Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Micheál Martin, Mary Lou McDonald and Simon Harris at last night's debate. RollingNews.ie

We read manifestos so you don't have to: Here's what the 3 big parties promise on 3 key areas

A look at what Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin say they will do if they get into government.

WITH JUST TWO days until Ireland goes to the polls, here are the main points from the manifestos of the three largest parties in the State on housing, health and the cost of living.

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin have all published policy documents of varying sizes laying out their promises, vision and ambitions for the future, with some major differences between them.

Firstly, it’s worth noting how the three parties have framed their proposals.

The first sections of each party’s manifesto align with how each of the parties have been trying to differentiate themselves ahead of this election.

Fine Gael and Simon Harris’s stated ambition of making Ireland one of the best countries to be a child.

Fianna Fáil and Micheál Martin’s repeated refrain that the next government needs to “understand” and be committed to Ireland’s economic model.

And Sinn Féin’s core message has been housing, housing, housing.

Cost-of-living

USC

Sinn Féin’s core cost-of-living proposal is abolishing the Universal Social Charge on all income up to €45,000. It says this would put an average of €1,100 back in workers’ pockets every year.

Fine Gael by comparison has promised increase the entry point at which workers pay USC. 

At the moment, workers pay 3% USC on earnings above €27,382 annually. Fine Gael says it will increase this to €40,000. 

On earnings above €70,044, workers currently pay 8% USC. Fine Gael says it will increase this to €75,000.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil wants to cut the lower rate from 3% to 1.5% at a minimum over the lifetime of the government.

Income tax and tax credits

Currently, workers begin paying the higher rate of tax, 40% on income over €44,000 annually. 

Sinn Féin has pledged to increase the entry point to the higher rate of income tax by €4,000, meaning workers would only pay it on earnings above €48,000. It has also pledged to increase tax credits by €200.

Fine Gael wants to increase the entry point to the 40% rate of income tax by at least €2,000 each year, bringing the entry point to €54,000 annually by 2030.

On tax credits, it pledges to increase these by €75 annually.

Fianna Fáil wants to increase the entry point to the higher rate of tax to €50,000 annually, while on tax credit it wants to increase them by €100 annually.

Childcare

All three parties have pledged to cap childcare costs at €200 per child per month.

Means test for carers

All three parties have pledged to abolish the means test for carer’s allowance over the lifetime of government.

Currently, to qualify for the payment, carers must demonstrate that their household income is under a certain level – a system carers have long argued is unfair and fails to recognise the vital work they do. 

Minimum wage

Minimum wage in Ireland rose to €12.70 per hour at the beginning of this year. 

However, this is deemed to be below a Living Wage, a concept that looks at wages through the lense of what provides a minimum acceptable standard of living. This is currently €14.75 per hour in Ireland. 

Sinn Féin has pledged to increase the minimum wage by €1.10 per hour in 2025 and to work towards the introduction of a Living Wage. 

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s manifestos do not outline any proposed increase to the minimum wage or make reference to a Living Wage.

State pension and retirement

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are both promising to increase the State pension to a minimum of €350 per week. Currently, the State pension sits at €289.30 per week.

Sinn Féin has pledged to increase it by €50 a week.

All three parties have also pledged to legally enable people who want to work beyond 65 to continue to do so.

Fianna Fáil has also promised to maintain the retirement age at 66.

Sinn Féin, meanwhile, has pledged to deliver the right to retire on a state pension at 65 years. Currently, it is accessible at 66 years of age.

Housing

How many houses does each party want to build?

Each of the three parties has settled on a similar overall target of roughly 300,000 homes by 2030.

Fianna Fáil wants to reach 60,000 new homes per year by 2030, including an average of 10,000 affordable homes per year and 12,000 social homes per year.

Fine Gael says it is committed to delivering 300,000 new homes by 2030. It wants 50% of these in the five major cities – Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford – and 50% elsewhere.

Included in this is 9,000 affordable homes and an average of 11,000 social homes annually by 2030.

