PARTY MANIFESTO:FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny refused to be drawn yesterday on how far his party would go to ensure its policies were implemented in a post-election coalition deal with Labour.
He said he was not looking beyond polling day, adding that Fine Gael was seeking the best mandate it could get from the people to implement its manifesto.
“I think it is absolutely essential, given the difficulties that lie ahead, that there be a stable government with a strong mandate.”
Speaking at the launch of the manifesto in Dublin, he said the party had a really strong range of people, men and women, to deliver on commitments made.
Asked about the possibility of Fine Gael securing an overall majority, Mr Kenny said he could not determine what the people would do. “Of course, it would be the ambition of any leader of any party to get the best support they can and I am not going to go beyond that.”
He said people were “angry, raw, disgusted, fearful”, but anger, just and proper as it was, would not get the country working. His party’s manifesto was about getting people back to work.
It had been prepared, he said, with a view to maximising job creation, growth and the transformation of the State’s public services.
“The manifesto sets out how we plan to grow the economy, keep taxes low, eliminate waste and do so while protecting the most vulnerable in our society. I want Ireland to be the best small country in the world in which to do business but I also want our public services to be the envy of the world.”
Mr Kenny highlighted the core elements of the party’s policy platform. Key proposals included radical public sector reform to protect front-line services and the creation of thousands of new jobs with a €7 billion investment. The party planned cutting the budget deficit to 3 per cent by 2014.
He said there would be an overhaul of the health service and the introduction of the Dutch system of universal health insurance.
Politicians, he said, would lead the way with a 35 per cent reduction in their numbers nationally.
There would be a focus on budget cuts rather than “job-destroying tax increases”, with no rises in income tax or taxes on jobs. White-collar crime would be stamped out, while State pensions and payments to carers, widows, people with disabilities and blind people would be protected.
