GE2024 Cliffs notesWITH 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.
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.
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:
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.
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