Labour Party Manifesto  The politics of the old Republic are over. The choice is no longer between two identical parties, divided only by the tragedy of history.  The choice now is between the old Republic of bitterness, stagnation and failure, represented by the two Civil War parties and the New Republic of opportunity change and hope, represented by the Labour Party.  Ireland is at a crisis of decision. There is only one way forward – with Labour.  But there are many ways backwards. Labour will not retard the growth of the new politics by cynically abandoning its ideals for short term party advantage. The hopes of the future will not be betrayed.  This is a time of great national change. The outworn habits of the past are being abandoned. In Politics traditions die hard, but change is evident.  The Referendum was overwhelmingly defeated by a quarter of a million votes mainly by the young people of Ireland. The two Civil War parties have lost their attraction for the new generation.  The politics of the seventies will not be modelled on the forties or the fifties.  This is a time for renewal, for new thinking, for fresh ideas. Labour is the party of the future.  It has brought in the new politics. The advance of Labour cannot be stopped,  Never before has the challenge of Labour been so strong. This time it is time for Labour.  THE NEXT DAIL  All eyes are on the next Dail. And most are on Labour. What will Labour do?  The answer is clear. Policy in the Labour Party is determined by its Annual Conference. The last two Conferences have declared against coalition. And there Labour stands.  In Dail Eireann, after the next election, Labour will propose its own nominee for Taoiseach. It will not support the nomination of either the other two Parties.  Should a majority of conservative deputies be returned to the Dail, then the responsibility is on the two civil war parties to give the nation a government.  The responsibility is on those who believe in the same conservative attitudes to bury their personal differences and stop play-acting. The difference between the two Civil War Parties is in name only. The past is past and best forgotten.  The responsibility of the future is for them to come together and to give the country a Government-if they have the majority in the Dail.  Labour cannot be asked to bury its real and legitimate policy differences with other parties solely for the purpose of displacing any Government by a coalition. That would be the path of political dishonesty. For Labour to renege on its coalition policy would be to betray those who voted for it.  A LABOUR GOVERNMENT  In this election the Labour Part is fighting EVERY constituency in the country. It is putting forward a team of over one hundred candidates under the leadership of Brendan Corish.  The people have the opportunity to elect a Labour Government. Labour has the candidates in every constituency. Labour has the men and women with the ability to run a Government.  Labour has the policies to implement. Policies that will build the New Republic.  In this election it cannot be said that a vote for Labour is a wasted vote, It cannot be said that Labour is afraid of Government. Labour is putting forward sufficient candidates to win a majority in Dail Eireann and form its own Government.  Labour's candidates are drawn from all ways of life-farmers, doctors, factory workers, journalists, housewives, teachers, trade union officials, businessmen, university lecturers. The choice could not be more representative.  Every vote cast for Labour is a vote for the New Republic.  THE ECONOMY  The Irish Economy has failed. Over one million people have been forced to emigrate since 1922. Such a rate of emigration is unique among European countries. It has no parallel.  The national population was nearly one hundred thousand less in 1966 than it had been at the time of the first census in 1926. With full employment it could have been one and a half millions more. That is the extent of the failure.  The old Republic has the highest rate of unemployment in Europe. The old Republic is the only European country to register persistent fall in the workforce. In building the New Republic the Labour Government will make full employment its premier policy objective.  Without full employment it is impossible to pay for all the social services we need. Without full employment there can be no security. Without full employment families will be broken up, emigration will continue and rural Ireland will be bled of its youth.  All of the Labour Government's energies and resources will be directed towards the goal of full employment. Labour will rely in the first instance on Irish skill, intelligence, enterprise, and money to create jobs. Where necessary the Government will not hesitate to employ foreign expertise or capital, but only in the amounts and in the areas where they are essential.  STEP TO ECONOMIC GROWTH  A Department of Economic Development will be established as an urgent first step in bringing all Government Departments, agencies and Semi-State Bodies into line with national policy. The new department will be the most important department of State. It will plan for new jobs and it will coordinate all activities related to economic growth. In the past no single department has had total responsibility for full employment. The result has been duplication, confusion and chaos. The penalty has been the loss of one million emigrants.  