure that ‘soft’, non-conviction information forms part of the vetting process.
We will establish a register of persons considered unsafe to work with children,
young people or the vulnerable of any age.
ARTS
We will support and encourage opportunities for the participation, appreciation and enjoyment of art
for people with physical or intellectual disabilities
and those with mental health problems.
HOUSING
Legislative Reform
We will audit all existing housing legislation to find those aspects of legislation which perpetuate inequalities.
We will specifically target any legislative measures that adversely affect vulnerable groups including people with disabilities,
people with psychiatric illnesses
and those who have left the family home following marriage or relationship breakdown.
BARCELONA DECLARATION
Fine Gael will support the full adoption and implementation of the Barcelona Declaration in every local authority area.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
SPORTS
Under-represented Groups
We will assess sporting infrastructure to address deficits which prevent older people,
women and girls,
and those with disabilities from engaging in sporting activities.
Teacher Training
We will provide training in adapted physical education to teachers as part of their ongoing professional development.
Development Officers
We will ensure that Disability Sports Development Officers are provided in each Local Sports Partnership.
Accessible Infrastructure
We will ensure that new sports facilities are accessible for people with disabilities
and extend grants to make existing facilities accessible.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
ECONOMY AND ENTERPRISE
Sound economic management is a fundamental requirement of good government.
In our joint publication,
Protecting the Progress, Fine Gael and Labour set out the measures that we will take to protect prosperity, progress and growth and to ensure more and better jobs.
TAX REFORM FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS
A More Progressive and Family Friendly Income Tax Code
We will cut the standard rate of tax by 2% from 20% to 18%.
We will index personal credits and bands to earnings.
We will increase the home carers credit to the level of the PAYE credit.
We will increase by a further €5,000 the point where one-income married couples hit the top rate of tax.
A Fairer Stamp Duty Regime
We will abolish stamp duty for first time buyers up to €450,000.
We will restructure the stamp duty system for others buyers as follows:
No stamp duty up to €100,000.
On the next €350,000 a 5% rate will apply.
On the balance a 9% rate will apply.
A Supportive Environment for Employment and Exports
We will not change the current rates of Corporation Tax.
We will not change the current rates of Capital Gains Tax.
We will make sure that charges by state bodies are capped at the rate of inflation.
A Greener Tax System
We will abolish excise duty on biofuels.
We will bring in a new stamp duty credit linked to a new energy sustainability rating.
We will rebalance VRT in a revenue-neutral fashion to favour lower-emission vehicles.
A More Equitable and Efficient Tax System
We will have a Commission on Taxation to examine tax schemes on an on-going basis.
We will have a tax-payers advocate, situated in the National Consumer Agency, to ensure that PAYE workers in particular get all the tax credits to which they are entitled.
We will bring in a cap on the benefit from tax breaks.
We will bring in tax relief at source in additional areas such as bin charges and medical expenses.
We will ensure equal tax treatment for couples in Civil Unions.
BUDGETING FOR GROWTH AND STABILITY
Fiscal Prudence and Economic Stability
We will subject all spending and tax commitments to the over-riding commitment to adhere to the EU Growth and Stability Pact.
This means respecting the requirement that, over the course of an “economic cycle”, the General Government Balance will, on average, not exceed 1% of GDP.
We will keep sufficient flexibility in the public finances to allow for a sharper than expected slowdown in tax growth
without breaching EMU commitments.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Higher Capital Spending
We will increase capital spending to the levels set out in the National Development Plan 2008-12, subject to a new framework for delivering infrastructure on time and on budget.
We will invest 1% of GNP in the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) annually over the lifetime of the Government.
Targeted Tax Reforms
We will deliver our tax proposals (which have been costed at a total of €3.4 billion in 2007 terms) over the lifetime of a 5-year Government (equating to an average annual tax relief package of €680 million each year in 2007 prices).
Better and More Cost Effective Public Services
We will fulfil Government policy commitments across a range of public services, as set out in Towards 2016, the Partnership Agreement.
We will fund additional day-to-day spending on health and policing services, / as set out in Fine Gael/Labour / joint policies on health and policing.
When delivered in full, these will cost an additional €1.6 billion in 2007 prices.
We will allocate additional resources for further public service improvements in the context of annual budgetary planning.
Better Value For Money
We will improve strategic management and prioritisation of spending.
We will enhance Oireachtas scrutiny of expenditure.
We will enhance civil service capacity in expenditure management.
We will clarify lines of accountability for Ministers and civil servants.
MORE AND BETTER JOBS
Tax Competitiveness for Exporters
We will maintain the 12.5% single rate of Corporation Tax and the current rate of Capital Gains Tax.
We will expand our tax treaty network with Asia and Latin America.
We will introduce further tax measures
to make investment in high-tech, export oriented Irish firms more attractive to investors.
We will increase direct state support for the development of the Irish venture capital (VC) industry through Enterprise Ireland.
Upskilling the Workforce
We will develop a National Skills and Training System to progress 100,000 people by one level under the National Qualifications Framework, through:
Support from the National Training Fund for part-time third level education.
Two-week statutory paid training leave paid out of the National Training Fund.
Increased support for employer-led training networks.
Additional financial contributions from the Social Insurance Fund to support education
and training for those that have been made redundant.
A “Next Generation” Telecoms Network
We will immediately extend broadband access across the country.
We will create, by 2012, a new, high speed, open access, Next Generation network.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Competitiveness through Research and Innovation
We will increase public funding for industry-led research and in-firm R&D.
We will expand industry-led networks that define higher education research agendas.
We will allow universities to issue bonds to finance research infrastructure.
We will provide additional resources for the Marine Institute.
We will give greater attention to research areas of relevance to the services industry - business, finance,
psychology, linguistics,
economics and environmental research.
We will develop a new Institute of Advanced Studies in Applied Finance.
Ireland as a Life Science Leader
We will develop a National Life Sciences and Health Research Strategy.
We will increase funding for health-related research infrastructure and training.
We will strengthen the relationship between industry, clinicians and researchers.
We will facilitate the HSE to recruit additional clinician scientists, with protected time for research.
We will reform Ireland’s slow and fragmented system of clinical trials.
Less Regulatory Red Tape
We will cut the administrative burden (red tape) on companies by 25%.
We will introduce a reinvigorated programme of better regulation based around cost-benefit analysis,
more transparency
and better consultation with affected groups.
The Green Economy
We will set up a new Centre of Excellence for Alternative Energy Research.
We will mandate ESB and Bord na Móna to become renewable energy leaders.
We will exempt
biofuels from excise duty.
We will provide start-up grants for biofuel processing plans.
We will improve the Bioenergy Crops Scheme for farmers.
Faster and More Economical Delivery of Infrastructure
We will fast track electricity inter-connection,
the inter-urban roads programme
and public transport.
We will set up a new Critical Infrastructure Commission to accelerate planning of key infrastructure projects.
We will set up a new High Court for Infrastructure
to accelerate judicial review of planning decisions by An Bord Pleanála.
Tighter Control of Utility Costs
We will give stronger powers for regulators, particularly in energy and telecoms.
We will set up a new Competition Appeals Court to accelerate regulatory appeals.
We will put in place a Consumer Charter for Utilities/ that will, among other things, compensate households and businesses that lose utility service for more than three hours in a 24 hour period by forcing providers to deduct the cost of one day’s service from the bill.
This will apply to electricity, gas, telephone, internet and cable TV providers.
ESCHEATMENT
Fine Gael will examine the viability of a system which would require banks and companies / to submit periodic returns detailing unclaimed or abandoned dividends or property which would in turn be turned over to the State.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
To meet the challenges of the 21st century, Ireland needs a world-class education system.
In Government, Fine Gael will ensure that Ireland’s schools, colleges, institutes and universities allow all children, young people and adults to reach their educational potential.
A focus on reform and innovation, and on putting the needs of children and young people at the centre of education policy will characterise our approach.
A REFORMING AGENDA FOR EDUCATION
Annual School Reports
We will ensure that all schools publish an Annual School Report, updated at the start of every school year, so that a comprehensive and accessible package of information is available to every parent.
Excellence Funds
We will establish a Primary Schools Excellence Fund and a Secondary Schools Excellence Fund, each of €100 million annually.
Schools will be able to draw from these funds to recruit additional teachers to
reduce class sizes, but will also be empowered to use these funds to meet the diverse needs of their students through new initiatives.
Standardised Testing
We will introduce standardised testing of numeracy and literacy at primary level, / ensuring that results from all schools are returned to the Department of Education and Science.
Laptops For Every Child
We will give a laptop to every child entering secondary school,
redesigning course material around the new technology and completing a radical teacher-training programme.
School Buildings
We will ensure that new schools and additional classrooms are delivered when and where they are needed,
cutting the timelag between the identification of need and the final delivery of new facilities.
We will:
Provide €4.5 billion for the development and expansion of first and second level schools infrastructure over the next seven years, especially targeting substandard buildings and areas of population growth.
Expand devolved initiatives to empower schools to plan for their own development,
and deliver improvements at a speedier pace.
Overhaul the sluggish School Building Programme,
and introduce transparency into the process of school planning.
Ensure that the provision of school buildings is factored into all large-scale residential developments.
Reform the planning acts to allow local authorities to require private housing developers
to directly provide for schools,
community/youth centres and other elements of community infrastructure according to when and where they are needed.
Ensure that local authorities
draw up specific development plans for the provision of educational facilities over a ten-year period.
Sporting Facilities
We will improve sporting facilities at our schools, / and concentrate on the development of facilities that can be shared between schools and by schools and local communities.
New Schools
We will simplify the establishment of new schools to empower parents in the development of diversity in education.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Teacher Training and Professional Development
We will review and modernise teacher-training courses to focus on new challenges that primary and secondary teachers now face,
and will also improve the professional development for teachers at both primary and secondary level.
We will introduce fixed-term contracts for all school principals to encourage leadership, innovation and new thinking in the education system.
We will introduce new initiatives to encourage people with different backgrounds and varied experience to join the teaching profession.
Suitably qualified people in mid-career with an interest in teaching will be incentivised to join the profession.
We will ensure that all primary and post-primary teachers are audited by trained professionals in their teaching skills and methodologies every five years to ensure that teachers benefit from the most up-todate research and development in the field of teaching.
We will allow teachers who may be experiencing ‘burn out’ to change employment within the public sector.
Primary Pupil Database
We will prioritise the development of a Primary Pupil Database
to track the progress of all children through the primary school system and on to second-level education,
and will also ensure that this database holds information regarding the Department-funded educational programmes that each child may have benefited from, giving educators a clearer view as to the effectiveness of specific initiatives.
Teacher Numbers
We will reform the method of allocating teachers to fast growing schools so that current enrolment numbers determine teacher allocation.
REACHING OUR EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL
Pre-School
We will expand the number of community pre-school places offering free pre-school in areas of educational disadvantage,
and will also subsidise this education by at least two-thirds for all other children with up to 100% subsidy available based on a means test.
Breakfast and Homework Clubs
We will support the expansion of Breakfast Clubs and Homework Clubs,
focusing particularly on schools in areas of educational disadvantage.
NEPS
We will expand the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) bringing all schools under the cover of this service,
and ensuring that the waiting time for a NEPS assessment for any child is no longer than one school term.
