Election 2024

Election 2024 manifestos: the parties’ promises on housing, cost of living and health – and how they differ

Dividing lines emerge as parties outline their general election pledges

Election 2024 manifestos: All parties agree on the need to build more houses, and make renting and buying more affordable. Photograph: iStock
Election 2024 manifestos: All parties agree on the need to build more houses, and make renting and buying more affordable. Photograph: iStock
Jennifer Bray's picture
Jennifer Bray
Thu Nov 21 2024 - 00:00

Over the last 10 days, political parties have made literally hundreds of promises to voters on every conceivable topic, from childcare to housing to the economy and everything in between.

Nearly all of the parties have now published their general election manifestos, with Aontú due to publish its document on Thursday morning. For many, the 2024 general election will have felt like a hurried blizzard of pledges, a situation made even more confusing when different parties are, in fact, promising the same thing in some areas.

But with the dust now settling, clear policy differences are emerging between each party. With many people still undecided as to whom they will vote for, The Irish Times has put together an easy-to-use tool online where readers can see what has been promised. And here, we look at the top three areas that voters are citing as important (both on the doorsteps and according to Irish Times polling) and the main points of difference. Of course, manifesto commitments can turn to dust when programme-for-government negotiations begin, but they are a strong guide as to what vision you can expect.

Promises, promises: How do the parties compare?

Housing

Once again, housing has emerged as a key concern for voters. One thing that all parties agree on is the need to build more houses, and make renting and buying more affordable. The clearest difference here is between the two main outgoing government parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, who want to keep and enhance the Help to Buy and First Home shared equity schemes, and the Opposition, who believe they only drive up prices. Opposition parties also want to see different variations of rent freezes and eviction bans.

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In terms of the promises around how many houses each party would build, here’s how it breaks down. Fine Gael say they would build 300,000 homes by 2030 and introduce a new housing plan to follow the Housing for All document. By 2030, they say they would construct 12,000 new social homes annually.

Fianna Fáil say they would expand the rate of homebuilding to 60,000 homes per year in 2030 and thereafter and build at least 12,000 social homes a year. They also say they would protect and extend the First Home scheme to 2030 and expand it to support purchasing second-hand homes. There is also a promise to create 2,000 Housing First tenancies to help eliminate long-term homelessness.

Sinn Féin has also pledged to deliver more than 300,000 homes over the next five years, including 125,000 social and affordable homes, along with a plan to end long-term homelessness by 2030. Their biggest point of difference is that they want to phase out the Help to Buy scheme over five years, and introduce a six-month no-fault eviction ban. Their Home of Your Own policy also pledged to introduce a three-year emergency ban on rent increases.

The Green Party has pledged to deliver an average of 50,000 to 53,000 new homes per year over the next five years, including 15,000 State-backed affordable/cost rental homes, 12,000 social homes, and at least 4,000 renovated vacant and derelict homes. For renters, they want to introduce a renters’ deposit protection scheme where deposits are securely held by a public body such as the Residential Tenancies Board. They say they would aim the Help-to-Buy scheme at those who need it by aligning it with the property price caps of the First Home Scheme.

Labour have also promised to build an annual average of 50,000 new homes over the next five years and scale up delivery from 2027 to over 60,000 a year. Their big plan is to transform the Land Development Agency into a State construction company that will absorb land costs and “cut out profit-taking on sales”. They also want to phase out the Help to Buy scheme by 2029 and replace it with a Save to Buy scheme for the purchase of new homes, with income limits on the tax refund available.

The Social Democrats have promised to build 75,000 affordable homes over a five-year period. This would be made up of 50,000 affordable purchase homes and 25,000 affordable rental homes. They also want to introduce a three-year rent freeze.

People Before Profit want to increase the renter’s tax credit to €3,000 in 2025, introduce a rent freeze and reinstate the eviction ban.