A NATIONAL PLAN  There will be a national plan, a real plan. With aggressive planning new industry can be created, different areas can be developed, an air of confidence and success can be built up.  Irish resources must be the basis of economic growth in the New Republic; agricultural raw materials, the sea, mineral deposits.  Irish money must be the basis of investment and control. Our external assets of six to eight hundred millions must be repatriated. Irish manpower and skill must be employed. And Irish management must be in charge.  Exports will be promoted by a State Export Board which will sell abroad. Aid will be given to firms in the export market for advertising, promotion and design. Research and development will be encouraged. A Technological University will be set up in Limerick.  Our dependence on Britain as an export market will be lessened by opening up new outlets as a matter of deliberate policy.  A State Development Corporation will assist Irish firms to expand. The main impetus for economic growth will come from new State industries based throughout the country. No one will be neglected or written off. Regional planning will develop every area.  With proper Government leadership, and with real economic planning, full employment can be achieved. The first Labour Government will provide that leadership, It will introduce planning and it will take the long awaited first steps on the road to full employment. Success will not be achieved overnight, but a start can be made by the next Government in building the New Republic.  HOUSING  The Labour Government will immediately declare a national housing crisis and will embark on an emergency programme, to provide temporary housing for the homeless.  Under the Labour Government, housing will be made a social service on par with Health, Education and Social Welfare. Labour's aim is to house everybody in proper accommodation within a decade.  The aim of the Labour Government during its five year term of office will be to build 100,000 permanent homes (a crash programme).  Few public scandals have aroused more indignation than the housing crisis.  There can be no solution to the housing crisis under the present Government. A private enterprise economy leads inevitably to housing shortages, speculation in land values, continuously rising prices, the neglect of slums in preference to lucrative speculative building in and a piecemeal approach to conservation and planning. This is the reality under Fianna Fail.  Housing is too important to be left to the whim of profiteers.  While office building has boomed under the Government's approval, thousands wait on the housing list. Land prices have been permitted to treble and interest rates have been allowed to double since the Government took office. The cost of an average urban house has trebled - an increase twice as fast as wages and salaries.  In rural Ireland, half the homes lack internal sanitation. One third have no running water. The basic amenities of life are missing.  Over 160,000 houses in the country are more than 100 years old. Over 150,000 are unfit for living purposes or are overcrowded.  The Government's response to this appalling situation is to build the least number of houses in relation to population for any European country year after year.  BUILDING LAND:  Labour will get to the root of the housing problem in urban areas by bringing all building land under public control immediately. This measure will end land speculation, reduce site costs and knock £500 off the price of the average home.  NO DEPOSITS:  Through the public control of building societies, Labour will make 100% loans available at lower interest rates.  Labour's plan will bring down the cost of houses, the rate of repayments for house purchasers and will halt the upward spiral of local authority rents.  DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING:  A separate Department of Housing will be established with its own Minister. In no other way can the full attention of the Government be given to this major social problem.  A State Construction Company will be will be set up to engage in house building and the development of proper community amenities. Its services will be available to all local authorities.  CO-OP. BUILDING:  Co-operative house building will receive every encouragement and inducement. Financial, technical and administrative assistance will be given to aid the co-operative movement to become a major supplier and owner of housing.  Finance:  Labour's banking policy will immediately release the money required to pay for the housing programme. The capital is already available, but Fianna Fail is unwillingly to upset the system that suits big business.  Labour will make financial institutions serve the people.  RENTS; RATES:  Labour has always advocated differential rents for tenants of local authorities. But it is bitterly opposed to the present scheme for which it was not responsible.  