Labour Party finance spokesman Ged Nash has likened Fine Gael’s election commitments to a “McCreevy/Cowen tribute act”. He was referring to the perceived Fianna Fáil budget and electoral giveaway bonanzas of the Celtic Tiger economic boom.
The jibe may be designed to provoke the ire of those who recall the subsequent recession and collapse in public finances.
Tetchy exchanges around election promises are nothing new in Irish politics, but how do this year’s Fine Gael manifesto and spending plans compare to historic promises of their old rivals?
Among other headline commitments, Simon Harris’s party has offered a €1,000 savings account for every new baby; tax cuts of €7 billion; and €2.5 billion in long-term pension increases.
It includes almost €1 billion in additional childcare spending; 300,000 new homes over five years; and over €15 billion to run future public services, with health spending due to increase by about €1 billion every year.
In the last pre-crash election in 2007, Fianna Fáil finance minister Brian Cowen set out spending plans to include cutting key headline tax rates as well as reducing PRSI to 2 per cent. Its headline proposals included removing stamp duty for first-time buyers and increasing mortgage interest relief by 20 per cent.
The party in power also eyed-up 20 new local injury clinics to alleviate pressure on emergency departments; free annual health checks, and an additional 1,500 public hospital beds. It pledged 4,000 extra teachers and 2,000 extra gardaí; 90,000 social and affordable homes over the government’s lifetime; and an increase in the old age pensions to €300 per week.
In the run-up to polling day, Mr Cowen labelled Fine Gael/Labour spending plans a “pig in a poke” that would result in a budget deficit by “year two” and a rising debt burden over five years.
In 2002, all the main parties considered much-needed investment in roads, schools and hospitals, at a time when public finances were deteriorating.
Under Charlie McCreevy, Fianna Fáil estimated the cost of key pre-election pledges – 2,000 extra gardaí, extra teachers, a school building and renovation programme and a €200-per-week pension – at just under €5 billion per year, as well as a further €2 billion for capital projects.
He planned a National Development Finance Agency to raise €2 billion annually from bonds and borrowing for capital projects under the National Development Plan and the Health Strategy. Its manifesto section on “Investing in a Quality Public Health Service” included no specific financial commitment.
In 1997, again under Mr McCreevy, the party’s key offerings enveloped the “special health needs” of the young, elderly and of men; and a regeneration of public transport in Dublin, including Luas completion.
Then leader Bertie Ahern said the country “simply cannot sustain a repeated annual 7 per cent increase in government spending … without a crash landing”.
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