Sinn Féin has committed to delivering 300,000 new homes between 2025 and 2029.

This would include 125,000 social, affordable purchase and affordable rental homes and 115,000 private market homes.

By 2030 it says it would deliver over 370,000 homes.

Where do the parties stand on government housing schemes?

Fianna Fáil has pledged to “protect and extend” Help to Buy (the scheme that gives first-time buyers some tax back to pay for their house deposit) until 2030 and include a “rent back boost” in assessing payment levels.

It also wants to “protect and extend” the First Home scheme (the shared equity scheme that supports first time buyers to bridge the gap between their mortgage and deposit) and roll it out on second hand properties.

On the vacancy and refurbishment grants, it also wants to “protect and expand” these until 2030 and increase them by €10,000.

Fine Gael also wants to protect both the vacancy and dereliction grant schemes until 2030, but does not mention increasing them, instead, it commits to releasing half the funds before the project is completed to help with cashflow issues.

On Help to Buy, Fine Gael also wants to extend it until 2030, but has differentiated itself from Fianna Fáil with a commitment to increase the tax back amount from €30,000 to €40,000.

Just like Fianna Fáil, it has also pledged to extend the First Home Scheme to 2030 and extend it to second hand homes.

Sinn Féin’s pitch to voters is a bit different.

A core tenet of it is the introduction of an affordable housing scheme for households with a combined income of under €90,000 annually and cheaper cost rentals of under €1000 per month for households with a combined salary of under €66,000 annually.

Under the affordable housing scheme, Sinn Féin has said house prices will range from €250,000 to €300,000 depending on the location.

It has also committed to ending what it deems an “inflationary and wasteful” First Home Scheme and phasing out Help to Buy by 2030.

Other commitments worth noting on housing are:

  • Sinn Féin has also pledged to introduce 100% redress to all homeowners impacted by defective buildings. By contrast, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have pledged to review existing schemes.
  • Fianna Fáil wants to introduce a €2,500 tax credit for legal, surveying and valuation fees for first time buyers. It also wants to create 2,000 Housing First tenancies to help eliminate long-term homelessness and ensure full draw down of Traveller accommodation funds.
  • Fine Gael has pledged to increase the rent tax credit to €1,500 and extend the Landlord Tax Credit until 2030 for landlords who stay in the rental market.
  • Fianna Fáil has pledged to increase the rent tax credit to €2,000 annually. Sinn Féin by comparison has no mention of a rent tax credit.
  • Sinn Féin are however, the only of the three to pledge to end long-term homelessness and the need to sleep rough by 2030.

Health

Fine Gael reaffirms its commitment to Sláintecare and pledges an additional 5,000 inpatient hospital beds by 2031.

It pledges to grow the health workforce and at least double the number of college places for Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech and Language Therapy.

It also pledges to increase training places for nurses, doctors, pharmacists and dentists.

Fine Gael has also committed to expanding health screening programmes across a number of areas, including cancer and breast check.

It also promises to continue to expand free GP care to all under 18s and lower the monthly costs of prescriptions to €50.

You can read through Fine Gael’s health commitments in its manifesto here, from pages 79-90.

By comparison, Sinn Féin talks about taking “big, bold steps” towards universal healthcare.

It outlines how its two priorities are delivering fully universal public healthcare by 2035 and delivering free prescription medicines for all households, abolishing prescription charges for medical cardholders and delivering median-income medical cards.

Central to the party’s proposals is a plan to deliver a landmark public GP contract, employing 250 public GPs and increasing GP training capacity by 60%.

Matching Fine Gael, it also pledges an additional 5,000 hospital beds by 2030.

You can read more about Sinn Féin’s full health proposals here.

Fianna Fáil by comparison has promised an additional 4,000 hospital beds and a further 100 ICU beds.

Fianna Fáil wants to extend free GP care to all children under 12 years of age.

It also wants to reduce the drugs payment scheme from €80 monthly to €40.

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael pledge to expand access to publicly funded IVF in their manifestos and ensure Hormone Replacement Therapy is available at no cost to all who need it.

