May 6, 2007
Sinn Féin wants a strong economy that is sustainable into the future. We are committed to building and maintaining an economic environment that enhances enterprise and job creation and that provides favourable conditions for business to operate in and for people to live and work in. We believe in economic reintegration and sovereignty. We believe in regional equality and balanced regional development. We know that achieving all these things will require government intervention and planning and public investment.
Current Government policy has failed to address rising inflation, an over-reliance on foreign direct investment and an over-dependence on the construction sector. The government has failed to promote balanced regional development and infrastructure and service provision is still not good enough in many parts of the State. The levels of research and development (R&D) remain too low. There is no coherent plan for developing indigenous business or for training and upskilling the workforce. There is a worrying and unacceptable move by some employers to sustain competitiveness on the back of low-paid and exploited migrant workers, and the Government has not prevented this. Furthermore, the active dismantling of the public enterprise sector has impeded the economy overall: for example the privatisation of Eircom significantly slowed broadband rollout.
The Government has also failed to proactively plan to meet future challenges to the economy, including specifically planning for workers employed in vulnerable sectors. According to the National Competitiveness Council, in the five years to March 2006 manufacturing industries lost over 32,000 jobs. Many of the jobs lost in rural areas are not being replaced - with devastating local effects. Many of the new jobs cited by the Government as replacing those lost are only part-time. That's not good enough.
Sinn Féin is the party most committed to developing a regionally balanced, single economy. We are the only party who understands the urgency of diversifying our competitive base to safeguard our economic health. We are the party most committed to the development of the indigenous business sector and to protecting jobs and workers. Only Sinn Féin has a credible and comprehensive plan to grow and spread prosperity.
The Sinn Féin Platform for a Strong Economy
Sinn Féin's plan for a strong and sustainable economy involves five main priorities:
We plan to diversify the basis of Irish competitiveness by investing in infrastructure, public services, R&D and a highly educated workforce, and by intervening to bring down business costs in key areas such as energy and insurance.
We propose to assist indigenous business development by supporting small and medium enterprises, social economy (non-profit community or co-operatively-owned) enterprises, and strategic sectors identified for growth.
We plan to invest in research and development, entrepreneurship and innovation, enterprise clusters and networks, and education and training. We would focus on provision of infrastructure and investment on an all-Ireland basis. We also propose a single currency, a single labour market and a harmonised tax regime for the island.
Building the All-Ireland Economy
Economic reunification and sovereignty is at the core of Sinn Féin economic policy. Partition is wasteful and inefficient for the Irish economy as a whole. It involves duplication of government and public service structures. It imposes an unnecessary administrative burden on those wishing to do business in both jurisdictions. It means we are competing with ourselves for economic investment, as well as with the rest of the world.
It is now widely recognised that our economic future depends on moving towards all-Ireland economic integration. Despite the recent lipservice given to all-Ireland development by the Government parties in particular, Sinn Féin is unquestionably the party most committed to deliver this.
We also need to invest and plan for balanced regional development so that no part of the country is excluded from the benefits of economic growth. The State must make robust interventions to reverse the legacy of underinvestment and neglect and bring economic equality to the regions including and especially the Border, Midlands and West of the Shannon and the Bann. Sinn Féin's decision to choose the Ministry for Regional Development over other important portfolios signals the degree of priority we would accord this in Government.
The Sinn Féin Platform for Economic Reintegration and Regional Equality
Sinn Féin proposes to accelerate all-Ireland economic reintegration pending reunification.
We will take all necessary measures to end economic discrimination and regional inequality by proactively planning and investing to rebalance regional development.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Strengthening the All-Ireland Economy
Achieving Balanced Regional Development
Providing World Class Infrastructure
Infrastructure is one of the most important pillars of competitiveness in the global economy. The Government has failed to give this sufficient priority despite having the resources available. The state of infrastructure continues to be an impediment to further, more regionally-balanced growth.
