THE Green Party has issued its manifesto for the forthcoming general election campaign in which it aims to dispel its image as a single issue party and win several new Dail seats.
At the opening of the party's spring convention and election rally in Malahide last night, the party's only TD, Mr Trevor Sargent, said his party might hold the balance of power after the election. The recent Irish Times/MRBI poll showed just a 6 per cent gap between the two proposed alternative governments, he said.
Should the Greens hold the balance of power, he said, "other parties will have to be able to accept our key policies before we would consider going into a coalition". Green Party candidates will contest 26 Dail constituencies.
The party convention will today hear a series of keynote addresses from party spokesmen and women on the environment, health, education and other issues. Members will also vote, in closed session, on changes to the party constitution designed to give more power to the party's central co ordinating committee, which is elected annually by the party's national council.
The five main political parties have participated in government since 1989, the manifesto says. "In that time they have shown themselves to differ little from each other in their policies, in their philosophies or in their practice of government." The Green Party is the only political party offering a real alternative, it says.
The manifesto aims to dispel the image of the Green Party as being a single issue party. It contains sections on employment, taxation, drugs and crime, health, education and foreign policy.
Its core message is that the impact of society on the environment should not be environmentally disruptive. A Department of Sustainable Development should be established to ensure that all policies adhere to the principles of sustainable development.
The manifesto contains detailed proposals on waste reduction, antipollution measures and a wide range of environmental issues.
The party seeks a radical shift of taxation from income onto resources. It proposes the introduction of an energy tax on industrial and transport fuels and a tax on land to discourage speculation and dereliction.
PRSI should be abolished, tax allowances should be restructured into a single personal allowance, and tax rates should begin at 10 per cent rising to 50 per cent.