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A 160-PAGE DRAFT document has been presented to independent TDs today aimed at persuading them to lend their support to Fine Gael in government.
The wide-ranging document deals with issues which the independent TDs had brought up in the long-running talks, including justice, education, health and rural affairs.
However, there are no costings included in the document – instead, there are a large number of soft commitments.
The move brings a Fine Gael-led minority government one step closer to a reality, with the Dáil set to hold a new vote for Taoiseach tomorrow at 12 noon.
What is being promised?
The programme appears to deliver on some of the requests from the independent TDs, such as Finian McGrath and John Halligan.
McGrath had asked for a dedicated cystic fibrosis unit at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, which the document says will immediately enter the design and planning stage.
The document also commits to a second cardiac facility in Waterford University Hospital, which John Halligan had called for. However, it states this is subject to favourable medical expert assessment.
The new government commits in the document to reopening at least six garda stations which were closed down in recent years – something independent TD Shane Ross campaigned on.
The draft document also promises a new housing minister, which the current Environment Minister Alan Kelly was critical of this week.
There will be a special court established to deal with mortgage arrears, while help-to-buy scheme for first-time buyers and a VAT cut on new affordable homes is also included.
The document has a special section about “evolving political relationships” which promises that “good faith and no surprises” will be central to the new government.
Education and a citizens assembly
The draft programme has a proposal for the establishment of a citizens assembly which will look at issues including the repeal of the controversial 8th amendment of the constitution and fixed term parliaments.
Public services will get a windfall in investment, with the incoming government committing to spending €6.75 billion by 2021.
There are also proposals to increase various payments for those with disabilities and a proposal to increase the minimum wage to €10.50 per hour over the next five years.
In terms of education, the use of prefabs in schools will end and there is a commitment to invest an extra €500 million by 2021. The document also states the pupil-teacher ratio will be reduced at primary level.
The proposal reflects the calls for an increase in multi-denominational schools, with a plan to increase non-denominational and multi-denominational schools to 400 by 2030.
The issue of judiciary appointments was said to be a sticking point for some independents during negotiations and is also dealt with.
The document commits to introduce reforms to the judiciary appointments advisory board, which appoints judges.
There are strong commitments to strengthen legislation in relation to sexual offences.
It promises to update legislation to effectively deal with sexual offences including sanctions aimed at protecting children from sexual exploitation, child abuse material and online grooming. The document says:
We will provide, in legislation, for disclosure, by gardaí of details on sex offenders where they believe public safety concerns exist, including disclosure in relevant circumstance to individual parents.
New regulations in the sale and purchase of precious metals is another thing listed.
The Dáil is due to resume tomorrow where a fourth vote for an Taoiseach is be held.
Is this not the same reckless crap that put us in the sh11te in the first place!!!
Groundhog Day
Completely agree. Why on earth would you vote for an independent. Sick of local politics. Every planner in the world is aware Ireland’s problem is that we don’t embrace cities. We don’t build high rise. And now we’ve given in again.
James why vote for an “established” party after all they are the ones promising the earth moon and stars all so Enda can start a second term as Taoiseach at our expense. Message is next election independents all the way..
Jsmes you are correct. Most of our serious problems like high rent, housing shortage and homelessness are due to lack of high rise…
All of our cities should have 50 storeys plus towers
Promising and delivering are two different things.. Show me a government in this state or others that have delivered all their promises? Circumstances dictate otherwise… The spending mixed with tax cuts in direct opposition to one another. Same promises lead to same lies.
With the current world economic climate on such a knife edge its reckless in the extreme.. What have we learned? It reminds me of 97 when fianna fail swept to power with the backing of a raft of promises to independents.. By 2002 it was leading us into a steamrolling of boom to bust policies that lead to the disaster of 2008. History tells us this is going to end badly.
Hopefully independents and fianna fail are wise to fine gaels lies and self serving crap and dont vote kenny in
No surprise there that Spiderman wants high buildings.
Fine Gael promising all things to everyone in per suit of perpetual power courtesy of Fianna Fail.
Nice to see some indos going for national issues such as housing
Richard Doherty, you are a self serving shinnerbot mule
Here’s what Fine Gael is promising independent TDs in return for their support:
▀██▀─▄███▄─▀██─██▀██▀▀█
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─██─▀██▄██▀─▀█▄█▀─██▀█
▄██▄▄█▀▀▀─────▀──▄██▄▄█
Mules are usefully nothing usefully about fine gael fianna fail governments or tds
You are not giving enough credit for the housing crisis to Michael Noonan ISM, it is he who protected a situation by which vulture funds could profiteer aided and abetted by NAMA.
Noonan works for the dark side
Apparently the Healy-Rea deal-breaker was the papal nuncio being given full control of Met Eireann……….
What next.. allowing people to drink drive ..
“The draft document also promises a new housing minister, which the current Environment Minister Alan Kelly was critical of this week”.
A jaysus , and Adolf Kelly was just getting the hang of the job.