The present unjust scheme will be scrapped and replaced. The new system will relate rents to a fixed percentage of the income of the head of the household.  The Labour Government will replace rates by a property tax on those deriving incomes from lands or buildings. This will have the immediate effect of relieving a great number of householders, particularly those with young families, from a severe and indefensible burden.  Labour rejects ground rents as undemocratic and as part of a fuedal landowning system. Current legislation to enable tenants to purchase their ground rents has proven ineffective because the prices demanded are too high.  Tenants will be given the capital to buy their ground rents, at reasonable cost.  HEALTH  Health services in Ireland today depend upon the money a person earns. There are different standards of medicine for different classes of people. Labour's aim is to smash that system once and for all.  Health charges can be crippling. Doctor's fees or the cost of medicines are often far beyond what people can afford to pay. Those covered by the dispensary service suffer from an under-staffed and ill-equipped service.  The latest Government proposals will give free choice of doctor without fee for only 30% of the population.  KEY IS FINANCING:  The key to a fully comprehensive free service is the method of financing. The Government is unable and unwilling to change the present system. It cannot extend the range of services because it will not expand its financing.  Even the White Paper on Health in 1965 did not pretend to offer a free health service for all. To do so would mean asking employers for larger insurance contributions. This, the present Government is unwilling to do, mainly because it refuses to hurt the interests of big business.  A free health service for all citizens without discrimination is Labour's aim. A socialist policy on health is based upon the acceptance of equality and of the light of every citizen to medical treatment without cost.  As far as the Labour Government is concerned, the community has the responsibility of providing health services for all citizens without distinction or discrimination.  As a first stop towards this objective the Labour Government will alter the method of financing the services by increasing employer contributions into line with levels in continental Europe. It will bring all income earners within the scope of a Social Fund which will finance both the health and Social welfare services.  This is merely a start. It will take some time before the scheme is fully operational.  But as a start the health of all our children tip to the age of sixteen will be fully covered by free services within the lifetime of the first Labour Government.  Those in greatest need must receive the first priority. The chances of a child of lower income parents are five times greater of dying in the first year of life than the child of higher income parents. These are the hard facts.  In building the New Republic all the children of the nation will be cherished equally.  Labour's second priority will be to extend free medical services to all pensioners and social welfare recipients and to all maternity cases.  These are the major priorities to be accomplished during the first term of office.  THE AGED AND MENTALLY ILL  But other significant advances can also be achieved at the same time without great cost to the taxpayer.  The Health Services will be organised on a community basis. Health centres will replace the present dispensary system and will provide a Social Service Department, specialist clinics, X-Ray, child welfare and services for the aged.  The case of the aged, the mentally ill, the physically handicapped and mentally retarded will receive special priority. Their services can be expanded without very great additional cost to the point where all their needs can be catered for properly.  The problems of alcoholism, which is widespread, and drug addiction, which is increasing alarmingly, will be tackled with vigour. Special programmes will be developed to meet these grave social skills. Their very presence has been ignored to date. If they are not tackled now, there will be repercussions in the immediate future.  The nursing profession will be overhauled and nurses will get a new deal in terms of hours, wages, working conditions and promotion.  The first Labour Government can extend a free medical service to those sections of our people most in need. No better start could be made.  EDUCATION  There is still no equality of opportunity in education. Children from lower income groups or those living in different parts of rural Ireland are forced to end their schooling it fourteen. No matter what talent they may have, their educational careers are over.  The future will demand a much higher basic education from everybody. The Labour Government in its first term of office will take the necessary steps to raise the school-leaving age to sixteen. This will reduce inequalities in educational opportunities and will raise the general level of basic education for every school leaver.  In order to achieve this objective the primary, secondary, vocational and comprehensive schools will be integrated into one co-ordinated system. This will eliminate waste and duplication.  