Sir, - I share the sentiment expressed in your Editorial of November 3rd that a debate on how to share the proceeds of our new-found wealth is both timely and welcome.
I would take issue, however, with the assertion that the Labour Party's fiscal policy, launched last Thursday, presents the electorate with a clear choice now between the American and European economic models. The Boston/Berlin dichotomy plainly holds no water.
It is true that, unlike the Labour Party, Fianna Fail is committed to minimising the tax burden. Having already taken 176,000 people out of the tax net, and having reduced the standard rate of tax by 4 per cent in just three years, we remain committed to further tax reductions. It is plainly untrue, however, that a concomitant of our low-tax policies is a weaker level of social provision.
Education, health and social welfare spending are at unprecedented levels. Socially inclusive policies are central to Fianna Fail's very raison d'etre. The party which introduced slum clearance, social housing, free secondary education and unemployment assistance will never be the party to minimise levels of social provision.
Labour's fiscal policy, then, does not present the electorate with a choice between American and European economic policy. Rather, it focuses the attention of the electorate on the question of Labour's competence to steer our economy.
As your Editorial rightly acknowledges, Labour's plan to raid the social insurance and pensions funds is emerging as one of the main concerns of those familiar with the party's policy. This is a short-sighted and dangerous stance for Labour to adopt. The Continental experience has taught us that it is imperative that we prepare now for the increased pension needs of the future.
Were the Labour Party's fiscal policies to become Government policy, our current prosperity would be profoundly undermined. Any fiscal policy based on fixed figures will prove flawed. While admitting that GNP measurements are the valid way to measure Irish national wealth, Labour uses the inflated GDP figure to justify this fiscal policy. It admits it would raid The Social Insurance Fund to part-fund its yet-unseen policies. It would return our economy to 1970s-style deficits.
Labour does not present the electorate with a Boston/Berlin dichotomy. The choice it presents is far simpler: proven success or failure. - Yours, etc.,
Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.