The Healy raes also asked to allow combustible engine cars into Kerry as there seems to be none there
Promises,and they believe them.death knell for independents.
Aha there is the nugget of the deal… Ff anf FG know this to be case… If it fails its the independents who will suffer most if it suceeds it will be because FF/FG political management. Brave from independents.. Or is it the kind of pressure in the midsts of negotiation many inexperienced negotiators succumb to?
How is it bad for independents? Independents are only there to get deals for local areas… Of waterford gets a cardiac unit that man will get reelected next time around, if he doesn’t get his way he can stop voting and he wins respect in local area for that… It’s a win win..
So Kelly pushed aside .. Brings a smile to many a face ☺
They would promis the sun moon & stars to get what they want, but it will all change as soon as they get into power. Cant see this lasting!
A load of shite
Fg keep a promise your havin a laugh ha ha thats a joke.remember enda and his contract lies
BROWN ENVELOPE CITY
Apparently Enda will promise anything to get the second term as Taoiseach and go down in history…..
That’s all he wanted it for…to go down in history.Don’t think he will be there this time next year
Makes the Fianna Fail document look like a Nod and a Wink, whatever your’e havin’ yourself type of stuff
Clear now why Zappone ruled out SD so quickly….Enjoy your new position Ms. Zappone.
Pffft.
Its quite clear a deal will be done because she knows she’ll be out on her hole if another election is called.. As will that Burton yoke after what happened today
Zappone was bought and paid for from the minute Enda Kenny put her into the senate.
Why isn’t these demands from other TDs just a given,am I missing somesthing.are the iindependants selling there souls just too get what should all ready in these hospitals. I think the independants are being sold a pup
Damn right Dominick, a pup with bells, baubles and whistling dixie as it tap dances. If I was them I’d tell Enda and his crew to go sling their hook.
I agree with what people are saying there is no trust in politians what so ever,hospitals, houses etc are a nessecity in the modern world but let’s see what happens and if they (politicians) don’t do what we the people want them to do then we hve the power to get rid of them,I personally wud want another election because it’s an eye opener of how many politians were elected that hve done absolutely nothing since elected,
It was interesting to read FG’s manifesto for the election of Enda for a second term I thought for a moment they had not been in power for the last 5 years…..
Most of these proposals should already have put in place many years ago. As for a citizens assembly but not one hand picked by the crooks in Dail Eireann. We the people should form our own lobby group, if enough people went for it they would have to listen. They still claim the water protests did not make a difference but we know they did and political parties are much weaker now. The Irish Council for Justice should be formed to tell them what we want and most of us just want to be treated fairly and with respect.
They mentioned Leo is getting moved away from Health, what the f**k, he was a qualified Doctor? And doesn’t want to look after health.
FG looking to protect him for the future for bigger things. They only worry about themselves not about the country or the people.
All pie in the sky from the lying traitor party. Wont last 6 months.
Looking at that photo the first thing that comes to mind is obesity
I thought the same thing .
We lead the league table w/ 800 Quasi-Non-Governmental-Organizations (Quangos); what will Shane Ross do about it?
He’ll set up a quango to look into it.
Ha ha, hey Shane just found a list of 800 Quangos; http://quangos-ireland.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Irish_Quangos
Promise 1. A big chest of chocolate gold.
The cast of reservoir bogs !!
Just check all the various extra allowances this liquorice all sorts of Independents get on top of their €84,000, the Green Party of TWO leader’s allowance and a Party Whip’s allowance, and much more and you will understand that the last thing this lot want is another election because there is every danger that a number of them would not be re-elected!!
It is doomed to failure but not just yet.
John once your past your outrage you might sit down and think its Enda and his wish to be elected as the first FG leader as a second term Taoiseach that is causing all these promises that we as tax payers will pay for……
Read the article,he was a scut with no political motivations only out to cause hassle. He was charged with criminal damage and violent behaviour and his previous convictions went against him. The others charged with false imprisonment is a joke and hopefully the judge will throw out the charges but I wouldn’t hold my breath……. This is personal for the government because they need to show us peasants that there will be consequences for disrupting them in public. It’s a pity the public didn’t show Joan the consequences of her decisions by not voting her back in. But then again FF and FG got the most votes which means some people still believe their lies….
the comment i was replying to regarding the youngfella sentenced today for his part in the jobstown protest was deleted so now my comment seems very out of place!
I dont understand why the comment was deleted either. There was nothing untoward with it, just a person giving their opinion which is what these comment sections are are supposed to be about?The only reason i read the journal is for the comments section, i often skip the articles and come straight to the juicy part!!!
Perhaps a sign of where this country is heading with the media censoring comments that do not tow the line…..