Speech Therapy
We will create a speech therapy service within the education system to cater exclusively for children and young people needing this service.
Special Needs and Autism
We will streamline access to services for children with special educational needs,
making it easier for parents to access the additional help that their children need.
We will ensure that recommended and necessary educational supports are allocated to children who need them,
making it a priority to ensure that children with physical or intellectual disabilities receive the best education and best chance to reach their full potential.
We will support diversity in the education of children with autism,
making it a priority to ensure that children with physical or intellectual disabilities receive the best education and best chance to reach their full potential.
Where a period of intensive education is professionally recommended for children with autism we will support this education.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
NEWB
We will enhance the services provided by the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) to ensure that Educational Welfare Officers can work with a greater number of children and their families to improve school attendance rates,
and will also re-orient the work of the NEWB towards adopting a significantly more preventative role,
and in enhancing contact with schools in order to support school attendance as well as following up on cases of non-attendance.
Premium Payments
We will instigate a system of premium payments to teachers in the most challenging schools,
incentivising leaders in education to work with children at risk of disadvantage.
School Year and Use of Facilities
We will lengthen the use of school facilities on a daily basis by local communities,
and examine the extension of the school year at second level to take account of increased pressures on the curriculum,
the greater number of required subjects
and enhanced subject choice.
Youthreach
We will expand Youthreach, increasing the number of places available on this programme and rolling-out this service nationally.
Career Guidance
We will progressively increase the allocation of career guidance hours per week to all second-level schools.
Colleges of Further Education and McIver Report
We will support the colleges of further education, /and will introduce a phased implementation of the McIver Report, prioritising:
The provision of crèche facilities at colleges to facilitate educational opportunity for parents, especially
lone and young parents.
Enhancing student library
and IT facilities.
Improvements in staffing structures.
Investment in capital infrastructure.
The enhancement of student support, assessment and industry liaison.
Adult and Community Education
We will support adult and community education
through a package of new measures including the use of the National Training Fund to fund a scheme to pay for part-time courses,
and the introduction of annual paid training leave.
Youth Work
We will support the development and expansion of youth work projects.
Transition Year and Leaving Certificate
We will aim to ensure that a full transition year programme is available to all students at second-level.
The curriculum for transition year programmes should allow flexibility according to the differing priorities of individual schools, including the development of modules on driver education,
environmental awareness, entrepreneurial education,
and Irish Sign Language (ISL) education.
We will introduce greater flexibility, in terms of learning and assessment, in the Leaving Certificate examination
whilst maintaining high standards.
Entrepreneurial Education
We will aim to ensure that local enterprise support hubs should also play an enhanced role in entrepreneurial education at second-level,
and in supporting groups such as Junior Achievement Ireland in this role.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Language Support and Immigration
We will support schools dealing with new challenges posed by immigration,
including enhancing the allocation of Language Support Teachers
and ensuring that schools with a higher enrolment of students with English language needs will be allocated a higher number of teaching hours.
We will develop English language classes
for immigrant communities
to ensure that places on adult education classes are retained for those requiring literacy education,
not language education.
MAKING OUR SCHOOLS GOOD PLACES TO LEARN, GOOD PLACES TO TEACH
Behaviour
We will tackle deteriorating student behaviour, particularly at second-level schools, by:
Reviewing the legislation to ensure that all schools have the authority they need to tackle cases of unacceptable behaviour.
Encouraging parents to be fully engaged in this issue,
and in ensuring their children act towards their teachers and peers in a way that is acceptable.
Establishing a new system of ‘behaviour contracts’,
where schools organise a meeting for all parents and students and set out clearly the school code of behaviour,
including what warnings will be given, and actions taken, in cases of poor behaviour.
Issuing new and up-to-date guidelines on discipline to every school in the country.
Piloting a new scheme which would involve young people in the drafting of their school discipline policy and in the decision-making process in cases where the policy is not adhered to, in recognition of
the fact that peer pressure can be a strong motivator for change.
Home School Liaison
We will expand the Home School Community Liaison service so that problems in the home environment,
which may contribute to indiscipline, can be properly assessed and assisted,
alongside greater cooperation between the Department of Education and Science, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Anti Bullying
We will introduce a national anti-bullying strategy in all schools, designed to address bullying, homophobia and racism,
which will involve students, teachers and parents.
Stay Safe and RSE
We will ensure that the ‘Stay Safe’ programme is offered in every primary school,
and that all secondlevel students have access to Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE).
Vetting of Staff
We will ensure that all new teachers and school support staff are vetted prior to taking up employment,
and will also introduce the retrospective vetting of all those currently working in our schools.
We will ensure that ‘soft’, non-conviction information forms part of the vetting process.
We will establish a register of persons considered unsafe to work with children, young people
or the vulnerable of any age.
Commercial Activity in Schools
We will issue guidelines regarding commercial activity on school premises to all schools,
and will ensure that any PPPs entered into for the building of new schools will not remove from school authorities the power to remove vending machines from their school,
or to insist that healthy products be stocked in them.
Capitation and Insurance
We will enhance capitation funding to primary and voluntary secondary schools,
and increase the grants to vocational, community and comprehensive schools.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
We will immediately examine the feasibility of the State Claims Agency taking a role in insuring all schools,
which would save individual schools significant monies
and allow them to redirect capitation funding towards their pupils’ needs.
School Transport Service
We will improve the school transport service,
and review the catchment boundaries for school transport to take account of the considerable demographic change in many parts of the country since these boundaries were fixed.
We will reform the current vehicle testing and inspection regime for school transport vehicles
to ensure that these vehicles meet the highest safety standards.
Voluntary Drug and Alcohol Testing
We will ensure that, where teachers and parents decide to introduce random drug and alcohol testing
at secondary schools, the Department of Education and Science will cover the costs of such testing.
THE IRISH LANGUAGE
Choice at Leaving Certificate
We will substantially reform the teaching and learning of the Irish language in line with our published proposals in this area,
including giving all Leaving Certificate students the choice to study Irish for their final two years in school.
New Leaving Certificate Subject
We will radically reform the Irish language curriculum,
and introduce a new subject at Leaving Certificate level, Communicating in Irish,
which will focus on giving students a real fluency and facility in the Irish language.
Language Support Corps
We will develop a specialist Language Support
Corps to help individual primary schools which are having particular difficulties with the teaching of Irish.
THE TEACHING OF MATHS AND SCIENCE
Reform
We will reform the teaching of maths and science at second level in line with the proposals set out in the joint Fine Gael and Labour Party document Formula for Success.
Core Requirement at Junior Certificate
We will ensure that Science is a core requirement for all Junior Certificate students, delivering participation rates of 100% within three years,
and ensure that all schools offer their students a full choice of science subjects at Leaving Certificate level.
Science Audit
We will audit all schools to identify the gaps in scientific equipment
and facilities and invest to bring these up to standard.
Clusters
We will encourage schools to form clusters within which the Department of Education and Science can make additional commitments to develop science.
Laboratory technician hours will be allocated to schools on this clustering basis.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
THIRD AND FOURTH LEVEL EDUCATION
Grants and subsidised loans
We will increase grants at third level,
and enhance funding to student hardship funds.
We will ensure that any further increases in student registration charges do not exceed inflation.
We will not reintroduce fees at undergraduate level.
We will introduce a package of subsidised loans of up to €10,000, repayable within 4 years of graduation, to post-graduate students.
We will also establish a new post-graduate fund to assist students doing Ph.D.research without sponsorship.
We will streamline the application procedure for all grants and for the new package of subsidised loans.
We will:
1.Establish a Student Support Unit to coordinate grants for Diploma, Certificate and Degree courses, at both Institutes of Technology and the universities, within Ireland and Northern Ireland and for those studying abroad, and to manage the new package of subsidised loans.
2.This unit will ensure that applications are processed quickly and according to a customer service charter for students and, where successful, grant funding is issued without delay.
3.Students will have the option of having monthly or weekly grant payments made to them, instead of lump sums released each term.
We will examine the possible introduction of a new system of student loans at undergraduate level.
We will use the National Training Fund (NTF) to introduce a scheme for individuals who have
not already benefited from higher education to pay for courses in higher educational institutions taken on a parttime basis.
National Framework of Qualifications
We will develop a national framework of qualifications designed to make access, transfer and progression in education a reality.
Training and Upskilling
We will introduce annual paid-training leave, support employer-led training,
and reinvent the role of FAS to encompass the expansion of work-training schemes and apprenticeships.
Seanad Electoral Act
We will reform the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937 and extend the Seanad franchise to all third-level graduates including all Institutes of Technology.
Industry
We will foster and expand links between industry and commercial research and our third-level institutions, in particular our Institutes of Technology.
We will build links between the ITs, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland in order to support the potential for these institutes to contribute significantly to regional development.
Flexible Learning
We will support third-level institutions in providing a far greater number of courses at evening time and at weekends,
and will promote flexibility in learning which we believe we encourage a far greater number of people to return to education.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
EMIGRANTS
Fine Gael believes that we have a duty of care and responsibility toward Irish-born citizens wherever they reside.
Agency
We are committed to establishing an Agency for the Irish Abroad,
along the lines recommended in the Task Force on Policy Regarding Emigrants.
Dormant Accounts Fund
Fine Gael will ensure that Emigrant Representative Groups working with Irish-born emigrants abroad can seek funding from the Dormant Accounts Disbursement Board.
Undocumented Irish in US
Fine Gael will continue to campaign for the regularisation of the status of undocumented Irish workers in the U.S.
We will seek to negotiate a working visa exchange programme between Ireland and the U.S.
This visa programme would be open to U.S. and Irish citizens including undocumented Irish emigrants living and working in the U.S to expand the opportunities for U.S. and Irish citizens to live and work in both countries.
Pensioners
Fine Gael will work to ensure that all Irish-born emigrant pensioners
who return to reside in Ireland will be entitled to social welfare entitlements
equal to those enjoyed by Irish pensioners.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Fine Gael believes the twin challenges of climate change
and the need to adjust our energy usage patterns are the most urgent facing Ireland and the world.
We believe in an efficient, vibrant and competitive energy market, / where supply is secure and the need to reduce consumption is always recognised.
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
We will establish a Department of Environment and Energy which will co-ordinate climate-change policy.
We have paid too high a price for the inter-departmental inertia
that gave us ten years of rising emissions and missed opportunities.
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
We will establish a Centre of Excellence for Alternative Energy
charged with ensuring Ireland develops a world-class alternative energy sector.
We will incorporate the existing Sustainable Energy Ireland
into the Centre of Excellence, to be located within an existing Institute of Technology with “outreach” points in other academic institutions nationwide.
It will have specific responsibility to encourage,
incentivise
and develop the alternative energy sector with the objective of replacing a major percentage of energy imports and securing supply.
ENERGY AT HOME
Grants
We will pay grants to householders
wishing to improve insulation of their homes and contribute towards a reduction in energy use.
We will improve on grant aid
available to householders who wish to convert existing home-heating technology to renewable energy technology in their homes.
Energy Performance
We will ensure the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive is implemented in full and in a timely fashion.
What is more, we will work towards ensuring that 30% of all new buildings will be “green”
and be powered by renewable forms of energy.
GENERATING ELECTRICITY
Renewable Targets
We will move towards generating 33% of Ireland’s electricity needs from renewable sources by 2025.
