Fine Gael does not appear to have provided for a new public sector pay deal in the coming five years, Jack Chambers, the Minister for Finance and Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin West, has said.
He said his initial analysis of Fine Gael’s manifesto was that it contained no provision for a new public sector pay deal, nor any for increased employment in the health system.
“They need to be clear with the electorate and with public servants about whether they are going to support a new public sector pay deal,” he said at the launch of his party’s policies for supporting the enterprise sector on Sunday afternoon.
He said the fiscal framework in the Fine Gael manifesto also did not appear to provide for more healthcare workers.
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“For healthcare workers, for public servants, for those who rely on public services I would be quite concerned, on initial analysis, about whether they are proposing some sort of pay freeze and how they are going to pay for a public sector pay deal.”
He also said he was concerned, particularly with an ageing population, as to whether Fine Gael planned for increased recruitment in the healthcare system. “I don’t think the Irish public would like to see an embargo in our healthcare system for five years.”
The Minister for Trade and Fianna Fáil TD for Mayo, Dara Calleary, said Fine Gael deserved credit for publishing a manifesto while the Sinn Féin manifesto was “missing in action”. “How can you have a leaders’ debate [on Monday] without a manifesto?”
Mr Calleary rejected the suggestion that the main parties were acting like Elon Musk in the US, offering money to the electorate in return for votes.
“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t take any comparison between Fianna Fáil and Elon Musk,” he said.
He said his party’s policies were designed to directly assist business during what is a high-cost period and to do so in a manner that involved as much administrative ease as possible.
Among the measures announced by Fianna Fáil were an annual €300 million business support fund to enhance the viability of businesses in villages and towns, and a €2 billion towns investment fund to upgrade towns and make them a more attractive place in which to live, shop and work.
The decision to keep the VAT rate on gas and electricity at 9 per cent was in order to help businesses reduce their costs, not just in hospitality but across all sectors, said Mr Calleary.
The party was “definitely not giving money away”, Mr Calleary said. Its policies were about “investing in employment and in the future of our society”.
Other policies announced by Fianna Fáil included reducing the rate of employers’ PRSI in the case of minimum wage workers, driving down business costs by way of investment and reform, reducing red tape and supporting family-owned businesses through the taxation system and training and skills supports.
In the retail sector, the measures being promised include a new law to provide shopkeepers with a statutory defence where shoppers claim they have been defamed when asked to produce a receipt for their goods.
Mr Calleary said they wanted to hear from business groups but also individual businesses as to how the business support fund and the towns investment fund could best be used.
The party wanted to see a “reimagining” of the high streets of towns and villages so that people were drawn to them and small and medium-sized enterprises in the regions were protected.
“Enterprise pays the bills for this country,” he said. The country needed “a party that stands up for enterprise.”
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