True Blues for party pledges

WITH promises to keep taxes low, enforce stricter law and order, prevent single mothers from unfairly claiming welfare and to lift a ban on stag hunting, you would be forgiven for thinking they came across an old Tory document rather than a fresh plan for a new Ireland if they opened Fine Gael’s manifesto yesterday.

An all-male lineup of the party’s Bruiser Boys were selected to launch the document in the surroundings of the Royal College of Physicians on Dublin’s Kildare Street.

The gender profile at the top table was purely coincidental, party leader Enda Kenny explained.

These were the five main spokespeople on Fine Gael’s main policies, he said, signalling that women will neither formulate nor feature highly in their plans to get Ireland working.

The uniformity in representation is reflected in the 80-page manifesto which appears to have forgotten many of the changes in Irish society and ignored the needs of most minority groups. In echoes of the past and de Valera’s “Ireland that we dreamed of,” Fine Gael sets out its plans for Irish “family life” which states that it “recognises the value of the family based on the institution of marriage”.

Its only reference to non-married couples is to suggest they enjoy tax and social welfare advantages because of a “marriage penalty” and these should be changed so as not to discourage marriage.

And single mothers? Their welfare payments would be altered so as not to “discourage” them from marriage.

It’s not surprising Fine Gael would stay clear of any mention of gay marriage. But it was old-fashioned that this significant minority is not mentioned throughout the manifesto — apart from a pledge to tackle homophobic bullying in schools under the education heading.

Here it differs from its potential coalition partners, the Labour Party, which has promised a referendum on gay marriage. The furthest Fine Gael would go was to confirm it would implement tax changes for those entering a civil partnership, as has already been agreed to by the outgoing Government.

Fine Gael is also long- fingering the contentious issue of the 1992 X Case ruling on abortion if the mother’s life is at risk.

The issue came to the fore again recently following a ruling by the European Court on Human Rights that the state failed to properly implement the constitutional right to a lawful abortion where a mother’s life is at risk. Mr Kenny signalled he is not going to deal with it saying it was a “sensitive issue”.

Under its “Protecting the Family” section, Fine Gael promises to establish an all-party committee to consider the implication of a recent European court ruling. This process will examine the issues “in a way that respects the range of sincerely held views on this matter.”

Their hardline approach to law and order might have popular appeal but is likely to anger civil liberties groups — Fine Gael will keep a DNA database of criminals which will also be “utilised to enhance co-operation with the EU in the area of a asylum and immigration”.

In contrast, it does not offer any solutions to help victims of trafficking, mainly women and children.

It also plans to electronically tag sex offenders on their release from prison to prevent reoffending, but does not make any pledges on forcing them to undertake rehabilitative therapy.

Healthcare reform is one of Fine Gael’s main selling points of this election but its “money follows the patient” model on hospital care has not been fully open to scrutiny. The party consistently refers to the “Dutch model” but fails to mention spending on hospital care increased by €1.1bn after the system was introduced there in 2001.

Hospital admissions increased as the healthcare settings themselves drove demand in order to keep up their funding.

There was little new on economics in the manifesto that has not been well flagged by the party. It promises not to raise income taxes or employers’ PRSI as it pledges to stick to the path of reducing the deficit to 3% of GDP by 2014.

But the manifesto said: “Fine Gael favours tax increases not for ideological reasons, but because the experience of other countries shows tax hikes raise the unemployment rate by three times more than spending cuts.”

Putting a line up of bruiser boys at the top table yesterday was a symbol of how this election which once promised change and reinvention for Ireland will bring about even more gender and age imbalance than already exists in the leadership of the country.