Republican News · Thursday 6 June 2002

More of the same from FF/PDs

Are you ready for another five years of the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats in government? Last time around the two parties came together to govern during a period of unparralleled prosperity and wealth creation. This time, the view is not so sunny and there is genuine concern about the ability of this government to manage an economy slowly trudging out of one recession and facing into an unpredictable future.

Don't worry though; Bertie Ahern and Mary Harney have a plan. Their Programme for Government is a superb gloss job, promising a lot over the next five years, but giving little firm commitments and only a hint at a timescale.

The only real conclusion you can draw from the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat Plan is that a lot of policy will be made on the hoof over the next five years. It also begs the question: whatever were they up to over the last five years that so much still needs to be done?

Robbie MacGabhann gets the microscope out to highlight the inconsistencies, flaws and undeliverable promises being offered up by this new coalition government.

Tax Inequality

In the run up to the election the main difference between the PD and FF tax promises was the PD commitment to cut further the higher rate of income tax. This promise has disappeared but there is a pledge to increase Capital Gains Tax exemption limits, which should make a lot of the high-income earners cashing in on share options very happy.

Corporation taxes are set to fall further and there is an assurance not to increase other payroll taxes, such as employers' social insurance, so the business community will rest easy for the next few years.

So with business and high earners boxed off, what about the low paid, who it would cost less than ¤450 million to take out of the tax net? Well, the only promise Ahern and Harney are making is to take minimum wage workers out of the tax net over the next five years. That this is not an immediate priority of government shows how little real concern there is for the ordinary householder and their family.

It is also amazing that Harney, who has done good work as a minister seeking to follow up on the Ansbacher account tax fraud, has ignored the need to work for serious tax reform in the 26 Counties.

"We will vigorously pursue actions to ensure that everyone is tax compliant" is the last line of the Programme's tax proposals and this sums up the rest of the document, which is full of hazy aspirations and zero detail or timescale.

European inconsistencies

other good example of the problems ahead for the coalition can be found in the sections on Europe. The programme claims that "commitment to the EU and its development in no way implies support for a European superstate or for an ambitious federalist project". This is clearly at odds with the ambitions of many in the EU particularly EU Commission President Romano Prodi.

Then the two parties state: "We believe that fiscal policy should remain the preserve of national administrations", yet they want to involve us in an EU unification process that will ultimately deny government that very power.

There is a promise to rerun the Nice Treaty "later this year" and also to address "the concerns of the people as expressed during previous referendums". What this really means is unclear and it is highly likely that Ahern and Harney don't know either.

Jobs

The biggest claim to a success by the PDs and FF over the last five years was the 400,000 new jobs created. The last year of recession, with thousands of jobs lost in international and Irish companies, showed just how transitory this success can be. Developing indigenous businesses with strong research and development programmes on a regional basis is an immediate priority of any new government and this one promises much, but the little inconsistencies highlight a much larger credibility problem.

Take one example, which is the promise to "ensure the putting in place of open-access broadband on a national basis". Great, but who is going to do this?

Will the government direct Eircom, NTL, Chorus and ESAT amongst others to do this? Who will pay? Who will own the infrastructure? How much will it cost? What does "open access" and "national" mean?

At present, there are only plans to bring broadband telecommunications service to large towns. Once again, the programme gets lost in the shadows.

The caring society

Moving into the other sections on housing, health and childcare, there are acres of good intentions mixed in with the inconsistencies. For example, the coalition promises to reduce poverty, yet over the last five years Combat Poverty and ESRI figures show that relative income poverty remained unchanged. Surely that would prompt a major rethink in policies to tackle poverty? Well don't go looking for it here.

On health, there is yet again the promise of a world class public health service that is "accessible to all", yet they want to bring more private sector companies into the health insurance market. Bringing BUPA into the health market heralded the end of the community charge system where everyone paid the same premium regardless of age. More private health care will mean higher charges for the old and people with families.

Perhaps the most telling part of the "Agreed Programme for Government" is that you cannot find the last one formulated in 1997 on either of the parties' websites, or on the government web site. It has vanished in a haze, just like this one will too.

Fasten your safety belt. It will be a rough five years, assuming they don't crash in the meantime.