Business and workers urgently need improved public transport provision, including an enhanced railway network. Our transport system has never fully recovered from the closure of rail lines in the 1950s and 60s. Public transport continues to be severely under-funded, traffic gridlock is a chronic problem, many areas lack railway provision and there is a virtual absence of a rural community-based transport system. Business and workers also need efficient and safe road networks, and road networks in turn need planned development and proper maintenance. Vast sums have been spent on construction and upgrading of national primary routes in recent years, but much of this development has been uneven and significant gaps remain. Enhanced air and sea port provision are also important to economic development, and they deserve greater attention and State-led development on an all-Ireland basis.
Business needs communications infrastructure for sustainable economic growth and competitiveness. We lag behind other states in broadband provision. As a result of the decision to privatise Eircom, we went from Europe's second highest telecommunications technological availability to 23rd in less than a decade. In addition, the imposition of cross-border mobile roaming charges is not reasonable and needs to end. An Post provides a valuable and effective service that reaches everyone throughout the State and deserves safeguarding and diversification, not closures.
Business also needs affordable and reliable energy sources. The Government has failed to develop domestic energy production and all-Ireland networks, and has allowed Ireland to remain overdependent on foreign and non-renewable energy supplies and thus captive to oil price rises. The domestic renewable energy sector is underdeveloped despite huge potential. Some areas of the country still do not have natural gas connectivity. In addition, rather than keeping electricity prices as low as possible in the public interest, the Government has presided over unreasonable ESB increases as part of a cynical exercise in fattening the company for private sale.
Sinn Féin is strongly committed to deliver world class infrastructure. We believe that infrastructure provision is one of the core responsibilities of Government.
The Sinn Féin Platform on Infrastructure Provision
Sinn Féin proposes to plan, configure and fund all infrastructure - transport, communications and energy - on an all-Ireland basis.
Development of these strategic sectors which are so essential to continued economic growth cannot be left to chance and to the market. They can be efficiently and cost-effectively run by the public sector and should not be privatised. We therefore propose that infrastructure development should be publicly funded and State-led.
We would prioritise environmentally sustainable public transport. In energy provision, we would support accelerated development of affordable renewable energy as a priority as this is the way of the future, and will also enhance increased Irish energy independence and we would bring Ireland onto the right side of the 'digital divide'.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Increased Investment in an All-Ireland Public Transport Network
Improving Air Networks and Sea Ports on an All-Ireland Basis
Enhancing All-Ireland Energy Networks, Controlling Prices, Developing Renewables
Supporting Enterprise and Job Creation
Sinn Féin believes that indigenous business development is crucial for a sustainable economy. Under current Government policy the enterprise environment has actually deteriorated. Businesses large and small are now feeling the pinch from the combined impact of poor infrastructure and gridlock and spiralling energy, insurance, water and waste management prices. Smaller businesses get second class treatment. Only now, in the run-up to the General Election, is the Government finally beginning to take measures to promote R&D.
Sinn Féin is committed to supporting enterprise and job creation and to balanced regional development.
The Sinn Féin Platform for Irish Entrepreneurship
Sinn Féin proposes a package of measures aimed specifically at supporting and developing indigenous enterprise. We would continue to encourage more Foreign Direct Investment but give the same type of supports to small and medium businesses. We would also support agriculture which provides 20% of all jobs outside of the public sector.
We also believe that publicly-owned companies make an important contribution to the Irish economy and business environment - particularly where these are established in strategic sectors - and moreover that these can be run both efficiently and profitably. We do not propose to continue the downsizing of the public sector in the 26 Counties, but rather to retain profitable and especially strategic sector companies in public ownership and to develop new companies where there is scope for this.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Support for Private Enterprise
Support for Public Enterprise
Developing Social Economy and Cooperative Enterprise
Promoting Workers' Rights
Sinn Féin believes that workers' rights are basic requirements of a healthy economy and a just society. We aim to end exploitation and unsafe working conditions and to ensure that everyone can have rewarding employment, a fair income and a good quality family life.