Maintenance grants will be made available for those continuing their schooling up to the age of eighteen. The number of scholarships and maintenance grants will be increased for University education, as a beginning in providing equality of opportunity at this level. The Higher Education system will be examined to achieve co-ordination between the different colleges and faculties as part of a longer term programme.  The claims of Limerick to a full university will be granted.  As a matter of deliberate social policy Labour will arrest the policy of closing down small rural schools. The social advantages to be gained from keeping many of these schools open more than compensates for the economic costs involved. There must be no acceleration of the trend that Fianna Fail established which removes all social amenities and services from rural Ireland.  SOCIAL WELFARE  Poverty in Ireland is a reality. The Old Republic condemns nearly half a million social welfare recipients and their dependents to a life of want and need. This happens in the Ireland to today.  In building the New Republic the first Labour Government will lay the foundations of a completely new system of financing social welfare.  As an immediate step, special classes will receive substantial increases - the handicapped, the incapacitated and the orphaned. The cost involved is not great, but the social benefit to be derived from the policy will be considerable. The social services for the aged will be completely re-organised. Ireland, because of emigration, has an unusually large proportion of elderly people. Their needs go far beyond the conventional pensions.  Labour will provide a comprehensive service of home help, meals-on-wheels, laundry facilities, fuel, recreation and home medical assistance. The voluntary bodies already in this field will be encouraged and assisted financially. A corps of social workers and home nurses will be employed to bring these services to the pensioners to buy them out of their meagre weekly allowance.  The objective of the new social service will be to maintain the dignity and independence of the pensioners in their own homes. The policy of separating man and wife into separate old peoples' homes will be abandoned as unchristian.  Labour has consistently rejected the poor law approach of successive conservative, Governments to the whole question of social welfare. By its repeated insistence on the injustices and inhumanity in our society, Labour has made the other parties conscious of social welfare as a political issue.  The Government has steadfastly refused to change the method of financing pensions, unemployment relief and other forms of assistance. Because of this refusal the increases that can be made in any one year are limited.  Under Labour a Social Welfare Fund will be established to which all income earners will contribute in proportion to their income and responsibilities. It will then be possible to give pensions related to previous earnings and the same for unemployment and redundancy payments. It will then be possible to give the handicapped, the widow and orphan, a decent standard of living. But not till then.  This new scheme will take many years before it can operate fully. During its first term of office, the Labour Government will also have the responsibility of looking after those in need who have been virtually abandoned by the previous Government.  FARMING  Farmers are in revolt and the major farming organisations are protesting against Government neglect of agriculture. Farmer incomes are way behind the rest of the community. Farms are being closed down. Young men cannot get land while foreigners are encouraged to take over. Output is virtually stagnant.  Farming must get a new deal – immediately. There is only one way to halt the decay of our greatest industry. The control of agriculture must be put in the hands of farmers themselves.  Labour believes in real democracy, not only in the Dail but in every level of Irish life. The Labour Government will set up, as a matter of national urgency a Farmers' Council. It will truly represent all farming and rural interests. It will have real power and will co-ordinate the efforts of farming and rural organisations, Cooperatives, and Government Department  The Farmers' Council will help to lay down agricultural policy. It will see that the interests of farmers are put first, not the interests of bureaucrats or big business.  The job of putting agriculture on the map, of giving a new way of life to farm families, of making land available to Irishmen and women - that will be the task of the Farmers' Council.  BETTER MARKETING  The biggest problem in agriculture is marketing - not production. Our farmers can produce the best products in the world if the markets and prices are guaranteed.  The chaos in marketing Irish farm products will be ended by the Labour Government. For too long private middle-men have been able to buy political protection for themselves in order to exploit our farmers.  The new Labour Government will set up a full range of marketing boards operating in the interests of the farmers and the national community - not a small clique of profiteers.  