We will target an increase in renewables in energy production to 17% by 2012 as an interim measure.
ESB and Eirgrid
We will legislate for a complete separation of the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) from the National Grid (Eirgrid),
while keeping both in State ownership, in order to ensure a level playing field for all energy suppliers.
Wind Energy
We will build the necessary interconnecting infrastructure with other electricity markets
to allow for a significant increase in generation from wind.
Landfill Gas and Waste Water
We will seek to recover all landfill gas in all landfill sites and waste water treatment plants,
as far as is practicable, for generation of electricity to be fed into the National Grid and for private use.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
R&D in Hydro electricity
We will increase research and development funding in the offshore hydro-electric sector
to ensure established targets are met
and commit to a review of progress with a view to exceeding those targets should conditions permit.
Bord na Móna
We will include Bord na Móna in the overall development of energy policy
given its experience and expertise as an energy provider
and its ability to play a meaningful role.
BIOFUELS AND THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURE
Excise Duty
We will remove all excise duty
on biofuels produced from all renewable energy crops.
Producer Groups
We will make available establishment grants for Producer Groups
that would consist of up to 50% of the costs of setting up the group, subject to a maximum of €300,000 per group.
Energy Crops
We will examine the current rates of payment under the existing Energy Crops Scheme and whether the sugar beet crop should be included under the Scheme to facilitate development of the bio-ethanol industry.
Biofuel Processing
We will initiate a public competition for the establishment and operation of a number of biofuel
processing plants, strategically located in a selected number of locations.
Capital Start-Up Grants / for these processing plants would be initially given to enable these plants to become established and begin viable processing operations.
We will establish greater links with international biofuel processors
and/or fuel suppliers and the relevant Government Departments, especially the Department of Transport and the Department of Agriculture and Food,
to facilitate the promotion of the biofuels industry.
Public Awareness and Promotion
We will initiate a Public Awareness and Promotion Campaign to encourage the growth of biofuels.
Forestry
We will encourage throughout the public and private forestry sector the growing of trees with a high carbon sequestration capacity making a further contribution to meeting Kyoto requirements.
We will set clear targets for the wood energy sector in Ireland.
There are currently no targets in place to allow for the replacement of imported fossil fuels with domestic wood energy.
Targets and a clear policy direction would promote better forest management and stimulate the growth of the forestry sector.
We will re-position forestry grants to promote and develop sustainable forestry.
There must be a greater focus on the potential of a vibrant forestry sector,
through alternative timber use to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
In particular, there must be a greater emphasis on short rotation coppice forestry such as willow.
TRANSPORT
Public Transport
We will allocate capital transport funding to facilitate a meaningful increase in the development of public transport infrastructure projects.
There is an urgent need to prioritise a fast-track high capacity commuter rail services into the capital and other cities.
The endless traffic queues are hugely wasteful of energy
and the concentration of emissions is damaging to health,
as well as to the environment.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
VRT
We will reform Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT)
through the establishment of a system of energy efficiency labelling for motor vehicles,
with lower rates of VRT for those cars with more efficient engines.
Biofuels
We will create a market
for biofuels by legislating to provide that all motor fuels must include a blend of fuel from renewable sources.
The EU has set a binding target of increasing the penetration of biofuels in transport to 10% by 2020.
Fine Gael in Government will accept this target, and as an interim measure we will target an increase to 5% by 2012.
Cars
We will encourage all car manufacturers selling on the Irish market to provide at least one model in their car range which can run entirely on pure plant oil.
Buses
We will ensure an immediate increase in the number of buses providing commuter services into our major cities,
particularly feeder buses to rail connections.
Public Transport Regulator
We will establish a Public Transport Regulator as a priority,
with the aim of assisting in the provision of increased public transport services
with an emphasis on rapid high capacity systems.
Rail
We will take action on the provision of increased rail services,
as a viable transport solution to dramatically reduce our current reliance on the car
and the provision of parking at railway stations
and major interchanges to encourage the use of commuter rail services.
Fuel Use
We will place a requirement on all public transport vehicles and public service vehicles to convert, where practical and feasible,
to pure plant oil.
Work Place Mobility Management Plans
We will compel all Government and public service organisations to develop Work Place Mobility Management Plans (WPMMP).
We will ensure that all planning applications for facilities that will employ more than 20 people will have to be accompanied by a WPMMP.
Electric Cars
We will mandate all public car parks to provide sockets for recharging of electric cars.
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
Infrastructure
We will amend the National Spatial Strategy to include major renewable energy
infrastructure projects.
We will ensure that renewable energy infrastructure
constitutes an element of Regional Development Plans.
Community Dividend
We will provide a “community dividend” to act as “compensation” for those living close
to important infrastructure that aids the entire country reach its alternative energy commitments.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
We will implement an effective plan to make Local Government integral to the green agenda.
Inventory of CO2
We will legislate to compel every local authority,
in conjunction with local energy committees where such exist, to conduct a full inventory of all CO2 emissions in their administrative area.
This shall include all emissions from the Council itself and emissions from manufacturing industry outside of the Emissions Trading Scheme; / business, shops, offices, schools, hospitals, places of recreation, public buildings, etc in their region.
Plans
We will ensure that following the drawing up of such inventories of emissions, each local authority will be charged with putting in place a comprehensive plan of action to reduce these emissions by setting out achievable targets.
Adjoining local authorities can combine to address common issues arising if they see fit.
We will allow for such plans to be discussed proactively with each sector, CO2 reductions
identified and costed, targets set and reviewed every two years.
Such plans shall be detailed and agreed.
We will require Departments within each council to draw up a detailed plan of how emissions will be reduced in their own area.
Housing, Planning, Waste Management, Transportation, Road Maintenance, Sports, Arts
and all other Departments will draw up detailed and specified plans for CO2 emission reduction.
We will ensure that local authorities,
as part of each plan of action, spell out what changes to their planning processes will occur in order to make buildings greener and more energy efficient.
Performance Indicators
We will also include Climate Change in the Local Authority Performance Indicators.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Targets
We will set a target of a 2% reduction in CO2 emission from each Government Department and State Agency.
Green Procurement
We will lead by example on environmental issues
through a policy of green procurement.
Public Buildings
We will begin the conversion of all public buildings
to green energy.
Public Service Vehicles
We will begin the conversion of all public service vehicles to biofuels in order to reduce the State’s carbon footprint.
Annual Reporting
We will introduce a new system of annual open and transparent reporting which will ensure that every Government Agency is held to account every year on its progress.
Local Authorities
We will require each Local Authority to spell out how it intends to roll out the
Green Schools programme,
organised by An Taisce and which has proved remarkably successful in counties like Clare where 80 schools are currently enrolled.
A NUCLEAR FREE IRELAND
We will not allow for any nuclear power facility to be constructed or operate in this country.
We shall continue to campaign for the closure of the Sellafield facility by the British government.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
ENVIRONMENT, HERITAGE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Fine Gael will take the environment seriously and lead a cleaner, greener Government.
We will rejuvenate local democracy,
protect our treasured heritage
and get to grips with the growing waste crisis.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT Directly Elected Mayors
We will legislate for directly elected full time Mayors in every city and county council in the country with increased powers.
Mayors will be elected for a five-year term by popular vote under the PR-STV system.
The manager would continue to hold reserved powers.
We will allow Mayors, upon their election, to select a local cabinet (equivalent to each chair of SPC) from councillors proportionate to their strength on the Council.
We will create a system where each member of the local cabinet will act as a ‘local minister’ with a portfolio for which they will recommend decisions to the full council.
The Mayor will be the political leader of the community,
proposing policy for approval by the Council
and spearheading cross-portfolio initiatives as well as initiatives in co-operation with other local authorities.
Services
We will ensure that services provided by local authorities involve personal face-to-face contact between the public and officials.
Privacy, courtesy and the identification of the official concerned will continue to be the norm in such contacts.
There must be an end to “the hatch” in the public office, which often allows private issues to be easily overheard.
Citizens Charter
We will draw up a local government Citizens Charter which will set out clearly
The rights of the citizen in all dealings with local government;
The duties and functions of the local authority;
The obligations of the local authority to each citizen in its functional area;
Standards and services to be guaranteed in the system.
Performance
We will charge the Department to annually collate and publish data, in league table format, of how each council is performing in a wide range of services.
Public scrutiny, and pressure from the local communities that they are elected and paid to serve will ensure that local authorities provide value for money
and the full range of services people deserve.
RECREATION AND AMENITY
Family Friendly Policy
We will make Local Government child and family friendly.
All policies must be proofed on this basis.
In conjunction with all of the national sporting bodies and the support of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, each Council shall draw up a recreation and amenity policy document.
Playgrounds
We will prioritise playgrounds suitable for young children.
At the core of this policy will be the requirement to protect existing green recreational spaces for environmental, social, cultural and sporting reasons
and to ensure as new development occurs that adequate recreation and amenity space is provided.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
High Quality Build
We will ensure high quality build throughout the country.
With the advent of high density housing such plans have an increasing importance and relevance.
High quality build is essential with adequate green belts identified and planned for locally and put in each development plan.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCING
Business Audit
We will undertake a full business audit of all local government activity
to establish the most effective cost efficient way of providing value for money services to the public.
No New Taxes
We will not introduce any new taxes in order to fund local authorities.
Economic cost
We will examine the practice of charging the State the full economic cost of services provided by local authorities.
Rent reductions
We will encourage local authorities to reduce rents for those tenants
who maintain their homes well and have lower maintenance costs as a result.
Professional Skills
We will support and encourage the employment of suitably qualified persons presently in the private sector
as specialists into local government to provide business and professional skills on fixed term contracts.
Public Accounts
We will subject all local authorities to the full scrutiny of the Public Accounts Committee of the Oireachtas.
ELECTIONS
Electoral Commission
We will establish an independent national Electoral Commission.
Voting Age
We will reduce the voting age to 17.
Electoral Register
We will ensure the electoral register is accurate and up to date through the automatic registration of all individuals when they turn 17 years of age
and the use of the PPS system to ensure accuracy.
Election to Dáil Éireann
We will reduce the minimum age for election to Dáil Éireann from 21 to 17.
Electronic Voting
We will scrap electronic voting.
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Zoning
We will legislate to allow for applicants in the planning system to opt for a one-stop-shop
without appeal to An Bord Pleanála for new commercial or change of use to commercial planning applications in commercial zoned areas,
and for new Light Industrial or change of use to Light Industrial Development in Industrial Zoned areas.
This will be provided that all or other regulatory bodies who are applicable to each such application have given give their approval including any conditions they would attach to such development.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Rezoning and Development Plans
We will require all councillors to publicly declare all representations made by interested parties to them on planning matters outside of official correspondence or of actual official meetings held in the Council chamber when rezoning issues arise and where development plans are being produced or varied.
A register shall be kept of such declarations which shall be open to full public scrutiny
Code of Conduct
We will introduce a new code of conduct for elected members and officials to deal with complaints.
This will be administered by the Ethics in Public Office Commission
and will have the powers to suspend or fine or both if, after due process they are found to have acted unethically.
School Provision
We will reform the planning acts to allow local authorities to require private housing developers
to directly provide for schools, community/youth centres and other elements of community infrastructure according to when and where they are needed.
Senior Citizens
We will charge local authorities,
in conjunction with the HSE and voluntary bodies, with identifying sites in their development plans suitable for homes for the elderly including supported housing
with adequate community and health facilities.