On drugs, Sinn Féin makes no commitments in its manifesto around decriminalising drugs. Fianna Fáil on the other hand has pledged to decriminalise certain drugs only, likely cannabis.

Similarly, Fine Gael also mentions a health-led approach for people in possession of drugs for personal use.

You can read more about Fianna Fáil health proposals here from pages 52 – 68.

  • How do all of the political parties compare on their stances on Gaza? Read here.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
16 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Whitehead
    Favourite Paul Whitehead
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:27 AM

    Great news for the children of the world. Get this miracle vaccine and help stop the spread of covid.

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Roy Dowling
    Favourite Roy Dowling
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:31 AM

    @Paul Whitehead: miracle vaccine??. Rushed vaccine that my kid won’t be getting. Not enough is known about long term effects 10 year so down the line.

    202
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor Brady
    Favourite Conor Brady
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:33 AM

    @Paul Whitehead: It took Covid two years in the US to kill as many children as the flu did there in 2018 alone (references available on request). Covid killed 26 kids in the Uk in 2020. 19 of those kids were desperately ill beforehand. 7 were healthy. In a nation of 14mil kids, that is not a risk to base any sort of policy on. To suggest children are at risk any more than normal is completely misleading, fear-inducing nonsense. With zero long term safety data to go by, can we not just leave the vaccines for the at-risk??? Or, dare to dream, the at-risk who are yet to be vaccinated in poor countries who we know are dying for want of them?

    175
    See 18 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mac Muinteoir
    Favourite Mac Muinteoir
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:40 AM

    @Conor Brady: you can if you want.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kevin Thompson
    Favourite Kevin Thompson
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:43 AM

    @Conor Brady: how many kids were in hospital from Covid?

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lee King Buckett
    Favourite Lee King Buckett
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:55 AM

    @Roy Dowling: if nobody took a vaccine that didn’t have a 10 year track record then we would still be dying of whooping cough, polio and a host of other things.

    There come times in our history where something occurs which is sufficiently serious to warrant a trust in scientific and medical progress for the good of humanity as a whole.

    Large corporations and governments don’t have anything to gain from killing off our kiddies – they kind of need them if they are to continue to stay in business.

    59
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
    Favourite Francis Mc Carthy
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 8:16 AM

    @Roy Dowling: They say that the worst side effects will happen 70yrs or so down the line. Yikes!

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
    Favourite Francis Mc Carthy
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 8:19 AM

    @Conor Brady: one of the reasons that they will be vaccinating young children will be because of anti-vaxxers like you @@ But of course, you are too blind to see that.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute barry moore
    Favourite barry moore
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 8:22 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: who is they the anti vaxers with no training other than how to YouTube

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarah Lou
    Favourite Sarah Lou
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 8:33 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: I am annoyed at engaging but what about his post says he is antivax. I am fully vaccinated, even had the flu vaccine myself after the covid vaccine and have literally had all vaccines available to me in my lifetime…. As have my children. But I agree with Conor here. One of those studies was 2 months the other was 2.5 WEEKS for the 5-11 year group. The documented death rate in the age group is something like 0.0005% and that is assuming every case of covid in that age group is documented. Presently for adults the research is showing a 4.5 month life span of efficicenty for the adult vaccine (again absolutely i will get the booster) but are we doing to repeatedly vaccinate 5 to 11 year olds for an illness that is currently not high risk to them? Would vaccinating countries with less than 10% of their adult population vaccinated who are literally dying waiting for it not be the best thing for the world?? I mean I just don’t understand this oh anti vax anti vax mantra. I personally would call conors post the most educated one here.

    113
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John
    Favourite John
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 8:44 AM

    @Roy Dowling: That makes 2 of us, my daughter won’t be getting it.