The marketing boards will engage in home and export marketing, forecasting, packaging and product development. The control of selling farm produce will be put back where it truly belongs - in the hands of the farmers.  THE SMALL FARMER  In establishing its priorities the Labour Government recognises it will have to chose between the interests of the large capitalized farms and the small farmers. Without hesitation Labour will put the interests of the small farmers first, especially in regions where distance, soil and climate conditions put them at an economic disadvantage.  The small farmer is the backbone of agriculture. Nearly 70% of our farms are in this group. It is to them that the Labour Party pledges its first concern.  This will be done by giving different rates of subsidy, guaranteeing higher prices and directing a larger share of State aid to small farmers and weak areas in preference to all others.  STATE ASSISTANCE  Much of State aid to agriculture goes to the people who don't need it. Government expenditure is unplanned and piecemeal. Its main objective is to buy votes.  Despite all the great claims for its help to farmers, the Government has not stemmed the flow from the land. It not closed the income gap. It has not kept farmers off the streets. Instead, the farming community has become more discontented and more disillusioned. The need for ever-increasing subsidies of a non-productive type has grown and grown.  Labour will end this waste. Every penny of State expenditure will be carefully examined so that assistance is only given to help production, to ensure intensified output, to increase productivity and to boost farm morale.  LAND HUNGER  All over Ireland, there is a new land hunger. The young and ambitious cannot get the land while foreigners buy out prime farms with Government connivance.  Many elderly farmers are forced to remain in farming because they have no security except on their land. A great number of these would give over their farms if they had the right incentive and real security.  The Labour Government will set a Rural Development Corporation to replace the Land Commission. It will offer greatly improved cash grants, proper housing and other incentives to those who make land available for their sons and daughters or other young farmers.  The Corporation will prevent foreign takeovers of Irish land. It will buy land of its own for sale or renting to young farmers and those with uneconomic holdings.  CHEAPER MONEY  The interest rate on capital has gone sky high and is preventing many farmers from making badly needed improvements. Without cheap credit there can be no real chance of improving farm efficiency.  At a time when farmers need to press on with new techniques the cost of capital has become prohibitively high because of internationally manipulated interest rates.  Labour will make capital for sound productive investment available at half the commercial rate. Labour's policy of public control over Irish capital will make credit cheaply available to farmers.  The starvation of Irish agriculture of the capital it needs for immediate development will be ended.  MORE CO-OPS.  Almost everything farmers, have to buy are out of their control. Machinery, fertilizers, oil, farm chemicals petrol. The prices are fixed by international monopolies. Secret agreements put up prices and so raise farmers' costs.  Labour will give financial and technical aid to the co-operative movement to set up new co-ops, and strengthen existing ones, particularly in the field of purchasing. Through this policy Labour will bring down the costs of farm purchases.  The cooperative movement and co-operative farming in producer groups, will receive generous financial assistance. It is on the co-ops that the future of Irish farming depends. They will receive priority treatment.  FREE TRADE  The Anglo Irish Free Trade Agreement has been a disaster. It threatens the jobs and security of thousands of Irish workers. It was a bad bargain - made by the Government and opposed ONLY by the Labour Party.  The Agreement will shortly remove all protection from Irish industry and leave it defenceless in the face of cut-throat competition from giant British companies. Irish jobs are in jeopardy, Nothing was gained in return for this huge concession given by the Fianna Fail Government to the British.  Labour has opposed the Agreement from the very word go. The Labour Government will terminate it immediately on assuming office and will conclude a new trade treaty with Britain in which both sides benefit from the bargain.  Irish markets must be safe and secure for Irish workers. Any policy for making Irish industry more efficient must not be at the expense of our workers.  The Government has done just that. They rushed headlong into a hasty bargain without a thought of its long term effects. Now, they begin to get second thoughts. But it is nearly too late.  Labour will act immediately to save our industrial employment.  E.E.C.  The Fianna Fail Government is completely committed to immediate full membership of the EEC. Labour is the ONLY party to propose caution in proceeding with the application for membership.  