Cost of living, money and the economy

Fine Gael have pledged to raise the point at which a worker enters the higher tax band by at least €2,000 each year, so that that individuals earning €54,000 would not be subject to the higher rate of income tax. They also said they want to raise the entry threshold for the 3 per cent USC band from €27,382 to €40,000, and the entry threshold for the 8 per cent USC band from €70,044 to €75,000. They also want to increase the inheritance tax bands.

Fianna Fáil say they would increase the entry point for the higher rate of income tax to “at least” €50,000, and cut the lower rate of USC from 3 per cent to 1.5 per cent. They want to increase the State pension to at least €350 per week and keep the VAT rate at 9 per cent on energy bills.

Sinn Féin say they would abolish the USC for all workers on the first €45,000 of their income at a cost of €1.84 billion. They have also pledged to end the corporation tax break for the bailed-out banks, and increase the rate of child benefit by €25 and the disability allowance, the blind pension and invalidity pension by €70. A big pledge is to abolish the local property tax and replace it with direct funding for local authorities to the tune of €500 million.

The Labour Party say they would index tax credits and bands as well as social welfare rates to a basket measure of inflation and wage growth to protect against increases in the cost of living. They want to reform the national minimum wage to deliver a living income tied to 66 per cent of median hourly wages.

The Social Democrats say they would put an end to so-called once-off “gimmicks” and bring in a wealth tax levied at 0.5 per cent on assets over €1 million, or 1 per cent on assets over €2 million. They want a €1 public transport fare and free public transport for under-18s.

People Before Profit say they would abolish the USC for workers earning less than €100,000 and use a “multimillionaires” tax to pay for it.

The Green Party say they would continue to increase tax bands and credits to prevent people from being hit by higher income tax bills. They would also increase social welfare payments in line with earnings and inflation and provide 100 per cent grants to low-income households at risk of energy poverty for the installation of rooftop solar panels.

Health

Much like housing, all of the parties agree on a few basic tenets when it comes to health: more doctors and nurses are needed, and waiting lists need to come down. But, of course, they have different plans to achieve this.

Fine Gael have promised a full evaluation of existing and future demands on the health service within the first year of the new government, along with plans to increase capacity by 5,000 inpatient hospital beds by 2031. They have promised to recruit HSE-employed GPs to help with GP cover.

Fianna Fáil have pledged to reduce emergency department overcrowding and increase the number of consultants in emergency medicine by 50 per cent, as well as implementing an increase of 1,500 in the number of GPs through a combination of international recruitment and increased training places. The party also want to extend free GP care to all children aged 12 and under.

Sinn Féin want to develop a “first-class, all-Ireland National Health System that learns from the best and worst in both jurisdictions and across Europe”. The plan is to get to full public health cover by 2035. The party want to develop “a landmark public GP contract” which employs 250 public GPs. They want to provide free prescription medicines for all households, upgrade every GP visit card to a full medical card, and provide full medical card cover to all workers up to €45,000. They have also pledged to deliver 5,000 hospital beds by 2031.

Labour say they would establish a “Sláintecare Transition Fund” starting with an initial €1 billion from the Apple tax case windfall. They want to ringfence USC as a health contribution and place any future revenue increases due to employment growth in the new fund. They’ve committed to immediately act to provide free GP care to all children under 18, and expand health service staff by 30,000 over the next five years.

The Social Democrats want dedicated legislation to underpin and maintain targets for maximum hospital waiting times. They also want to introduce a statutory right to home care and provide a budget for a person-centred home care scheme.

People Before Profit say they would introduce free primary care for all including GP care, and immediately add 1,000 permanent acute beds.

The Green Party have promised to expand capacity in acute healthcare settings by developing new elective hospitals and surgical hubs in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Dublin. They want to expand the GP visit card to all children under the age of 11.

Bonus: childcare

Canvassing teams across the country have told The Irish Times that childcare is being raised consistently on the doorsteps. All parties, in one way or another, have pledged to reduce childcare fees to €200 a month. All except People Before Profile, who want universal free childcare.