@Shane Carroll -I didn’t see the comment so I can’t make any suggestion why it was deleted. There seems to be a variety of unknown reasons why comments are deleted here on The Journal. If you read the comments policy, link at the bottom, it would appear to have no comparison to the actual policy employed by The Journal, this is unfair considering the users comments make this website what it is and also considering the large amount of time it can take to write a comment. You also potentially lose the comment if it is caught initially by the auto screening process. I have emailed them on this a few times and never have I gotten a reply. They need to re-write their comments policy and be more upfront about what their policy is instead of pretending to be an unbiased and open forum.
As the saying goes… ”Only In Ireland….” …. Only in Ireland could you get rejected by 75% of the people who got off their arses and voted… and still be made leader of our tiny wee Island… defies logic, reason and understanding…. If I could leave this poxy, corrupt, american experiment of an Island I would…. sickened does not even come close to how I am feeling about having to look at this poxbollixed face for another minute let alone a few months…. disgraceful behavior from FF and the IND’s… my arse sideways… shower of shites in a bucket… in fact that is an insult to Portaloos…
Lol! Mighty stuff!
Politics is the new religion.
If people say that Kenny shouldn’t be Taoiseach because Fine Gael got rejected by 75% of the electorate, can they tell us who should be Taoiseach instead? The people didn’t give anyone else a mandate to be Taoiseach. And actually where you have a multi party democracy these kind of things happen, it’s not only in Ireland.
What is Shane Ross going to do about the waste/excess; https://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/how-much-do-irish-politicians-get-paid-part-1-of-2/
€12000-38750 travel & accommodation allowance per annum depending on ur dustabce from Leinster House (notable excerpt)!!
MInisters may claim tax deductions for Mortgage Interest & Unvouched expenses of €6500 per Annum for upkeep/maintenance. !!! Wtf….colonial era?
If the 2nd residence is rented accommodation the Minister can claim the actual rental cost. In addition unvouched costs for the upkeep of such accommodation may be claimed up to €4500 per Annum.
Should the accommodation be a hotel or guest house all such costs may be claimed. In addition unvouched expenses up to €3500 per annum may be claimed for upkeep to cover incidental items such as long laundry. ..
For TD’s unvouched expenses up to €15000 per Annum, or vouched expenses up to €25700 per Annum may be claimed under the heading “Public Representation Allowance”.
I’ve run out of fingers Gregory…on to toes now.
Rates per mile up to 4000 miles based on engine size: 2000cc €1.14/mile. 34/38/45/55 cents per mile apply over 4000miles resp. Per engine size noted above.
Ha ha Al Ca (that rhymes), this is for super-pac-hero Shane Ross, pls share :)
My car uses 6 tanks of Diesel per 4000 miles but for which as a Td I could claim €5600 tax free.
If Richard Bruton is left as minister for jobs then the rest doesn’t matter…politics as usual, why get upset it’s simply the nature of the game and we all know it.
If Shane Ross agrees to back Enda Kenny I will NEVER vote for him again. I will tell him that to his face the next time I see him. I never liked the story of Judas and the “30 pieces of silver”.
Many will do the same for all the parties involved in this mess…
Ok does anyone believe that this will actually happen or will it unravel but by bit.
Sign here in blood, time to call an election as F.G. and F.F. promised everyone NOT to do this, a bunch of useless liars…
More PROMISES!!!! . . . Do you still actually believe they will deliver on a promise? . . . Never ceases to amaze me how the Irish fall for the same shite over and over again and again and again . . . . . .
Yey PAYE workers… you will have €1.00 extra in the 2018 budget…Go Independents… you really worked hard for that one…
How can us paye workers get anything when the water charges have gone?
New word in the English lexicon: zappone, verb (used with object), zapponed, zapponing.
1. to ostensibly advocate independence of mind.
2. to harbour deep-seated but hidden support for neo-liberal economics.
3. to yearn for position of high office.
antonyms: kowtow, ‘tip the cap’, pogmohone (Irish origin).
It’s a trap!
So Enda puts it on paper and they all believe him!!????? OMG!!
Me me me me me me
Thank fcuk we will have a government at last, with not a leftie in sight, well maybe the lad in Waterford who wants the cardiac unit which makes sense for the region. It will be hilarious listening to all the trots wailing and gnashing with hellfire and brimstone while the centre right yet again drives on lol!
@Kerry – Drives on or drives in (to the ground). What was hilarious was MHR spouting on about the weather and God yesterday. LOL!
This is not what we voted for and the Independents who support them should remember that.
If he becomed Taoiseach again we really will have to face the fact that we do NOT live in a democracy and that Kenny.
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All down the road once more, next month, next year, next 5 years.I for one won’t be holding my breath.
The western rail corridor. The support of independent TD Sean Canney hinges on a proposal to examine the extending of what was described by Leo varadkar when he was transport minister as ‘done for political reasons’ an ‘a mistake that we won’t be repeating’. It carries an average of eight passengers per train, up to half of them on free travel and requires an average subsidy of over €80 per passenger journey.
Why didn’t they just abolish road tax like FF did in 1977? Populist, irresponsible power grabbing with no respect for the people whose taxes go to subsidise this nonsense instead of paying for housing or health services.
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