The first two years of the new Dail are likely to witness fresh negotiations with the E.E.C. for admission. The decisions taken during these negotiations will be far reaching in their political and economic effects. They could affect the prosperity of our nation for decades to come.  The Government has already shown its incompetence to bargain properly in the Anglo Irish Free Trade Agreement. It cannot be trusted to look after our national interests in bargaining with the E.E.C.  From the very beginning, it foolishly committed the country to full E.E.C. membership without looking for any major concessions. Our industry will be expected to bear the full brunt of European competition within five to seven of entry.  THIS IS ECONOMIC LUNACY  Labour has consistently questioned the advisability of joining the E.E.C. at all. Labour has condemned the 'irresponsibility' of the Government in pledging itself to EEC membership on the same terms as Britain. By refusing to admit that our industry needs protection the Fianna Fail Government has opened the door to redundancies, takeovers and closures of our firms.  The Labour Government will completely review the situation in relation to the application for EEC membership and will not proceed with entry unless it can be conclusively demonstrated to be to our material advantage.  PRICES  Prices have soared to an all time record. Every day the cost of foodstuffs, clothing and other essential commodities go rocketing upwards.  There is no end to the increase in the cost of living. Over the last twelve months alone, prices have gone up by 7% - the biggest jump ever in any twelve month period. Over the last four years the cost of living has risen by 3/6d. in the £. Immediately it comes to power the Labour Government will introduce price control.  A Prices Review Board will be established. All proposed price increases will be submitted to the Board, which will have power to approve, reject or amend any application. The powers of the Board will also apply to the semi-State sector. Labour knows that prices are worrying women in particular. It is they who must look after the family budget. It is they who must make every penny count.  The Government itself is responsible for the price madness. It invented and imposed the Turnover Tax. That was the start of the price increases: Then the Government doubled Turnover Tax, imposed wholesale tax and then doubled that.  These taxes have pushed up prices more than anything else. The cost of living is eating away wage and salary increases. It is eating into improvements in social welfare benefits. It sparks off new demands for better pay and pensions. The process is unending.  Without price control it is impossible to introduce an orderly system of wage and salary increases. It is furthermore impossible to retain the purchasing power of pensions and fixed incomes.  The upward spiral of prices will be slowed down by the Labour Government. The aim will be to halt it as far external conditions permit.  The Government has been the biggest culprit in pushing up prices. The cure must begin with the real cause. Unless there is a determination to punish inefficiencies and profiteering the price madness will continue. The outgoing Government showed no such determination, Labour will.  THE WEST  The Labour Party will treat the West of Ireland as one development area with a co-ordinated programme for the whole region. Development will be based on the population of the area and local resources, but imposed by a Government anxious only to win votes by selling its people as a source of cheap labour for non-nationals.  Piecemeal approaches to the problem of the West over the past forty years have been characterised by lack of concern for the communities of the area, cynicism and, in many cases, incompetence. They have left a trail of destruction unparalleled in Western Europe.  There is scarcely a family in the West of Ireland that is not affected by emigration.  In forty years the population of Donegal has decreased by over one-fourth; Sligo-Leitrim by one-third and Mayo-Galway by one-fifth.  The failure of Fianna Fail is at its most obvious in the West. A whole region has been cynically allowed to decay with little genuine effort to arrest its complete disappearance. In the nine years 1955-'64 some 374 industries were established in the Dublin region. But in the same period only sixteen were established in Donegal and 38 in the entire Mayo-Galway area. No plans were evolved to direct industries to the West. No plans were initiated for the setting up of new State enterprises to develop the resources of the region, particularly minerals and the fishing industry.  Labour in Government will establish a Development Commission for the entire region. It will be responsible for initiating a programme covering all aspects of the economic, social and physical growth of the area. Local authorities development groups, Trade Unions and professional and industrial associations will be concerned in setting up of the Commission and will be represented on it.  The first task of the Commission will be to undertake area resource studies which will take into account the physical and human wealth of the region. This is an essential first step.  