    67
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
    Favourite Francis Mc Carthy
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 8:56 AM

    @Sarah Lou: hmmm, first of all, Conor is anti-vax. Also, just because you don’t see the virus as a danger to children, they are transmitting it back into their and other people households. Hope that helps.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarah Lou
    Favourite Sarah Lou
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 9:34 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: compelling and all as the argument was…. No it doesn’t help at all. They are bringing home to their vaccinated households. There are of course kids in every avenue that will be more vulnerable and should consider vaccination but your argument that kids should be mass vaccinated to protect already vaccinated adults does not stack up. Equally…. I hope that helps.

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Doyle
    Favourite Tom Doyle
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 1:05 PM

    @Sarah Lou: I will take it that you agree that the data has proven that it is the over 60′s & the immunocompromised that are at most risk from covid-19 and that the vaccines went and gave them protection from the covid-19 and from the Alpha variant yes? Has those odds risen since highly contagious Delta variant came to our shores ? The fact of the matter is that the less chance of the delta variant mutating among the non vaccinated ( children included) then the less chance of vaccine evading variants. Hope that helps you even more.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Van-Standen
    Favourite David Van-Standen
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 1:28 PM

    @Paul Whitehead: This “miracle vaccine” was originally created in 2018 by the Pfizer BioNtech collaboration as flu vaccine, the reason was to produce a cheaper, more profitable alternative.

    “Innovative vaccine approaches are urgently needed to provide improved protection against seasonal flu, and to respond rapidly and in quantity to pandemic influenza threats. mRNA vaccines offer a novel approach to code for any protein or multiple proteins, and the potential to manufacture higher potency flu vaccines more rapidly and at a lower cost than contemporary flu vaccines.”

    Does that “miracle” from 2018 sound familiar?

    https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180815005735/en/BioNTech-Signs-Collaboration-Agreement-with-Pfizer-to-Develop-mRNA-based-Vaccines-for-Prevention-of-Influenza

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarah Lou
    Favourite Sarah Lou
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 1:34 PM

    @Tom Doyle: Tom do you think we live in a vacuum or a bubble?? some continents are at 10% vaccination TEN percent that is 90% unvaccinated in their adult population and you are concerned that the children, many of whom have a level of naturally acquired immunity already, are going to cause the new variant and not the largely unvaccinated continent?! where are the humans all gone. people are literally dying because they have no access to this vaccine and people on here calling out for kids to be mass vaccinated to protect adults who are vaccinated or using tenuous examples of potential situations. The facts are we have one of the most vaccinated adult population in the world, noone is appreciating how privileged we are and want to grab grab grab taking away from those who need it most. Stop seeing Ireland as the only place in the world and start thinking about the human race in general.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 3:24 PM

    @Sarah Lou: Agree with you that it’ll be a lot better when everyone has an equal chance to be vaccinated. I’m glad to see the USA is back in COVAX for that. The world’s at 37% fully jabbed and 49% partly; which is great. I feel it’s a case of masking up before handing out PPE to others – or it defeats the purpose – and we do actively support COVAX.

    But all infectious outbreaks turn into a mostly childhood illness after several years.

    It’s always the unprotected youngest generation who catch it in the next wave.

    Delta’s contagious enough for now. Is it not best to keep on top of the spread as it mutates, not export it? Ireland really doesn’t have a great healthcare system.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarah Lou
    Favourite Sarah Lou
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 3:35 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: Ideally we would do something to fix the healthcare system which would prevent the deaths of many people, allowing us to export the vaccine to those who need it saving even more lives. I cant believe people now want to mass vaccinate the kids to protect the health system.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Whitehead
    Favourite Paul Whitehead
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:06 PM

    @Conor Brady: The vaccine is safe. Close on 7 billion doses administered.. The 4.5M deaths we have seen worldwide are from covid and not vaccines.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Whitehead
    Favourite Paul Whitehead
    Report
    Oct 27th 2021, 7:07 PM

    @David Van-Standen: It has saved millions of lives – therefore it is a miracle vaccine.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Doyle
    Favourite Tom Doyle
    Report
    Oct 28th 2021, 7:28 AM

    @Sarah Lou: nice try, but no puff of the cigar for you. We’re talking about vaccinating a small % of the Irish population to help get the Delta variant under control in our own country.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds