Martin pledges no election ‘gimmicks’

MICHEÁL MARTIN tried to turn a lack of election promises into a virtue at the launch of his party’s manifesto.

He said the country could not afford election gimmicks to satisfy different sections of society.

“There are no new spending commitments. There are no gimmicks. And there are no tested policy sound bites targeted at different sections of the population.

“The reason for this is simple. The money is not there,” he said.

He claimed the Government’s Four-Year Plan would form the template for the party’s pitch to the electorate and its priority was to “get the deficit down as fast as we can” rather than staggering the recovery over a longer timeframe.

Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil’s plan would revive “the economy and restore the public finances.”

And he said if in Government it would fulfil the Green Party-led demands to build the Metro North rail link to Dublin Airport and ban corporate donations to political parties.

Launching the manifesto at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, he said Fianna Fáil’s promises were realistic and not written with the demands of various interest groups in mind.

He criticised Fine Gael’s new policy for increasing mortgage interest relief for those who bought houses at the peak of the market. However, he accepted his party’s plan, to assist homeowners who get into arrears, would only assist those who had got into trouble. He said the policy was liable to change if the default situation got worse.

The manifesto launch was dominated by the party’s suggestions to reform the Dáil, abolish the Seanad and replace serving ministers in parliament with substitutes. He said there had been an “excessive localism” in Irish politics and he would support any government which was willing to change the system for electing TDs. The party also committed to holding referenda on the rights of the child and the status of family in the Constitution.

The manifesto also included a section on reforming the appointment system for state boards.

However, Mr Martin was questioned about whether he used appropriate criteria when he appointed Celia Larkin, the then partner of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, as a member of the National Consumer Agency.

He said all the appointments were based on “ability, experience and with the necessary qualifications for the specifics tasks.”