Government policy has steadily eroded workers' rights over the last decade. Employers displace well-paid workers for lower-paid labour because they can do so in the absence of strict regulation and stringent enforcement. Evidence of exploitation involving abuse of migrant workers is mounting across the State.
Yet weak regulation and poor enforcement have resulted in low rates of inspection and prosecution for violations. The rate of working households in poverty has doubled over the last decade as a result of low-paid employment. Non-enforcement, insufficient penalties and deficiencies in law all contribute to high-levels of work-related illness, injuries and fatalities. In 2005, 73 people lost their lives in work-related accidents.
Sinn Féin has established a new Trade Union Department and published a detailed plan to bring workers' rights back to the centre of economic and social policy.
The Sinn Féin Workers' Rights Platform
Sinn Féin's priority is to better the lot of all workers in Ireland. We advocate employment based on equality with fair conditions and a secure living wage, in a work environment that is safe, healthy and free from harassment and discrimination. Rogue employers who operate dangerous workplaces or unsafe work practices or who exploit workers and violate labour law in Ireland must be made subject to stringent penalties. Employers must be made to recognise trade unions and trade unions' right to organise recognised in law.
Sinn Féin recognises that Irish workers and trade unions have legitimate concerns regarding 'displacement' by lower-paid workers, including migrant workers. 'Displacement' is not so much the exchange of Irish workers for non-Irish workers but the exchange of organised workers with good pay, conditions and benefits for unorganised workers who are ripe for exploitation. The solution to displacement therefore lies in regulating employment standards (including pay and working conditions) for all workers, and their effective enforcement to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable workers for profit.
Sinn Féin also proposes enactment of a new generation of employment equality legislation. Particularly as we move towards an all-Ireland labour market, we propose an upward-harmonisation of employment equality law - as well as all other workers' rights - on an all-Ireland basis. We plan to enshrine workers' rights in the 1937 Constitution in a future All-Ireland Charter of Rights and in a United Irish Constitution. These will include the right of workers organise, to join trade unions, to negotiate contracts of employment, and to strike. Sinn Féin would establish a Department and Minister of Labour.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Promoting Trade Union Rights and Establishing a Department of Labour
Ending Exploitation
Combating Displacement by Promoting Equal Rights for Migrant Workers
Combating Low Pay
Sick Pay, Overtime Pay and Better Protection from Redundancy
Pension Justice
Enforcing and Improving Workplace Health and Safety
Promoting Work-Life Balance
Promoting Employment Equality
An Equal Economy, Where Wealth is Shared
Sinn Féin believes that we need an economy that is not only strong but also equal. The world's most equal economies are also among the most stable and prosperous. That is what we want for our country.
The 26 Counties may have become one of the world's richest state but it is also one of the most unequal. The policies of successive Irish Governments have created an economy in which the wealthiest 20% now earns more than ten times the income of the poorest 20%.
Inequality is not good for the economy - it is wasteful and costly. It is not equality but poverty that drains public resources. It is far better for all of us when everybody can make their full contribution to our economy and society. When everyone is working and earning a decent income, they are also spending, supporting businesses and paying their fair share of tax to ensure that the Government can provide all the services, social supports and other infrastructure needed to grow and spread prosperity.
All parties claim to oppose poverty and support equality. Only Sinn Féin has brought the Equality Agenda to the centre of all our economic and social policy.
The Sinn Féin Platform for an Equal Economy
Equality is at the heart of Sinn Féin's agenda for government. We believe in the right to universal access to excellent healthcare, education and childcare. We believe in the constitutional right to a home. We believe in building the economy and using the wealth created for the public good. We believe that people should pay according to their ability to pay and that everyone should have equal access to the highest quality public services, infrastructure and social protections.
For ten years there has been unprecedented revenue available to the Irish Government. They have had the ability and the resources to deal effectively with poverty and inequality. They have had the resources to deliver an end to the crisis in the health service, to build social and affordable housing, to provide a decent education system and to introduce comprehensive childcare. They have chosen not to. Sinn Féin would make different choices.