These resources will be developed in the interests of the whole community. Cooperatives dealing with all stages of production and distribution will be developed in both the farming and industrial sectors.  Another immediate task will be the formulation of a transport policy for the region which will enable producers to compete on an equal footing with those in other areas. The development of a number of key ports will involve the breaking up of cartels and vested interests working against them at the present time. Through the Commission authority will be delegated to the people of the West to seek solutions to their own problems with adequate "no strings attached' assistance from the central Government. Planning will be a community effort and not a despotic diktat from the Custom House.  The vicious circle of unemployment, emigration and despair must be broken. Young people must be given hope for the future. This is the task facing Labour and the people of the West during the next five years.  AN TEANGA  Is mian leis an Lucht Oibre dhearbhu athuair comh riachtanach agus ata aitbheochaint is athnuachaint cultiuir duchasach na hEireann.  Creidimid gur am amu e gan an Gaeltacht do shlanu is do chaomhnu. Gur theip an rialtais Fhianna Fail an dha rud seo do chur i grich de bhri nach bhfuil fealsunacht shoisialta dairire acu is nach bhfuil fealsunacht politiuil oiriunach acu don ghno.  Ta se soileir anois go bhfuil "Eire-Gaelach" mar cuspoir treighthe go ciniciuil acu cheana fein.  Is cinnte gur theip ar an aithbheochaint de bhri gur theip ar pholasai eachamiochta is soisialta an rialtais. Theip ar an Stat beartas a stiuradh chu leas an phobail uile sa Ghaeltacht do chur chun chin. Ise an iseal aicme a choimead teanga na h-Eireann beo 'sna Gaeltachtai is 'se an dream cheana ata a fulaingt idir imirce is easpa oibre. In eagmuis gairm beatha reasunta ta na milte gaelgoiri ar deoraiocht buan.  Deanfai Partai an Lucht Oibre gearscrudu ar conus is feidir deantaisi Stait do dhirui trid na n-eagrachtai a bheidh sasta fiorfior muintireas gaelach do chotu tre comhoibru san iarthar is na Gaeltachtai eile. Ni bheidhimid sasta an t-am na an t-airgid do chaitheamh ar rudai suaracha.  Nios mo tionscail d'forbairt go hairithe iad san ata bunaithe ar iascareacht, olann turasoireacht is tionscal eatrom.  Ar ndo, Roinn na Gaeltachta d'aitbheochaint i dtosach!!  Deireadh do chur le dailiu airgid ar ceannthacha nac bhfuil ina bhfior Gaeltachtai is stop do chur le daoine ata ag baint feidhm as na deontaisi is gan bheith ina Ghaelgoiri.  'Sna scoileanna beidh an beam ar an teanga labhartha is bainfear triall as na slithe is nua-aimsire ar domhain. Iad sin ata mall agan Ghaelige ni chuirfear iachall ortha i 'fhoghlam. Sa sli sin fasfai gra in ionad fuath di i measg na daoine.  Deanfai an Partai Oibreacais trean iarracht chun cur leis an meid Gaedhilge ata a usaid taobh istigh da n-eagrachtai fein.  In ndeire na dala ar ndo brathann aith bheochaint crichnuithe are ardu caighdean soisialaigh agus dearcadh naisiunta ata gan dochas da reir.  WORKERS' DEMOCRACY  Labour believes that democratic rights must be extended into all aspects of life. Political democracy alone is not enough. People must also have the right to be democratically involved in taking decisions that most vitally affect them – in their livelihoods.  There is widespread industrial unrest. Much of this arises from frustration, because employees are ignored, because they are not consulted. Decisions are taken by Boards of Directors to close down factories, to rationalise, to run down plant and machinery.  Those who are most intimately involved are not considered at all – the employees. Labour believes that man's dignity must be respected in his place of work, be it in farming on a factory, in a shop or an office.  The Labour Government will lay the groundwork for building up the new form of democracy during the first term of its office.  The organisation and management of the semi-State Bodies will be changed. Greater power and initiative will be given to those working in the individual concerns.  At present many of these bodies have the worst industrial relations records. Labour will introduce legislation to put representatives of the employees directly on the Boards of the semi-State Bodies. It will set up new forms of consultation and involvement at all levels with each body.  By greater participation there will be greater respect for the dignity of each worker. Greater industrial peace will result because the people actually working in each semi-State Body will themselves be involved in the decisions that affect themselves. The Labour Government will carefully analyse the results and progress of these changes. On the basis of its enterprise in the semi-State sector the Labour Government will prepare legislation to allow workers the rights which they are now denied – the rights to be involved, to participate, to propose ideas and to state views on future prospects.  Industrial democracy will come just as sure as political democracy replaced kings and nobles. Labour believes that great strides forward in enhancing the dignity of every individual can be made by these proposals.  