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GE2024Climate ChangeTHE GREEN PARTY has outlined its priorities for the general election, pledging to “supercharge” transport projects, introduce a tax on business class flights and roll out better supports for new parents.
The party launched its general election manifesto in Dublin this morning, a 90 page document entitled: ‘towards 2030 a decade of change volume II’.
One journalist at the press conference was quick to focus on the inclusion of ‘volume II’ in the title, making the point that it is a well-known cliche that sequels are generally worse than the original.
Deputy party leader Róisín Garvey didn’t miss a beat, shooting back that Paul Mescal’s Gladiator will be better than the original.
Party leader Roderic O’Gorman told reporters that it was the Green Party who have been “the drivers of change” over their last five years in government, pointing to progress in reducing emissions, improving public transport and reducing childcare costs.
“We say to voters today, don’t put that progress at risk,” O’Gorman said.
“In this election, we’re saying we want to go much further, and for the sake of our planet and for our children’s future, we must go much further.”
The Green’s manifesto covers a range of policy pledges, including investing approximately half of the Apple tax money to “supercharge” delivery of major transport projects in the State.
For parents, the party has pledged to increase maternity leave from 26 weeks to 28 weeks and increase paternity leave from two weeks to four weeks.
The party has also pledged to reduce the voting age to 16 and introduce gender quotas at the Cabinet table mandating that 40% of Cabinet ministers must be women.
It has also pledged to extend the right to request remote working to all workers.
The document also includes a commitment to legislate for assisted dying, a pledge absent from Fianna Fáil’s manifesto, which was launched yesterday.
On the Apple Tax, the party has pledged to use €7bn of the Apple tax money, along with an additional €3bn from other sources, to improve public transport and cut emissions.
This would include investment in major projects including Metrolink, Dart+, the Luas extension, and rail projects in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
The manifesto also focuses on continuing the roll-out of ‘Local Link’ bus routes in rural Ireland and more late-night and 24-hour buses in urban areas.
The party has also set its sights on air travel, proposing a tax on private jets and business class travel.
It also includes a pledge to equip 200,000 low-income homes with free solar panels and includes further details on its plans for a State-led childcare model.
On housing, the Greens are proposing to extend the existing Help to Buy scheme to include people who wish to buy the home they are renting.
The current system only applies to new build homes.
When asked by The Journal if the party will now support the reintroduction of a temporary no-fault eviction ban now that they are no longer tied to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, O’Gorman said his focus is on “providing solutions for people who are at risk of homelessness”.
He argued that this is best done through the tenant in situ scheme, which enables a local authority to buy a home if it is being sold and the tenant is at risk of homelessness.
The manifesto also pledges to improve the reliability of bus and rail services and plans for a new “Climate Ticket” that will offer extra savings to regular commuters.
It’s understood that the climate ticket is suggested as a replacement for the existing Tax Saver ticket for commuters that was introduced pre-pandemic. The Green party has proposed this new ticket system to better reflect modern-day work patterns, where many workers work from home for part of the week and therefore no longer get value from the Tax Saver ticket.
Elsewhere, the Labour Party will launch its finance policy in the afternoon.
Labour has said it wants to prioritise investment in public services instead of “irresponsible” tax cuts, arguing that goverment must be ready for possible economic shocks and challenges in the coming years.
It is set to propose that income tax credits and bands, as well as social welfare payments, be indexed to an average of inflation and wage growth. Further increases to social welfare payments would also be agreed annually as part of the Budget.
It will also pledge to broaden the tax base with increased tax on wealth, rather than income, by designing a wealth tax similar to the Spanish model.
In Spain, a wealth tax is paid annually on the net value of a person’s total assets.
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The most interesting thing I heard today was Peter Mandelson being interviewed with Nigel Lawson on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme. He said that he only met her once after he was appointed Secretary for Northern Ireland.
She came up to him and said “You cannot trust the Irish. They are all liars. Just do not forget it.”
If true it says a lot about Thatcher. I say if true, after all it was Peter Mandelson.
If she was referring to the politicians (most likely as they were the only irish she would have dealt with), could anyone disagree?
In the same interview, he also said
“Lord Mandelson, one of the central architects of New Labour, has criticised the scale of the funeral but accepted the Iron Lady “reframed British politics”.
“I think what she was right to do was to bring home to us the reality that Britain could not afford rampant inflation, that state monopolies needed commercialising, that personal tax rates were too high and that enterprise was too unrewarding,” he said.
“She was also right to argue that deregulation can be a valuable spur to innovation and efficiency and of course she tackled what was then a very disruptive and irresponsible trade union culture.
“But the truth is also that in cutting back the state necessarily, she overlooked what the state can also do successfully.”
She was referring to Haughey and his ilk. To suggest CJH was untrustworthy. God forbid!
We’ve all made our opinions one way or another over the week. Time to move on….she gone!
No but her policies are more alive than ever. Thats what i think most people have an issue with.
Agreed, but she’s gone..
man, cameron has a beor of a wife
Ye would never think she’s had four kids….homina homina.
My hate for her has died with her.
Seemed pretty dignified to me
A charade foisted on the British people. A unique opportunity for the Establishment to exert their authority over the common man. The usual plethora of people dressed in funny hats, wigs and medieval garb. It seemed fitting that the chief mourner was a convicted criminal and the church had the required smattering of right wing politicians, homophobics and reactionaries. Wonder what the old queen said to Philip as the coffin passed her by? She didn’t seem too happy with the whole shebang. Anyway, as someone said above, it’s over and as the incumbent government has not experienced the Thatcher bounce, hopefully Thatcherism, which has blighted so many people’s lives has heard its death knell.
We’ve literally heard the death knell but Cameron and his cohorts are attempting to outdo her.
Surely the best way to protest the iron lady’s funeral would be to show up with a giant magnet?
Yeeeeeugh – a monster.
A who’s who of war criminals and tyrants attended. Solve a lot of the worlds problems by sending half of the people there with her.
They can’t all be like sunshine and ice cream like El Comandante Hugo Chavez now can they?
Chavez a war criminal amd tyrant?? Good one. Come back 2 me when u know what the f**k ur talking about.
300,000 dead people. He killed them. The man was a tyrant.
Explain how he killed 300,000 people ?
You should say PINOCHET instead
I think the initial hype of the hatred towards her has faded during the week and these “rot in hell” people have become tiresome. She’s dead and that it end if story!
Margaret Thatcher is dead,when did this happen ???
Everyone will come, everyone will come
To her funeral to make sure that she stays dead
Everyone will come, everyone will come
To her funeral to make sure that she stays dead, dead DEAD
(Marilyn Manson – Rusted Horses )
Does anybody know who was invitied from Ireland?
Ruairí Quinn I think….
Go dté tú Slán
“There was twice as many security as mourners with some 4,000 police officers deployed at the event”
250,000 people turned out to mourn and pay their respects [ plus a handful of misfits].
The unattended crowd barriers (photo 2) would remind you of a certain other individual’s funeral…. closer to home?? Maybe they’ll be comparing turnout figures tonight…
have your say