Rabbitte rules out tax hikes

LABOUR Leader Pat Rabbitte pledged there would be no tax increases under a Rainbow government as he moved his party firmly towards the centre ground of politics ahead of the next general election.

In a well-received key note address to Labour’s annual conference, Mr Rabbitte also set out a five-point rescue plan for the health service and warned trade unions they would not be allowed to stand in the way of progress.

“In a successful economy, with buoyant revenues, there is no need to increase taxation and Labour has no intention of doing so,” he told delegates at DCU’s Helix centre.

Mr Rabbitte used the theme ‘Ireland can do better’ to attack what he called the Government’s nine years of failure on crime, health and quality of life issues.

“The people gave Fianna Fáil and PDs nine years and billions of taxpayers’ money to improve the health services. What we got is a national emergency. Is it that difficult to make the hospitals work, to get the traffic moving and to ensure that we are safe on the streets and in our homes?” he asked.

Restoring confidence in the health service could be achieved with a targeted set of initiatives including providing more beds, getting simple things like cleanliness right, beefing-up GP and local services, ending tax breaks for private clinics in public hospitals and tackling waste, the Labour leader said.

Mr Rabbitte said workers now felt trapped in a “gilded cage” which offered too little time for families.

And in a direct warning to public service unions, Mr Rabbitte insisted the national need must come before vested concerns.

“No interest group has the right to veto changes which are necessary for the public good. When 130,000 young people can’t get a driving test, Labour will not shrug its shoulders. The rights of those young people and the imperative of road safety overrides any other considerations,” he told the conference

On the issue of crime, the Labour leader said the Government had surrendered control of parts of the country to gun-toting gangs.

He used the experience of Irish defence forces in the Third World to highlight what could be achieved with the right political will.

“If we can disarm militias in West Africa, we can disarm drug gangs in West Dublin,” he said to loud applause.

The Labour leader also promised to tackle educational disadvantage, invest in community policing, and restore the Freedom of Information Act.