McDowell vows to significantly reduce tax rates

THE Tánaiste has pledged to significantly cut both the standard and higher rates of tax in the election battle to provide the most attractive tax measures to the electorate.

In his first keynote speech to a party conference as leader, Tánaiste Michael McDowell said he was committed to keeping Ireland prosperous, competitive and economically strong, with sustained reform of the taxation system central to this objective.

He warned, however, that if Ireland “sleepwalks” into electing an “incoherent patchwork of incompatible parties,” Government would become fragmented.