Republican News · Thursday 27 November 1997

[An Phoblacht]

Time to eliminate inequality

Sinn Féin Budget `98 Submission

Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin and Dublin South West representative Jack Crowe launched Sinn Féin's submission for the 1998 Dublin Government budget this week.

O'Caoláin called for Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy ``to make real progress towards the elimination of poverty and the building of true equality in Irish society''.

At the press conference launching the Sinn Féin submission O Caoláin asked whether the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat coalition were going to tackle inequality or ``are we going to witness a fudge of a budget cooked up to please as many sectors of society as possible but once more benefiting the wealthy and leaving the disadvantaged behind''. Below we summarise the main points of the Sinn Féin submission.

The Priorities

The FF/PD Government has considerable room to use its proposed £12.5 billion of spending to tackle the social and economic inequalities that permeate the 26 Counties. There is a pressing need to divert resources to the disadvantaged throughout our society whether they be:

  • Under-resourced schools
  • The many thousands on hospital waiting lists
  • Those in every region who are on housing waiting lists
  • People with disabilities
  • Communities who used their own initiative to tackle the drugs scourge and now need funding and resources to free their areas from this crisis
  • Border and rural western regions overlooked by the IDA and government development plans
  • Small farmers squeezed off their land and those in rural communities who gain little or no benefit from agricultural subsidies.
  • Homeless children and adults on our city streets
  • Local communities in need of funds for regeneration and economic development.

Taxation

Sinn Fein supports the principle of cutting income tax but believes that the low paid should be the principal beneficiaries of any change.

Sinn Féin calls on the government to:

  • Increase the allowances of single people by £1,000 and co-habiting couples by £2,000 annually. This would cost £486 million; inside the £500 million-benchmark signalled by the Department of Finance.
  • Introduce a minimum wage at a level advocated by the trade union movement.

When in opposition Fianna Fail regularly taunted the Rainbow Coalition about the low level of social welfare increases announced in successive budgets. Now it is time for a programme of payment increases.

Sinn Féin calls for:

immediate increase in single person's unemployment allowance to £75 in 1997 with a further increases for the 1998 fiscal year. The £75 rate would bring the allowance up to the level identified by the ESRI Poverty in Ireland report of 1994.

Industrial Development and Job Creation

In 1998 it is proposed by the FF/PD coalition that grants to IDA Ireland will increase by 12% to £134 million, while grants to Forbairt will fall 3% to just over £48 million. This means that for every £1 invested in Irish companies the government invests nearly £3 in foreign companies.

Sinn Féin believes that there should be equality between the funds made available to Irish business and those for foreign companies.

Social Housing

A welcome spending proposal from the government is the plan to increase spending on local authority and social housing programmes by 25% to £223 million in 1998.

Department of the Environment figures for 1996 show 30,353 households in need of social housing. The 1998 budget could significantly impact on these figures.

Tenants must be participants in the planning and development of any new local authority housing programmes. Community facilities need to be integrated into new housing schemes from the very start of the planning process.

A United Ireland Economy

It is now widely accepted that an all-Ireland economy would bring considerable benefits but it seems that this government has no real plans for the island economy.

There is a need for both an infrastructural development programme and a

consultative process to plan for the development of a democratic all-Ireland economy.

This government needs to show real intent in tackling the systematic damage done by partition to the border counties and the North West as a region. Funding needs to be made available now.

Education

Education is a crucial factor in countering social disadvantage in all sectors from pre-school to adult education.

Sinn Féin proposes:

  • Priority funding for pre-school schemes such as the ``Early Start'' programme.
  • A large transfer of resources to primary schooling.
  • Immediate funding for the refurbishment and modernisation of the state's primary schools. A situation where over 75% of primary schools must raise funds voluntarily to meet basic needs is unacceptable.
  • The problem of educational disadvantage, and early school-leaving in particular, must be tackled by expanding funding for existing programmes.
  • The abolition of fees for night students at Third Level.
  • A full resourcing and implementation of the third level ``Equal Participation Admissions Programme''.
  • The Adult Education sector to be recognised as a major provider of educational opportunity, and to be resourced accordingly.
  • Irish language schools must be treated with equality of funding by the state.

Rural Regeneration

Sinn Féin believes that the objective for rural areas should be a healthy and diverse economic and social environment. It is a lack of political will and not a lack of funds which has prevented the government from reversing the ongoing decline of rural Ireland.

Sinn Féin advocates:

  • Creation of a Department of Rural Regeneration with real powers to begin to work with local communities to rebuild our towns and villages
  • Integrated strategy for rural development through partnerships between government, development agencies, private business and local communities
  • Improved transport infrastructure to increase access to rural areas
  • Rural investment bank, offering low-interest loans and technical advice to small farmers and local areas starting community enterprises
  • Priority to be given to the publishing of the White Paper on rural development
  • All areas of the budget, housing, transport, healthcare, education, jobs etc, should include provisions on rural regeneration.

The government is proposing to spend £25 million on the refurbishment and extension of Leinster House. This is the very figure which the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland identifies as necessary to provide new day and residential services in 1998.

The 1997 Fianna Fáil manifesto stated ``we will make mental handicap a priority area. It is our intention to tackle the crisis''. Now is the time to act.

Carers Allowance

Full recognition should be given to the role of up to 100,000 carers in the home, 30,000 of them full time. This recognition should be integrated in the tax and social insurance systems.

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