Bord Pleanála
We will reform An Bord Pleanála to increase the quorum of members to make decisions from 3 to 5,
require greater explanation of all final decisions
and provide more resources i.e. more full-time planners.
PREVENTING URBAN SPRAWL
Integrated Planning
We will develop and promote models of integrated planning for small and medium scale development.
Derelict Property
We will, as part of each Plan of Action,
require local authorities to quantify the number of brown field sites available for development and set clear targets for their development.
In an era of soaring property prices and urban sprawl,
it is intolerable that vacant and derelict property continues to blight our urban centres.
Town Centre Residency
Fine Gael will actively encourage the redevelopment of residential facilities in town centres,
especially above existing retail and commercial facilities, in order to boost population density and reduce pressure on services.
TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION
We will accelerate the implementation of Local Authority Traveller Accommodation plans.
NATIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY
We will update the National Spatial Strategy in light of higher than expected population growth.
We will then implement the NSS in full
and end the dithering and delay that has characterised its implementation.
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT ZONES
We will roll out the Strategic Development Zone scheme to all hubs identified in the NSS in order to fast track vital infrastructural development.
We shall also create special SDZs for industry.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Competitive Tendering
We will undertake an overhaul of the current regulatory framework for waste collection services, /introducing competitive tendering for waste collection services at a local and regional level, as in done in other EU countries.
The current model of competition is not working well for households and small businesses.
This is, in part, because the dual role played by many local authorities - both regulator and competitor in the provision of waste services - inhibits competition.
Landfill
We will examine the privatisation of landfill sites in order to reduce the financial burden on local authorities.
Recycling
We will look to our European neighbours and the great success Galway City Council has had in reaching a situation where nearly half its household waste is recycled and set a target of 50% recycling of household waste.
We will ensure that householders are provided with brown, green and grey wheelie bins in order to facilitate waste segregation and recycling.
We will extend the network of bring banks and bring centres designed to empower householders to separate and recycle waste.
Plastic Bag Levy
We will increase the plastic bag levy to 50 cents in order to provide local authorities with the necessary resources to turn our goal into a reality.
Incineration
We will recognise that incinerators work against efforts to encourage the reduction, reusing and recycling of waste and concentrate on reaching European levels of recycling as our main priority.
Litter
We will increase the number of litter wardens
and significantly increase fines for littering and fly tipping.
Market for Recyclables
We will help create and build a market for recycled products
in order to encourage greater investment in recycling facilities.
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES
We will bring to an end the practice of establishing private management companies on new housing developments that are not gated.
We will legislate for the proper regulation of management companies in apartment blocks, or gated communities.
We will enact legislation that will ensure;
Developers will be obliged to fix the management fee for the first three years of a new complex at a level that ensures managing agents can meet the established minimum standards for that period.
The management fee will not be fully payable until managing agents are in place
and the various services can be provided.
Provision of an adequate sinking fund will have to be made from Day One.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
NOISE POLLUTION
Noise Control Officers
We will establish Noise Control Officers in every local authority to replace the plethora of agencies and officers responsible for noise pollution.
We will establish a system of testing, issuing of warning notices and levying fines to be enforced by Noise Control Officers.
Legislation
We will legislate to reduce car and house alarm activation periods.
WATER
Safe, Clean and Secure
We will ensure the necessary investment is made to provide everyone with running water that is clean and safe to drink.
Grants for Group Water Schemes
We will improve grants for group sewerage schemes to the same level available for group water schemes.
This will facilitate the prioritization of infrastructural development
and the provision of services in order to aid housing development in towns and villages outside the main population centres.
Sewage and Waste Water
We will provide greater investment in sewage services and wastewater treatment throughout the country.
It should be a clear policy objective that all waste water treatment should be brought to the point where waste water can be returned to the ecosystem without causing any risk to the environment
or to human health.
We will establish a grant scheme to upgrade septic tanks in rural areas through the installation of modern treatment systems.
Priority will be given to vulnerable areas where existing tanks are causing a serious threat to public health and the environment.
MINISTER FOR ANIMAL WELFARE
We will assign a Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture with responsibility for all matters relating to animal welfare,
and transfer responsibility currently resting with other Departments, in particular the control of dogs, to his/her office.
A full audit of existing animal welfare and control legislation will be carried out and, if deemed necessary, new legislation shall be brought to the Oireachtas.
HERITAGE
Identification
We will identify all buildings which are of historical or architectural importance.
An Bord Pleanála’s role
We will strengthen An Bord Pleanála’s remit and expertise regarding historic buildings.
Awareness
We will roll out a nationwide campaign of awareness of Ireland’s heritage.
We will specifically target those living in urban areas and those in lower socio-economic groups
in awareness campaigns so that all citizens can share in our heritage wealth.
Government Decisions
We will consider preservation, protection and promotion of our natural and built heritage
in Government decision making.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
School curriculum
We will expand heritage inputs into the school curriculum and liaise with the Department of Education
and Science to provide extra-curricular programmes that increase heritage awareness.
Community Projects
We will expand community heritage projects and local heritage events.
Landscape
We will bring together existing agencies dealing with landscape policy
and create a central agency to complete a programme of national landscape characterisation.
Legislation
We will urgently review legislation as it relates to the designation of national parks
and other protected landscapes.
BIODIVERSITY
Promotion
We will promote biodiversity through support for the Notice Nature campaign.
Plans
We will draw up plans to prevent the extinction of the 150 species of plants and birds currently under threat of extinction in Ireland.
We will encourage and offer assistance to all organizations
to create Biodiversity Action Plans.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
FAMILIES
Fine Gael believes in a society which values and supports childhood and the family in all its forms
and will have public policies which enhance and support that value.
HEALTH
We will provide free health insurance for every child under 16.
We will provide free GP visits for every child under 5.
We will provide health check/screening appointment for all children in the year they start school.
We will extend medical cards
to 100,000 more families /- 40% of population.
This target will be achieved by substantially increasing both the income threshold for medical card qualification and the income allowance which takes account of the number of children in a family.
We will confront the rise of suicide by   doubling the budget for the National Suicide Prevention Office immediately
and providing comprehensive mental health services.
We will give a Vaccine Smart Card to each child.
This will be a unique system of recording childhood immunisation from birth.
It will assist GPs and other medical professionals in deciding on health treatment of children
and help parents.
We will institute a National Routine Screening Programme,
put in place an Interactive National Patient Database
and encourage better Health Promotion.
TAXATION
A More Progressive and Family Friendly Income Tax Code
We will cut the standard rate of tax by 2% from 20% to 18%.
We will index personal credits and bands to earnings.
We will increase the home carers credit to the level of the PAYE credit.
We will further increase by €5,000 the point where one-income married couples hit the top rate of tax.
A Fairer Stamp Duty Regime
We will abolish stamp duty for first time buyers up to €450,000.
We will restructure the stamp duty system for others buyers as follows: / No stamp duty up to €100,000.
On the next €350,000 a 5% rate will apply.
On the balance a 9% rate will apply.
CHILDCARE - Better for Children and Easier for Parents.
Parental leave
We will introduce 1 weeks paid paternity leave for the first time
We will give 1 weeks paid parental leave for either parent to take, giving them more choice.
This proposal in addition to our parental leave commitment would give parents an additional 2 weeks paid leave.
Financial Support
We will continue to make a direct payment of €1,000 each year for each child until the age of 6.
We will make available a childcare credit of €1,500 for every child up to age 5 which can be used by parents to access quality assured childcare for their children.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Pre-School Education
We will also ensure that every child has access to one year of pre-school education,
giving a guaranteed two-thirds subsidy to cover the cost of this education for all children rising to 100% free pre-school based on means.
Quality and Supply
We will give an income disregard of €10,000 for childminders who commit to an appropriate level of quality of care.
We will examine enhancing PRSI entitlements
for childminders and increasing development grants and training opportunities.
We will establish a discretionary fund of €50 million in current funding to support the community crèche and playgroup sector.
We will amend legislation to ensure that all new childcare facilities - built by developers under the Planning Acts - are transferred to Local Authority or Childcare Committee ownership.
We will propose that on-site childcare facilities be built on all new primary school campuses.
We will allow rates relief for childcare providers.
We will support the development of community-based early childhood centres to support parents and childcare workers.
We will review labour law
to recognise the changes needed to accommodate a situation where either or both parents work and share in the obligations of parenting, developing family-friendly work practices.
SPECIAL NEEDS AND EDUCATION
We will streamline access to services for children with special educational needs, making it easier for parents to access the additional help that their children need.
We will create a speech therapy service within the education system to cater exclusively for children and young people needing this service.
We will expand the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) bringing all schools under the cover of this service,
and ensuring that the waiting time for a NEPS assessment for any child is no longer than one school term.
We will ensure that recommended and necessary educational supports are allocated to children who need them,
making it a priority to ensure that children with physical or intellectual disabilities receive the best education and best chance to reach their full potential.
We will support diversity in the education of children with autism,
recognising that both intensive education and mainstreaming can be seen to work for individual children.
Where a period of intensive education is professionally recommended for children with autism we will support this education.
DISABILITY
We will ensure that there is transparency in the funding for disability services,
that funding provides value for money for people with disabilities,
that there are standards of services applied in particular to residential services and that the thrust of disability policy is that it enables participation rather than
creating additional barriers.
Fine Gael will progress towards a system where people with disabilities are enabled to access their own support services.
We must offer people with disabilities choice and control
over the type of services needed and to enhance independence and autonomy.
We will promote the concept of the “money following the client” rather than block granting services providers
as at present as this could lead to a more person-centred and responsive model of service provision.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Cost of Disability
Fine Gael will introduce a “cost of disability payment” for people who have been in receipt of meanstested Disability Allowance for a specified period of time.
Discussions will be held with groups and organisations representing people with disabilities before this scheme is introduced.
Independent Living
Fine Gael will support independent living by creating employment and training opportunities
and by providing adequate home help and home care services.
A NEW DEAL FOR CARERS
Fine Gael will improve financial supports, reducing the risk of carers facing poverty.
We will improve information and access to support services, assess each carers needs and increase the number of carers.
We are committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive national carers strategy.
Financial supports
We will remove the spouse’s means from the means test for the Carers Allowance payment.
We will increase the home carers credit to the level of the PAYE credit.
Easier Access to Support and Services
We will establish a one-stop-shop for carers
to make it easier for carers to access support and services.
The new service will be a central point of contact for carers and care recipients where both parties will have their needs assessed and have the various care options explored.
Integrated Case Management Service
Fine Gael will ensure that services will be administered by an Integrated Case Management Service
through the Department of Social and Family Affairs simplifying the process of determining entitlements to services.
Work Life Balance
Fine Gael will work with employers to make it easier for carers to achieve a work life balance while caring,
such as with part-time work, and to help carers re-integrate back into the work place once their caring role has ended.
Proposals include a PRSI exemption for employers who hire former carers and a certificate of skills for carers
who may wish to continue caring for another care recipient.
Young Carers
Fine Gael will put a new focus on the approximately 3,000 carers under the age of 18 carrying out caring responsibilities.
This is a group of carers who get absolutely no recognition from the State.
Fine Gael will increase supports from the State such as home helps and will work with the education system to ensure that these young people are not isolated.
SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES
Fine Gael will work to address the many issues faced by single parent families in relation to their children.
We will reform the tax system to ease the financial burden on all families,
particularly low income and one-parent families.
Fine Gael will take the pressure off parents in meeting the costs of childcare
and pre-school education
by introducing a range of supports that make it easier for parents and better for children.
Fine Gael will introduce a targeted child support for all low-income families
which may incorporate the merging and adjusting of the Child Dependent Allowance,
Family Income Supplement
and Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.
We will examine ways of improving the conditions of the One Parent Family Payment
including the abolition of the cohabitation rule
and supporting lone parents in entering employment, education
or training.
Fine Gael will establish a national guardianship register for fathers.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
PENSIONS
We will increase the state pension to at least €300 per week by 2012.
We will continue to invest 1% of national income in the National Pensions Reserve Fund to ensure
adequate state provision for the future.
We will publish a Green Paper on Pensions early in the term of the new Government to identify the options for increasing pensions coverage across the working population,
and particularly among women, in order to generate an informed consensus on this crucial long-term issue.
CIVIL PARTNERSHIP
Civil Partnership Register
We will create a Civil Partnership Register to allow for two people of the same or opposite sex to formally register their partnership with the State.
Officers appointed by the Registrar-General will conduct Civil Partnership ceremonies in registry offices throughout the country.
Public Commitment
We will require that individuals publicly declare in the presence of witnesses that they fully understand the agreement they are entering into, the rights and responsibilities that come with this agreement and that they are entering a lifelong commitment to their prospective partner.
Rights and Responsibilities
Fine Gael will institute the following rights and responsibilities for persons entering into Civil Partnership.
The surviving partner will be entitled to the estate when their partner dies intestate.
If the deceased partner has children, entitlement is reduced to two thirds.
Should a partner die, leaving a will, the surviving partner will be entitled to at least one half of that estate regardless of what that will states.
No inheritance tax will be payable.
Civil Partnership will bestow next of kin status upon a registered partner.
The surviving partner will be entitled to benefit from the pension provisions that have been made.
Both partners will have the right to share a last name should they wish.
The right to residency in Ireland will automatically be conferred on a foreign registered partner of an Irish citizen.
The equivalent of the married tax-free allowance and married mortgage allowance will be conferred on registered couples.
Registered couples will be considered adult dependents and will be assessed according to their joint income.
Registered partners will be entitled to compassionate leave from employers in the event of serious illness or the death of their partner, along the lines granted to married couples.
The Family Home Protection Act will be widened to include registered couples in order to avoid any chance of a ‘secret sale’ of the home of a registered couple that may be in the name of only one member of that couple.
Fine Gael proposes to extend to two brothers, or two sisters, or a brother and sister living together a similar type of domestic partnership opportunity
so as to ensure that they are not discriminated against.
We will ensure equal tax treatment for couples in civil unions
RECREATION AND AMENITY
Family Friendly policy
We will make local government child and family friendly.
All policies must be proofed on this basis.
In conjunction with all of the national sporting bodies and with the support of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, each Council shall draw up a recreation and amenity policy document.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Playgrounds
We will prioritise playgrounds suitable for young children.
At the core of this policy will be the requirement to protect existing green recreational spaces for environmental, social, cultural and sporting reasons
and to ensure as new development occurs that adequate new recreation and amenity space is provided.
High Quality Build
We will ensure high quality build throughout the country.
With the advent of high density housing such plans have an increasing importance and relevance.
High quality build is essential with adequate green belts identified and planned for locally and put in each development plan.
Access to the Arts
We will expand student and family access to national arts institutions,
especially with a view to ensuring access to those on lower incomes.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Revise Domestic Violence Acts
We will revise and amend the Domestic Violence Acts 1996 to 2002 to allow equal status for married and non-married co-habitants in respect of domestic violence remedies.
Coordination of services
We will bring together responsibility for all domestic violence issues under one department so that policy in this area is coordinated and effective.
Increase HSE budget for domestic violence services
We will increase the funding for HSE domestic violence programmes by €2.5 million so that facilities are available to all women and to ensure that funding levels are up-to-date.
Access
We will ensure access to criminal justice systems for all sectors of society,
including “new Irish” and members of the travelling community
Schools Awareness
We will provide a comprehensive schools awareness programme
WORK AND STUDY
Fine Gael will make it easier to combine work and study.
We will introduce an option for employees to take two-weeks statutory annual paid training leave, financed out of the National Training Fund.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Fine Gael has the strongest possible record of support for the peace process in Northern Ireland.
The Anglo Irish Agreement, negotiated by a Fine Gael and Labour Government, laid the foundations for the current peace process.
Both in Government and in opposition, we have worked towards the goal of peace,
the restoration of power sharing
and the building of ever-stronger links between North and South.
Now, the progress that has been made must be consolidated and supported.
Fine Gael will work to realise the full potential - for the entire island - that is presented by a lasting settlement.
On the European
and international stage, Ireland must vociferously defend the principles of democracy
and peace and protect our citizens at home and abroad.
NORTHERN IRELAND
We are strongly committed to the principles of the Good Friday Agreement,
and support effective and accountable power sharing in Northern Ireland.
We will support the building of closer links between North and South,
including in research and development, trade, investment, and enterprise.
We will support enhanced cooperation and coordination in the provision of key infrastructure
on the island of Ireland, including energy, transport and telecommunications.
We will help grow the island economy by examining the creation of all-island markets
in telecommunications and transport with a move towards all-island regulators for these sectors.
We believe that Northern Ireland should benefit from greater fiscal autonomy, particularly with regard to corporation taxes.
We will propose the preparation, in partnership with the British Government, of a joint economic plan for the entire North West of the island as counties in both jurisdictions share common problems
IRELAND AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
We will promote openness and transparency in the workings of the European Union,
and the manner in which Union legislation impacts on the citizen.
We believe that all Council of Ministers meetings should be held in public when debating new laws.
We will insist that all Government Ministers report to the European Affairs committee on matters discussed at EU ministerial meetings.
Single Meeting Place
We will press for a single meeting place for the European Parliament based in Brussels.
We believe in real reform of the workings of the European Union, especially in cutting out wasteful practices and reducing unnecessary spending.
Red Tape
We will work to reform the European Union to reduce ‘red tape’ and bureaucracy,
especially regarding the impact on small and medium enterprises.
We believe that every new piece of European legislation should be assessed regarding its impact on business before enactment.
European Constitution
We will actively engage in a wide-ranging national debate on the European Constitution
with a view to holding a referendum within 12 months of forming a new Government, unless an alternative approach is agreed at European level.
This is in line with our support for the important reforms and measures set out in the European Constitution.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Enlargement
We will support carefully planned European Union enlargement, / believing that consideration of the Union absorption capacity is important
Whilst supporting the application from Turkey for EU membership,
we reaffirm that all applicant countries must meet the criteria for accession in full.
We believe that all applicant countries must recognise each of the current members of the European Union.
National Forum on Europe
We will strengthen engagement with the public on European issues
, and will ensure that regional and local meetings become a far greater focus for the work of the National Forum on Europe.
Oireachtas Scrutiny
We will ensure that the Oireachtas, particularly its committees, have the necessary powers and resources to adequately scrutinise draft European Union legislation and policies,
including the vetting of all Irish appointments to European institutions by the European Affairs Committee.
EUROPOL & EUROJUST
We will actively support the work of EUROPOL and EUROJUST,
believing that the investigation and prosecution of serious cross-border crimes remains one of the most serious challenges facing the European Union.
We will work for stronger European Union measures to combat serious cross-border crimes like drug and human trafficking,
the movement of paedophiles,
internet-related crime, money laundering, terrorism, and acts of racism.
Illegal Immigration
We will support EU moves to counter illegal immigration through a coordinated approach at European level,
including increased border control and surveillance,
cooperation with countries of origin,
and a coordinated visa policy, along with information sharing and police cooperation.
Security and Defence
We believe that Ireland should be a full participant in European Security and Defence Policy according to five key principles which are:
The commitment to adhere to the fundamental principles of the UN.
The commitment to the pursuit to universal nuclear, biological and chemical disarmament, and a promise never to use these types of weapon.
The commitment to mutual defence with our EU neighbours, but with specific provisions that would allow Ireland decide whether to get involved in any conflict on a ‘case by case’ basis.
The commitment to providing peacekeeping and peacemaking operations.
The commitment to respect the right of other EU Member States to enter other military alliances.
IRELAND ON THE WORLD STAGE
Multilateralism
We will promote a multilateral approach to addressing global problems.
We do not accept unilateralism as an acceptable approach when dealing with major issues that face the global community.
Iraq
We recognise that the only future for Iraq lies in the eventual withdrawal of armed forces from that country.
Whilst reiterating our belief that the invasion of Iraq should not have occurred without the endorsement of the United Nations,
we must work to counter the extreme violence that has erupted in that country which has been responsible for a massive loss of civilian lives and threatens many more.
We will:
Promote the holding of an international conference on the future of Iraq, involving all world leaders.
Ensure that the European Union
gives every possible support to the people of Iraq, for example through enhanced support for the training of police and through greater humanitarian aid.
Bring every possible diplomatic effort to bear on the countries surrounding Iraq to ensure that they effectively counter any elements within their societies which are contributing to the violence in Iraq.
Call, at United Nations level, for an immediate investigation into the missing Iraqi billions which were to be set aside for rebuilding work, and thereby seek to have squandered monies returned to the Iraqi people.
It is our view that the international community working together must address the current situation in Iraq, so that a stable, peaceful and democratic Iraq might be achieved.
Terrorism
We will work - with both our European Union colleagues and all other States with which we share good relations - to combat terrorism and the threat posed by extremism,
without engaging in, or supporting directly or indirectly, methods or operations which compromise our respect for human rights.
Transatlantic Cooperation
We will establish a Foundation for Transatlantic Cooperation with a view to promoting dialogue and the exchange of ideas on key issues of joint concern to Europe and the United States of America.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
We will work to bring the issue of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
back to centre stage and push for an immediate review of the Treaty, believing that the failure by the United Nations to reach such an agreement has weakened the agreement.
We will offer that Ireland, as a non-nuclear State, act as broker in the negotiations with Iran regarding nuclear developments in that State,
and campaign vigorously against nuclear testing by North Korea.
Aircraft
We will seek to ensure that all aircraft using European facilities, both commercial and private, provide full and complete passenger lists to the relevant authorities.
Decision Making Reform
We will support reform of the United Nations, to enhance decision-making processes and representation at the UN.
Undocumented Irish in USA
We will give support to legislation in the United States which would allow undocumented Irish to regularise their status in that country through the payment of a penalty.
Middle East
We will assert the European Union as a key player in the Middle East peace process,
whilst also recognising the need for States like Ireland to adopt strong individual positions on the matter.
We will urge both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to respect UN resolutions,
and call for an immediate end to actions which penalise civilian populations.
IRELAND AND THE DEVELOPING WORLD
Development Aid
We will increase the budget for development aid to 0.7% of GNP by 2012.
To ensure the delivery of this target, we will enshrine this level of aid spending in legislation, thereby making it considerably more difficult for any future Government to scale down Ireland’s commitment to aid spending.