TAKEOVERS  The Policy of actively encouraging foreign interference in the Irish economy is the most frightening legacy of Fianna Fail's twelve year rule.  The degree of outside influence in industry, marketing of agricultural products, insurance, banking, land speculation and property development is now enormous.  Irish firms are being taken over, and some of them closed down, by giant international monopolies. Irish resources, such as our mineral deposits are being exclusively exploited by outside interests. Farm land is being purchased by foreigners in the face of bitter opposition from our farmers, but with the connivance and support of the Government. The retail trade is being absorbed by large British supermarket chains.  This is the re-conquest of Ireland by the cheque book.  This is the policy of the so-called republican party. Labour believes that the land, resources and capital of Ireland belong solely to the Irish people. The Labour Government will vigorously reverse the trend set by Fianna Fail and will actively oppose, foreign takeovers of any part of our economy.  Where outside skill, knowledge or capital are required for the development of industry and agriculture it will be secured with proper safeguards by the Labour Government.  The New Republic must be built by the Irish people themselves - or it cannot be built at all.  TTIF GOVERNMENT'S RECORD  During the last four years the Fianna Fail Government has jailed farmers and trade unionists, attempted to gerrymander elections by scrapping P.R., tried to suppress public meetings under the Criminal Justice Bill, introduced the Cattle Marts Act which was declared repugnant to the Constitution by the High Court, abolished Dublin Corporation and stifled freedom of expression in Telefish Eireann.  Under pressure of public opinion Fianna Fail was forced to modify the organisation of their secret sinister organisation TACA. The democratic instinct of the Irish people rebelled against the abuse of government power and the frightening increase in political patronage.  In this General Election the right of free assembly and free speech are at issue. The right of equality of opportunity for those who differ with Fianna Fail is at stake. The normal civil rights of a job, a house and freedom from want are in question.  The Labour Government pledges itself to remove all repressive legislation from the statute books, to scrap the Criminal justice Bill and anti trade union legislation and to restore the democratic right of dissent  The jackboot mentality cannot be permitted to distort the freedoms which were dearly bought by the Irish people. As in as the past, Labour will in the future, act as the main bulwark against would-be despots.  The concepts of equality and freedom are fundamental to all of Labour's socialists policies. The Labour Government will seek the maximum involvement and participation by the people in the affairs of govemment at national and local level and in the running of their livelihoods in industry, agriculture and commerce.  A real start his not even been made. The problems in the social and economic fields are so vast that they require a complete transformation of policy before any substantial progress can be made.  The seventies must be led by a Government galvanised by a sense of urgency in tackling the national problems, acting with vigorous determination in applying its policies, securing the co-operation of all the people and relying on them as the main source of growth, improvement and change. No more time can be lost. There is little time left to be wasted. The old Republic has threatened rural Ireland with virtual depopulation and the Gaeltacht with extinction. It has forced one million to emigrate and condemned a half million to a life of want.  Programmes for Economic Expansion and consultants reports have been showered on the people during the sixties promising everything but achieving nothing. By the end of the sixties there were less at work than at the opening of the decade. By the end of the seventies the answer will depend on the type of Government that has lead the country.  Labour has not deluded the electorate with easy promises. There is no utopia around the corner. Progress must be worked for. By embarking on a long hard haul the Irish people, together with their Government, can create a New Republic. This is the crossroads. One path leads past the familiar landmarks of Fianna Fail failure dressed up as success. The other takes a new path to the socialists seventies.  There is no more time left for failure. We must begin to Build The New Republic.  THE FUTURE  This election must be fought on the prospects of the seventies. The Irish people demand and deserve a full employment economy, an end to rural de-population and emigration and the enjoyment of proper social services. The seventies can be the years of progress.  But the sixties have been the years of retreat. Despite their flashy propaganda the conservative Fianna Fail Government has not solved the employment problem. It has not halted the flight from rural Ireland. It has not housed all who need homes. And it has not raised the living standards of the aged and the needy to a level of dignity.