WITH POLLING STATIONS set to open at 7am tomorrow, you may be doing your final bit of research on who to vote for in the local and European elections.

At this stage, you probably aren’t going to thumb through all of the local manifestos, so we’ve done some of the work for you.

We had a read through the manifestos of all of the smaller parties in the Dáil – the Greens, Labour, the Social Democrats, Aontú and People Before Profit- and plucked out the key promises from each.

Independent Ireland, the party formed by TD Michael Collins earlier this year, does not have a local election manifesto and so hasn’t been included in this list.

You can also have a look at the main pledges made in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin’s manifestos here. 

The length of the smaller parties’ manifestos all vary.

Aontú and People Before Profit have both gone for a succinct 23 pages and 20 pages respectively. And Aontú has killed two birds with one stone by combining its local and European manifestos into one document.

Labour has spelt out its vision over 33 pages, the Green Party’s’ stretches over 58 (although the text is much larger) and the Social Democrats has clocked in at a mammoth 71 pages (regular-sized text).

Here’s a breakdown of eight key promises being made by each:

Aontú

Aontú, the party established by TD Peadar Tóbín after he resigned from Sinn Féin in 2018 because he disagreed with the party’s stance on abortion, promises to continue to oppose abortion and euthanasia in its manifesto.

Much of its manifesto focuses on EU related issues, but on issues related to local government it sets out that the party will seek to:

• Return councils to towns and cities with a population of over 20,000 people. 
• Create regional assemblies with designated budgets – one for Dublin, the rest of Leinster, Munster and Connacht/Ulster. 
• Rebalance local authority power to give councillors more power than unelected officials.
• Increase the power and resources of SIPO to be able to properly investigate corruption in local authorities.
• Reduce the time that a local authority home is left empty between tenants from eight months to two.
• Accelerate the retrofitting of older council housing stock.
• Ensure that the Traveller Accommodation Budgets are spent appropriately by each Local Authority.
• Ensure at local authority level that businesses have a consultation right for all new road and traffic changes in towns.

The Green Party

The Green Party has pitched its manifesto as a “plan to unleash the power of every community in Ireland”.

Here are its main priorities and promises:

• Restore town and borough councils.
• Ensure greater transparency on how local property tax is spent.
• Commit to restoring native habitats, native forests, bogs and wetlands and to designate areas for rewilding and develop pocket parks which are gardens and community gardens on small, vacant, under-used sites.
• Increase the number and type of bins across the country, including underground waste bins while also working towards publicly provided waste collection services.
• Prevent construction on floodplains through the planning system.
• Plant 1 million trees over the next five years. 
• Establish shared bike schemes in large towns and implement high quality cycle lanes.
• Remove unnecesary street clutter and provide more free gym exercise equipment in parks, provide more benches and seating in communities and increase the number of public toilets.

The Labour Party

Labour’s local election manifesto states that the housing crisis is the most pressing issue facing Irish society. 

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It lists a number of key areas Labour councillors will campaign for at council level. 

Among these are to campaign for: 

• An audit of the state of local footpaths, ensuring that the design and upkeep of paths and roads to cater for cyclists and pedestrians is a priority.
• A focus on vacant and derelict buildings by seeking additional funding for compulsory purchase orders.
•  Improvements in public lighting, street furniture and street design.
• New bye laws on dog fouling to strengthen fines.
• Increased funding for roads, paths and cycle ways.
• The hiring of Community Wardens to be a familiar face in every locality to keep an eye out for antisocial behaviour, be quick to respond to issues like illegal dumping, dog fouling, persistent noise or anti-social behaviour, with the power to issue fines. 
• Local plans for areas at risk of flooding and improved availability of sandbags.
• Local councils to have greater flexibility to modify the level of Local Property Tax.

Social Democrats

The Social Democrats outline in its manifesto how its “single biggest priority is to improve the delivery of key public services.”

It sets out its candidates key commitments as being: 

• Getting local councils back building affordable homes to rent and buy.
• Building ‘15-minute’ cities and towns, pursuing planning policies that prioritise proximity and accessibility to work and essential services.
• Appointmenting architects at local authority level whose role it is improve the aesthetic appearance of the public realm.
• Increasing the prevalence of basic public services and amenities like public toilets, drinking fountains, benches, playgrounds, and community gardens.
• Putting disabled people at the heart of all decisions that affect them.
• Supporting increased investment in cycling and public transport. 
• Promoting biodiversity, recycling, and strong anti-dumping measures.
• Campaigning in favour of directly elected mayors for Cork, Dublin, Galway, Waterford, and for all local authorities who want them.

People Before Profit

“Evict Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Put Campaigners on our councils,” is written in large, colourful text on the front of People Before Profit’s (PBP) local manifesto which outlines what it sees as the need for radical change. 

It says if PBP councillors are elected, they will pledge to: 

• Vote against the election of Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil Mayors.
• Work to clear the housing lists and build social housing. 
• Demand greater investment in housing, retrofitting and maintenance.
• Demand an end to charges for waste collection and bring waste collection back into public ownership.
• Vote against cuts to services and impose a tourist tax to help fund better services. 
• Vote against increased taxes and charges for the public and abolish the Property Tax.
• Stand up to racism and the scapegoating of refugees.
• Work to have no council homes to be left vacant for more than a month.
• Campaign to make local councils apartheid free zones by breaking any diplomatic ties with Israel.

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