Millennium Development Goals
We will encourage Public/Private Partnerships towards the development of vital, life-saving drugs
because we believe that the EU must take the lead in research towards the development of easily administered and inexpensive AIDS treatments, which would be of particular assistance in the fight against AIDS in the developing world.
We are committed to the Millennium Development Goals, and to tackling the scourge of HIV/AIDS particularly in Africa.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Decentralisation
We will take every step to preserve the ‘intellectual memory’ of the Irish Aid organisation in regard to the plans for the decentralisation of the organisation especially in light of the ongoing large increases in aid spending.
Evaluation and Audit
We will expand the Evaluation and Audit Unit of Irish Aid to ensure that our aid spending consistently hits the target,
and reaches those who need assistance most.
Aid Funding for Critical Infrastructure
We will support aid funding designed to improve critical infrastructure and build economic development in programme countries, whilst maintaining existing commitments.
We will examine the potential that exists from the expansion in spending to target aid in a more innovative way,
and to support new ideas in delivering better living standards in the countries of the developing world.
Twinning
We will empower Government Departments, State agencies, schools, charities and other organisations to ‘twin’ with their counterpart organisations or agencies in the countries of the developing world to enhance the exchange of information, skills and ideas between these countries and Ireland,
having first evaluated which country or countries would be most receptive to the proposal.
Staffing
We will review staffing levels in Irish Aid in light of the demands to be placed on the agency with increases in aid spending.
Democratic Development
We will use the leverage that Ireland gains through our aid programme to encourage and support democratic development and respect for human rights in the countries of the developing world.
We will support partner Governments and civil societies in their fight against corruption.
Environmental Considerations
We will focus on environmental issues as part of our aid commitments in the developing world
recognising that environmental change threatens the peoples of the developing world disproportionately.
Coordination of Development Issues
We will work to streamline the consideration of development issues across all Government Departments,
so that all actions of Government are considered in the context of their impact on the countries of the developing world.
Fairtrade
We will encourage all Government Departments and State agencies to purchase only ‘Fairtrade’ products.
Debt Cancellation
We will use Ireland’s voice at international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank on behalf of the countries of the developing world,
in particular towards ensuring that qualification for debt cancellation does not come with preconditions which harm the economic development of poorer countries.
Oireachtas Scrutiny
We will strengthen debate and scrutiny in the Oireachtas
regarding Ireland’s stance on international trade and development to ensure greater public engagement in, and knowledge of, these important issues.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Freedom of Information is a key tool in maintaining the balance between citizens and the State and ensuring that government is accountable.
It also encourages the quality of decision-making and acts as a check on the exercise of power by government.
Introduced by the Rainbow Government in 1997 the Freedom of Information Act has played an important role in increasing transparency, accountability and openness for citizens and the media about the way that the State is governed.
In 2003, the Fianna Fail/PD Government introduced legislation that has fundamentally undermined the operation of Freedom of Information legislation in Ireland.
Rights to access information were restricted
and a prohibitive scale of fees was introduced both of which have radically reduced citizen’s rights of access to information about how they are governed.
Since 2003, requests for non-personal information to Government bodies have halved and FOI requests submitted by journalists have fallen by 60%.
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Fine Gael will undertake an inclusive and wide ranging review of the operation of Freedom on Information legislation
with a view to rescinding the draconian changes introduced by the Fianna Fail/PD Government in 1997.
We will ensure that a high level group including representatives of the Office of the Information Commissioner,
the media, citizens rights, consumer and community groups, the legal profession,
and Government Departments will carry out the review.
We will ensure that the remit of the review will be to examine the impact of the changes introduced to Freedom of Information in 2003
and make recommendations concerning;
Legislative changes required to ensure that the Freedom of Information regime operates effectively to ensure transparency,
accountability
and openness from government.
Administrative changes required to help deliver an effective FOI regime,
including the necessary reductions in the current level of fees that should be charged to facilitate citizens’ access information.
Any additions to the bodies covered by FOI and other further enhancements for citizens and media rights of access to information.
The establishment of an independent and representative standing commission to oversee and protect the integrity of the operation of FOI in Ireland.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
HEALTH
Over the past decade, there has been substantial increased spending on Ireland’s health services.
The results for patients have been disappointing.
Fine Gael and Labour are committed to building the health service that the Irish people deserve.
We are committed to excellence in the quality of care,
fair access on the basis of medical need,
and efficient use of resources.
We have published four joint documents: Reaching Recovery - An Agreed Agenda on Mental Health; Tackling the Crisis - An Agreed Agenda on A&E; Patients First - An Agreed Agenda on a Patient Safety Authority and Better Health - An Agreed Agenda on Reform and Investment in the Health Service.
The full details of our policies are to be found in these documents.
What follows is a summary of their main proposals.
TACKLING THE CRISIS - ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY
Cleaning
We will keep A&Es clean so that they do not become the source of infection or illness and allocation of clear responsibility for cleaning regimes.
Wet Rooms
We will keep drunks out of A&E and in medically supervised ‘wet rooms’.
Information
We will give people the information they need through an Emergency Helpline and GP location service staffed by properly trained personnel to assess the situation and advise callers on the availability of appropriate assistance.
We will provide information online and conduct a public information campaign on appropriate use of services.
Security
We will increase security in A&Es,
give greater legal protection for staff and improved linkages with local Gardai.
See and Treat
We will redesign A&E through a “See and Treat” system for patients with minor complaints.
Medical Assessment Units
We will provide Medical Assessment Units (MAUs) to provide an appropriate and comfortable environment for patients to be fully assessed and treated or admitted.
Urgent Care Centres
We will supplement A&E services through the provision of Urgent Care Centres for treating relatively minor surgical and medical problems such as asthma and diabetes.
UCCs will have essential diagnostic facilities and a small number of observation beds.
Out-of-Hours
We will ensure increased provision of out-of-hours GP and pharmacy services as well as greater out of hours cover for diagnostics.
Discharge Plan
We will tackle delays in discharging patients through a Patient Discharge Plan.
Step Down Beds
We will immediately begin a major investment in 1,500 step down beds to provide appropriate care for those who no longer require acute hospital care.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Capacity
We will provide 2,300 additional acute hospital beds which will have a key role in reducing overcrowding
and will help to solve the A&E crisis.
REACHING RECOVERY - MENTAL HEALTH
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Specialist Out Patient Teams
We will solve the crisis in child and adolescent psychiatric services by increasing specialist outpatient teams by 50% and bring the established teams up to the recommended staffing complement.
Early intervention
We will ensure early intervention.
To cover the crucial period during adolescence and early adulthood adequately, we propose a ‘Youth Mental Health’ initiative which is aimed at teachers and other adults who have frequent contact with young people.
Suicide
Fine Gael will introduce a suicide prevention strategy,
the fundamental aim of which is to prevent suicide and deliberate self-harm and to reduce the level of suicide ideation in the general population.
Budget for Suicide Prevention
We will increase the budget of the National Suicide Prevention Office to €10 million in year 1, rising to €20 million in year 5.
Schools
We will provide a comprehensive package for all primary and secondary schools,
including mental health programmes and comprehensive counselling services.
Partnership
We will set up formal structured partnerships between the voluntary, community and statutory sector
to strengthen community-based suicide prevention strategies and bereavement support.
Adult Mental Health Services
Positive Mental Health
We will build and foster positive mental health across the community
and provide accessible, community based, fully staffed, multi-disciplined services for people with mental illness.
Community Teams
We will put in place multidisciplinary community mental health teams.
Early and consistent intervention is the most effective way of helping those experiencing mental illness to recover or to manage their personal situation.
Psychiatric Institutions
We will close those psychiatric institutions which are inappropriate for their purpose and which undermine the dignity of their patients.
However, this will only happen when we have put in place adequate outpatient services.
Funds from the sale of these institutions will be ring-fenced for mental health services.
Manpower Strategy
We will initiate a long-term manpower strategy to address staff shortages.
BETTER HEALTH - AN AGREED AGENDA ON REFORM Principles
We will introduce reform within hospitals to get better use of acute capacity,
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
invest in additional acute bed capacity,
develop non-hospital services to ensure more appropriate treatment for patients
and better use of in-hospital capacity
and reform incentives in the health service.
We will provide both a better and fairer health service by ensuring that the principle that ‘the money follows the patient’ applies across the health service.
Moving towards a system of Universal Health Insurance is a shared objective of both parties,
but introducing such a system requires a phased and planned approach, taking into account the critical state of our current health system.
Fine Gael and Labour will, over the lifetime of a Government, introduce free health insurance cover
for all children and adolescents up to age of 16 years – the age after which people move into the adult health service.
Capacity
We will expand the capacity of both hospital and primary care systems
We will provide an additional 2,300 hospital beds.
Harney Plan
We will scrap the Harney Plan to build private hospitals on public land beside public hospitals.
Consultants
We will provide an additional 1,500 new consultants.
More Doctors in Training
We will implement the Fottrell Report on medical training to expand the number of doctors in training.
Community Support
We will expand community support services for elderly i.e. increase in the number of home help hours, have more GPs, Public Health Nurses, Physiotherapists etc.
Step Down Beds
We will provide at least 1,500 additional (step down) convalescence, rehabilitation and long stay community beds.
At least 600 of these will be located in Dublin.
NEW DEAL FOR CHILDREN
Principles
Fine Gael will lay the foundation for a healthy Irish population through an effective and comprehensive health service for all our children and adolescents.
The key principle of our policy for child health is that all children must have timely and appropriate access to necessary care,
whatever the financial status of their families.
Early Detection
We will ensure early detection and treatment of chronic conditions,
dealing speedily with childhood illnesses, in addition to effective health screening.
We believe this is not just cost-effective, it is a valuable investment in a healthy future for all our children.
Under 5s
We will provide free GP-visit medical cards to all under 5s.
Free Health Insurance
We will give free health insurance to all children under 16 years.
Medical Cards
We will extend medical cards to 40% of the population
- over 100,000 more families.
This target will be achieved by substantially increasing both the income threshold for medical card qualification and the income allowance which takes account of the number of children in a family.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Health Check
We will provide a health check/screening appointment for all children in the year they start school.
Vaccine Smart Card
We will introduce a Vaccine ‘Smart Card’ - a system of unique childhood immunisation cards for each child from birth.
PATIENTS FIRST - A PATIENT SAFETY AUTHORITY
Regulating to Protect Patients.
Fine Gael will set up a patient’s watchdog with real teeth and clear responsibilities.
The people employed, or contracted, to provide care are accountable for the quality and standard of care which they provide.
The establishment of a Patient Safety Authority will put in place systems which will ensure that a patient, who has cause for concern about their treatment or care, will have an advocacy system which can resolve the difficulties experienced.
The Patient Safety Authority will
Register Facilities
Oversee the registration and accreditation of hospitals, inpatient and residential facilities e.g. facilities providing care and/or treatment for persons who are ill, in need of care or who have a disability.
Standards
Set and monitor standards of patient safety in all registered health and social care facilities.
Set National Minimum Standards for health facilities.
Audit and monitor the standard of care provided in hospitals, nursing homes and residential centres.
Inspections
Carry out inspections and publish inspection reports annually.
Carry our hygiene inspections and require effective cleaning and hygiene procedures with clear accountable management.
Advise on patient safety
Review and advise on obstacles to the efficient running of registered centres and opportunities for greater efficiencies.
Monitor and advise on the personal social services provided by, or on behalf of, the HSE in respect of services for children,
elderly people or people with disabilities.
Advise the public, the HSE, agencies operating health and residential facilities and the Minister for Health on patient safety.
Incident Reporting and Risk Management
Receive reports of adverse incidents or potentially adverse incidents.
Receive reports of all unexplained deaths in residential centres and investigate where this is considered necessary.
Establish a clinical/medical incident register.
Investigate Complaints
Investigate complaints – at request of the Minister, HSE etc.
Investigate complaints from members of the public when it has not been possible to resolve them under section 9 of the Health Act 2004.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Advocacy
Provide an advocacy service for vulnerable complainants.
Regulatory Bodies
Oversee the operation of regulatory bodies for health professionals.
Mental Health Services
Act as the Commissioner for Mental Health Services.
Whistleblowers
Facilitate “Whistleblowers”.
Quality Reviews
Carry out Quality Reviews.
TACKLING THE SUPERBUGS
Fine Gael will set up systems to protect patients from hospital acquired infections.
Clean Hands
We will ensure that a staff member is assigned to duty on the door of every hospital, nursing home and GP surgery to insist that everybody, staff or visitor, who enters or leaves wash their hands with hygienic hand gel.
Hospital Visiting
We will see that visiting hours are controlled until this crisis is dealt with
and unnecessary visits must be avoided.
National Director of Infection Control
We will appoint a National Director of Infection Control responsible for spearheading essential changes needed to detect, control and reduce the prevalence of hospital acquired infections.
Responsibility for Hygiene
We will ensure that a Senior Staff Nurse be made fully responsible and accountable for all aspects of hygiene in the hospital ward or unit.
Flying Squads
We will set up infection control flying squads to conduct regular, unannounced inspections with published results.
Performance Issues
We will investigate the extension of performance related pay conditions to contract cleaners where their payment contract is linked to achieving standards set by the Patient Safety Authority.
FUTURE HEALTH - PREVENTIVE MEDICINE AND SCREENING
Fine Gael will make preventive medicine a top focus.
We believe that early detection is key to tackling and monitoring diseases which reduces pressures on hospitals and reduces the health budget by treating illnesses before they become costly and by keeping people out of hospital.
National Health Screening
We will set up a system of free regular health checks for all adults from their local GP.
Screening can detect illnesses or diseases at an early stage so that they can be controlled and monitored,
resulting in better outcomes for patients and a reduced burden on the health service.
We will screen for illnesses and diseases such as diabetes, heart problems, lung disease and certain cancers.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Screening at Five Year Intervals
We will include tests for blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol levels, peak flow (a test of lung function), urinalysis, full blood count (for anaemia and certain blood cancers) and a glucose test which can help diagnose diabetes at an early stage.
We will begin screening at 20 years for women and include cervical smears, breast screening, dexa scan (for osteoporosis), TFT’s (to test for abnormal thyroid function) etc.
We will begin screening men at 30 years and specifically for prostate cancer.
An Interactive National Patient Database
We will set up a national patient database that would allow for early intervention and screening programmes.
It will be a consumer-focused interactive database where the public voluntarily register to avail of the National Routine Screening Programme.
The online database will initially be an age-sexaddress register, which will be used to alert patients or a nominated person (e.g. a patient’s GP) via e-mail (or by post if requested) that they are due a health check under the National Routine Screening Programme.
We will ensure that over time, the database will be developed into a health statistics database to be used as a research resource and management information tool.
The database will hold health statistics only, and patient confidentiality will be assured.
Better Health Promotion
We will seek to have primary and secondary schools more actively involved in promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.
This can be in the classroom or on the playing field, and as such, we have recommended making P.E. a compulsory subject at Junior and Senior level in secondary school.
Getting GPs More Involved
Fine Gael will seek the involvement of GPs, who have a better knowledge of their patients than anyone else.
GPs who get involved in the national screening initiative will have to have their IT systems operating to a specified standard so that they can plug in effectively to the national patient database that is established.
In addition, Fine Gael wants to encourage the location of more GPs in disadvantaged areas where their very absence undermines the impact of any primary health care programme.
PRIMARY CARE
Linked Primary Care Teams
We will deliver 50 Linked Primary Care Teams within 2 years.
We will ensure that the HSE drives communication and links between primary care professionals to form primary care teams and that basic supports to be provided to help create links e.g. IT supports.
We will create long-term physical structures giving priority for disadvantaged areas/poor GP representation.
We will investigate incentives to GPs to set up in disadvantaged areas
and provide funding initiatives with guaranteed patient benefits.
Tackling the GP Manpower Crisis
We will address the serious shortage of GPs
by giving extra support through the linking of primary care teams.
We will fast track training
and increase the number of training places for GPs.
We will introduce postgraduate medical schools.
We will introduce more flexible working arrangements and designate responsibilities to other primary care professionals.
First Responder Schemes
We will arrange for defibrillators in communities around the country with training of volunteers
to be carried out by ambulance staff.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
HOUSING
The average house price in Ireland is now over €300,000.
100,000 individuals are waiting for a local authority home.
And homelessness remains a problem in one of the richest countries in the world.
Fine Gael presents the following proposals as a radical and practical solution to many of the housing difficulties Ireland faces.
LEGISLATIVE REFORM
We will audit all existing housing legislation to root out provisions that perpetuate inequality.
We will specifically target any legislative measures that adversely affect vulnerable groups
including those with disabilities,
people with psychiatric illnesses
and those who have left the family home following marriage or relationship breakdown.
NEW HOUSING APPROACH
Housing Ireland
We will merge existing housing agencies into one agency called Housing Ireland.
We will empower Housing Ireland to step in when Local Authorities
are seen to be failing to deliver adequate affordable housing.
Funding
We will empower Housing Ireland
to provide funding for services like roads,
sewerage and communications in newly constructed housing developments.
Seed Capital
We will charge Housing Ireland with the provision of seed capital for voluntary housing agencies,
following a value for money audit.
BETTER USE OF STATE LAND
We will conduct a full audit of all State land.
We will sell State land if it is judged to be suitable for housing development,
is not in use by the Department or Agency that owns it,
and is not considered as crucial to the development of that Department or Agency,
for the provision of housing, including affordable housing.
SCALING BACK OF RENTAL ACCOMMODATION SCHEME
We will recognise the continued need for Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) as a mechanism for the provision of high-quality accommodation in a short time frame.
We will, however, shift policy away from RAS toward the provision of State-owned social housing,
through construction and acquisition,
shifting resources away from payments to landlord and towards investment in housing assets.
HONOURING PART V
We will issue a Directive to Local Authorities insisting on provision of 20% of units for social and affordable housing,
and not cash as is often the case now, on all new housing developments.
We will permit two exceptions to this rule;
In areas where private development is the exception to the norm, units can be foregone and developers can instead provide facilities such as community,
recreational or education facilities.
However, this will only be with the agreement of Housing Ireland and the Minister.
Where the local authority believes there is neither a need nor demand for social housing in or around a new development, and where there is a shortage of social and affordable units elsewhere in the local authority area, permission may be sought from Housing Ireland and the Minister to accept a cash payment.
The case for lack of demand will have to be proven to the Minister’s satisfaction and details provided of where and when the cash will be spent and affordable and social housing units delivered.
MAKING HOUSING MORE AFFORDABLE
First Time Buyers
We will create a new House Deposit Saving Scheme, similar to the SSIA scheme, for first time buyers seeking to fund a deposit for their first home.
We will effectively abolish stamp duty for first time buyers by raising the exemption limit for first time buyers of second hand homes to €450,000.
Stamp Duty Rates
We will simplify stamp duty rates for all buyers by reducing the number of rates from 7 to 3.
The new rates will be 0%, 5% and 9%.
We will make stamp duty fairer
so that you pay the higher rate only on the portion of the price over each threshold and not on the entire purchase price.
Under Fine Gael’s proposals, the first €100,000 is zero rated,
the next €350,000 is paid at 5%
and the balance is charged at 9%.
This means that major savings are made on stamp duty costs at each house price level.
BETTER PROTECTION
We will eliminate Staged Payments.
We will instruct planning authorities to refuse planning permission to any developer who has not fully complied with obligations under previous planning permissions.
We will regulate management companies and provide greater transparency in the sector.
ENDING HOMELESSNESS
Move-On Accommodation
We will provide greater “move on” accommodation to help those
move out of homelessness and ensure those in danger of falling into homelessness do not do so.
Addiction
We will introduce a range of measures to tackle drug addiction
and assist those seeking to tackle their addiction
- addiction that often leads to homelessness.
We will initiate a single comprehensive National Addiction Strategy.
We will improve outreach services to difficult to reach drug abusers,
including homeless people.
We will provide greater follow-up care for those released from prison,
including addiction treatment, work and educational facilities.
RURAL HOUSING
Rights
We will continue to support the right of people in rural Ireland to build homes on their land.
We will preserve the integrity of Special Areas of Conservation.
Design
We will make the design of these houses central to planning decisions -
and ensure that when houses are built they match the surrounding countryside;
thereby ensuring rural communities can thrive,
while also maintaining Ireland’s natural scenic beauty.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Domicile
We will waive the domicile requirements on rural housing for those workers who are judged essential for the continued progress of local communities and the local economy.
Development Plans
We will consider making some aspects of guidelines on Development Plans and Residential Densities compulsory if necessary.
Audit of rural housing
We will charge the Central Statistics Office with establishing a full audit of rural housing,
and with providing a detailed breakdown of house size, type and location.
Sustainable Housing
We will promote sustainable housing in areas of rural depopulation in order to reduce the strain on wastewater,
transport
and communications
infrastructure while protecting against rural depopulation and ensuring greater house affordability than is currently available nearer urban centres.
Planning for Rural Housing
We will ensure adequate and appropriate staffing levels in every planning authority, especially in areas of high population growth.
We will adopt an official policy to have one planner deal with an application from start to finish.
This will end the situation where an initial positive response to a planning application is replaced mid-way through the process by a less positive approach by a different planner.
We will instigate a mentoring programme in every local authority to bring younger planners up to speed
on the particulars on the relevant local authority area will be introduced to end the shortage of planners at local authority level.
We will establish a Planning Monitoring Forum to provide an effective system of complaint resolution
that will lessen the need for aggrieved applicants to go to the Courts.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
IMMIGRATION
The recent, dramatic growth in the rate of immigration into Ireland is resulting in what is arguably the greatest economic and social transformation of our country since Independence.
This transformation presents Ireland with both a huge challenge
and huge opportunity.
Given Ireland’s history of emigration and migration,
the country has a special responsibility to address the challenge of immigration.
We need a system that is good for the Irish
and good for the immigrants.
Minister of State
We will bring coherence to our political response to immigration
by appointing a Minister of State for Immigrant Affairs
who will be attached to the Department of the Taoiseach.
This new ministerial role will include responsibility across all relevant government departments.
Streamline process
We will ensure a swift and streamlined process
for all applicants for asylum,
residency, visas and citizenship
so that they are not left waiting for action and so that as few people as possible are left in a situation of undetermined fate.
Reform agencies
We will reform the relevant refugee bodies so that the decision-making process is transparent and accountable
by publishing judgements and their reasoning
and by giving clear criteria for each applicant.
Language support
We will revamp the allocation of language support resources so that schools with higher demands receive appropriate support.
We must also undertake a national audit to find out the true extent of this problem and to establish whether other measures,
such as providing additional language support outside normal school hours,
are needed and what extra teaching resources are required.
Screening
We will introduce a much more rigorous screening
of those applying to come here from outside the European Union to establish if they have criminal records.
We should refuse entry to those who have been involved in serious criminal activity.
In addition, we believe that those who are convicted of serious offences and sentenced to five or more years imprisonment by the Irish Courts
should be deported automatically after they have served their sentences.
Road safety
We will tackle the tragically high number of immigrants who are being killed or injured on our roads by:
Addressing the loophole that allows foreign registered cars to be re-registered here for two years without checks being made for roadworthiness and
Pursuing changes to the implementation of penalty points across the EU so that they can be effectively applied to all licence-holders irrespective of nationality.
Employment rights
We will rigorously enforce severe penalties for employers
who abuse their position and pay immigrants below legal rates.
Green Card
For non-EU citizens, we will introduce a Green Card system with the objective of making Ireland the destination of choice for highly skilled migrants,
including those with advanced science and engineering skills and specific skills required in the economy
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
JUSTICE
Fine Gael wants more Gardaí on the ground where they are needed in order to address
Ireland’s descent into a vicious and violent society.
We will not tolerate anti-social behaviour,
we will make criminals pay for their crimes
and we will rebalance the justice system in favour of the victim.
POLICING
2,000 extra Gardaí
We will deliver at least 2,000 extra Gardaí to deal with the crime epidemic currently sweeping Ireland,
bringing the total strength of the force up to at least 15,000.
Thereafter, the number of Gardaí will be decided by reference to assessed need and population growth.
New Garda organisational structure
We will legislate for an independent Garda authority,
representative of civil society,
to stand between the Commissioner and his officers on the one hand,
and the Minister and the Department of Justice on the other.
Driving international best practice
We will drive the agenda for reform,
ensuring that measures are implemented as a priority and we will inject professionalism and modernism
into a force that has served the country well but now needs to be updated.
Opening up senior Garda recruitment
We will open recruitment for senior Garda positions to external candidates to ensure the best recruitment and promotion practices are operated and the best people are hired.
Measuring performance data
We will use performance data from different Garda regions, districts and divisions comparatively,
to drive innovation and initiative in tackling crime, thereby achieving results.
Changes in rostering
We will put Gardaí where and when they are needed
- most crimes are committed at night, yet most Gardaí are on duty during the day.
Completed civilianisation programme
We will take fully-trained Gardaí out from offices and behind desks,
and put them on duty where they belong, replacing them with clerical staff.
ENHANCED COMMUNITY POLICING
Special grade of Community Garda
We will ensure that Gardaí see community policing as a career option in which they can reasonably expect advancement.
We will change Garda organisational structures
to reflect a focus on communitybased policing and an acknowledgement of the value of the Gardaí involved in it.
Longer-term assignments
We will ensure that Community Gardaí commit to long-term assignments to provide continuity in community policing and to allow them to really get to know the community.
Incentives to live in the community
We will provide incentives to Community Gardaí to live in the communities that they police,
be it remote rural areas or disadvantaged urban estates.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Community accountability
We will involve the community in policing.
We will include public representatives, the Garda-in-charge and other officers, representatives of residents’ associations and community groups
as well as members of the public and local authority officials.
Policing forums
We will require the Garda-in-charge to meet policing forum members at regular intervals,
to both receive and impart views on the challenges of policing in their area.
IMPROVED GARDA TRAINING
We will ensure that all Gardaí, and particularly Community Gardaí, will receive dedicated preparation and on going training
to provide them with the appropriate skills for dealing with local issues on the ground.
More comprehensive
We will improve initial training,
and enhance on-going training within the Force in on-site locations, while maintaining the Garda College in Templemore as the cornerstone of the training structure.
We will require that all Garda recruits spend some of their training in an urban context,
and in an educational setting which involves regular contact with students from other walks of life in the way that Army and Navy cadets do.
Wider and more specialised
We will enhance training in urban crowd control,
traffic management,
human rights,
sexual offences,
firearms, driving, legal issues, and other specialised areas.
High-visibility policing
We will put more Gardaí on the beat so that they are accessible to everyone,
but also so that their presence is seen.
Better equipment and technology
We will equip the Gardaí with technology and modern personal protection equipment,
including stabvests and pepper-sprays
that will allow them to perform their duties more effectively and more securely.
More diverse recruitment
We will make An Garda Síochána a representative force that reflects the diversity of modern Ireland
through a dedicated recruitment campaign in communities that are currently poorly represented or lack visibility within the Gardaí.
CHILD PROTECTION
We will provide real legislative and systematic protection for children from exploitation and abuse.
Referendum on Children’s Rights
We will ensure that the issue of children’s rights is dealt with,
by holding a referendum amending the Constitution to take account of changes in society and children’s rights.
Recommendations on Child Protection
We will implement the 62 recommendations of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection, except for No. 19, which concerns the lowering of the age of consent to 16.
Age of Consent
We will retain the age of consent at 17.
Zone of Protection
We will impose a zone of absolute protection for children under 16.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Revise Domestic Violence Acts
We will revise and amend the Domestic Violence Acts 1996 to 2002 to allow equal status for married and non-married co-habitants in respect of domestic violence remedies.
Coordination of services
We will bring together responsibility for all domestic violence issues under one department so that policy in this area is coordinated and effective.
Increase HSE budget for domestic violence services
We will increase the funding for HSE domestic violence programmes by €2. 5 million
so that facilities are available to all women,
and to ensure that funding levels are up-to-date.
Access
We will ensure access to criminal justice systems for all sectors of society,
including the new Irish
and members of the travelling community.
Schools Awareness
We will provide a comprehensive schools awareness programme.
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Stronger legislation
We will strengthen legislation to deal with anti-social behaviour in innovative ways,
while using existing measures including  anti-social behaviour orders.
On-the-spot-fines
We will make sure that people who behave in an anti-social manner will accept responsibility for their actions,
and where parents have neglected to control their children, they will be brought to account.
Curfew orders
We will ensure that Gardaí have the necessary powers to curtail the activities of people who indulge in anti-social behaviour.
Repair orders / compensation agreements
We will guarantee that people who vandalise property or prevent other people’s peaceable enjoyment of their property will be brought to task by way of requiring them to undo the damage they have caused or otherwise compensate their victims.
Increased fines for illegal sale of alcohol
We will crack-down on the sale of alcohol to under-age persons
and ensure that off-licence retailers take responsibility for their customers.
Increase Garda powers to curb loitering/intimidation
We will equip the Gardaí with the necessary powers to stop loitering
and intimidating group behaviour.
Legislative footing for restorative justice
We will institute a real programme of restorative justice so that non-headline crime is reduced
and victims get an opportunity both to be recompensed,
and to confront the person who has committed a crime against them.
Implement the Children Act, 2001
We will fully implement the measures enacted by the Children Act 2001.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Dedicated Minister of State for coordinating the ASB campaign
We will inaugurate a dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for tackling anti-social behaviour
and coordinating the response of different Government Departments.
Anti-social Behaviour Fund of €50 million
We will set up a fund for organisations running local initiatives aimed at tackling ASB,
e.g. improving lighting in problem areas or cutting back overgrowth in parks and walkways.
We will also support projects such as sporting initiatives to engage those young people currently involved in ASB.
Consolidated anti-social behaviour laws
We will consolidate all the individual laws on anti-social behaviour into a single document
so that the powers of the Gardaí and the State to respond to anti-social behaviour are clear and unambiguous.
CRIMINAL COMPENSATION TRIBUNAL
Reform existing compensation structures
We will allow the victims of crime to recover compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal by putting the scheme on a statutory footing.
Central compensation fund
We will ensure that where possible, perpetrators of crime compensate their victims directly by way of compensation order,
and, where criminals do not have sufficient means to pay a compensation order, they will have an order for attachment of earnings made against their income.
These payments will go straight towards funding the awards made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal which is currently paid for from central exchequer funds.
Victims
We will guarantee that the victims of crime can recover from the Criminal Injuries Compensation
Tribunal irrespective of whether they live under the same roof as their abuser,
this will allow the victims of domestic violence to be compensated by the Tribunal.
BAIL
Electronic tagging
We will immediately implement practical measures to make electronic tagging of persons on bail a reality
and we will ensure that alleged serious criminals who are granted bail will be monitored prior to trial.
Consolidated legislation
We will bring all the legislation on bail together in a single act so that the law in this area is clear for legal practitioners and Gardaí alike.
Sentences for crimes committed on bail
We will ensure that persons who commit crimes while on bail serve consecutive sentences on top of their existing prison time.
Conditions of bail
We will produce a schedule of conditions that can be imposed by a judge when granting bail,
while not limiting the judge’s power to impose additional conditions.
SENTENCING
Register of sentences
We will put a comprehensive register of sentences in place that will both make sentences in Ireland transparent
and allow comparison for the purposes of consistency.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
Prosecution submissions at sentencing
We will allow the DPP or Prosecutor to make submissions during a sentencing hearing
so that the judge is fully aware of the aggravating factors of the case.
Sentencing tariffs
We will draw up sentencing tariffs or guidelines with the Oireachtas so that judges have a clear guide to show them where the sentence should be in terms of maximum and minimum sentences in respect of specified offences.
Judicial explanation
We will require a judge, who hands down a sentence outside the range of the Oireachtas sentencing tariffs, to explain his or her reasoning in open court for the benefit of both the victim and/or his or her family, and the Register of Sentences or precedent.
Tougher sentences
We will ensure that mandatory minimum sentences, where they exist, are enforced in respect of secondtime and repeat offenders, by enacting such legislation as is necessary.
JUDICIARY
Increased training and education for judges
We will ensure that there is enhanced training and education available to all judges,
particularly those who are likely to deal with sensitive cases such as sexual offences, children’s court, domestic violence etc.
We will further require that judges undergo a certain level of training as a condition of appointment to the bench.
Judicial conduct and ethics council
We will establish a judicial conduct and ethics council to deal with complaints regarding judicial conduct or ethics.
Increase the number of judges
We will appoint more judges to cut down on waiting lists in the courts, particularly for criminal cases.
Judicial support staff
We will appoint more clerks and judicial support staff to ensure that the increased number of judges can do the work that is required.
COURTS SYSTEM / CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Chief Prosecution Solicitor
We will deal with the serious delays in the courts service by putting increased staffing resources into the Office of the Chief Prosecution Solicitor so that cases can be heard swiftly and efficiently.
More courts
We will provide more venues for hearings across the country,
but particularly in Dublin so that more cases can be heard more often.
Exclusionary rule
We will allow evidence to be introduced even if it was obtained through a minor or inconsequential breach of a person’s constitutional rights,
and provided that the breach was accidental.
We will not allow criminals to walk free on technical grounds.
Fine Gael -General Election Manifesto 2007
PRISONS
Remission of sentences
We will ensure that prisoners earn their remission
and are not automatically released early,
thereby incentivising positive behaviour such as taking part in courses or rehabilitation programmes while in prison.
Rehabilitation
We will guarantee that every prisoner will have access to a rehabilitative programme
so that he or she has the option to break the cycle of crime and to ensure that prisons do not act as schools for criminals.