Sinn Féin believes that public finances should be used to share the wealth by ensuring the highest possible quality of infrastructure and public services are available equally to all as of right. We undertake to guarantee that everyone's basic needs and rights to food and warmth, housing, health, education and childcare are met and that all have the benefit of a comprehensive regime of social protections. We are committed to eliminate poverty through the progressive achievement of the equitable distribution of the wealth of Ireland amongst the people of Ireland.
These objectives require taxation justice, a new emphasis on the generation of significant non-tax revenue, and public spending policies that are sustainable, transparent and accountable and that eliminate waste. They will also require the removal of many of the current constraints on our economic sovereignty imposed by the EU.
Eliminating Poverty
Sinn Féin believes that poverty must be eradicated. Our society is now in a better position than ever before to achieve this.
Yet the current Irish Government has failed to use our economic success to benefit everyone. It has failed to share the abundant wealth with those most vulnerable such as the unemployed, large families, lone parent families, those in low-income jobs, older people, and people with disabilities. As a consequence of bad policy choices and wrong priorities, nearly one in five people are still at risk of poverty and struggle to make ends meet. Almost 275,000 people are still poor enough that they lack some of the necessities of life including adequate food, shelter, warmth and clothing. We have one of the highest rates of child poverty in the EU and OECD. Over 60,000 people cannot afford to adequately heat their homes.
All parties pay lip service to eliminating poverty. Only Sinn Féin brings this commitment into the heart of our economic policy and elevates it as our principal economic objective. Elimination of poverty is a national aspiration shared by virtually every Irish person and we are committed to do what is necessary to achieve this goal.
The Sinn Féin Anti-Poverty Platform
We believe there is a positive obligation on government to eliminate poverty by providing a comprehensive system of social supports to ensure that everyone has a decent quality of life, does not lack for essentials, and can access appropriate education and employment. Social welfare reforms should not be used to force people into low paid employment, creating a larger substratum of 'working poor'.
We propose to take all necessary steps to genuinely ease the transition from welfare to work through education and employment measures, accessible and affordable childcare, and appropriate and adequate income supports. We propose a package of measures to raise household incomes, enhance specific supports for low-income families, eradicate food and fuel poverty, bring early school leavers back into education, increase support for unpaid care work and tackle disability-related poverty.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Raising Household Incomes
Enhancing Specific Supports for Lone Parents
Eradicating Food and Fuel Poverty
Bringing Early School Leavers Back Into Education
Increasing Support for Unpaid Care Work
Tackling Disability-Related Poverty
Sharing the Wealth by Financing Better Services, Infrastructure and Social Protections
The most important reason for a Government to raise revenue is for the purpose of financing world class public services and infrastructure and social protections from which all benefit or potentially benefit. Sinn Féin believes that this revenue should be raised fairly: those who have more should pay more, and those who have less should pay less. No tax should be unfair or onerous. No one should have to pay twice as a consequence of service charges and user fees for what should be public services already paid for through taxation. The Government should also seek to raise revenue through methods other than taxation or selling off public assets in order to reduce the burden on taxpayers to the greatest possible extent.
The current system for raising public finance is unjust and needs to change. Successive Government policy has created a situation whereby some of the wealthiest people on this island pay no income tax at all - while people on middle incomes are not only paying tax at a rate of 41%, they also pay disproportionately more of their income on tax through consumption tax (VAT) as well as on the indirect or double taxes of service charges and user fees. Almost one third of the overall tax take is raised through consumption tax. When taken together with excise duties, it amounts to nearly half of all tax receipts.
The coalition government redistributed wealth in favour of the already-wealthy. They have allowed the super-rich to skim off the rest of us. They have also sold off public assets and profitable public companies and contracted public services out privately. This policy has not only deprived the State of important sources of non-tax revenue, it has also subjected people to double taxation.
All parties claim to be in favour of fair taxation but none has made it happen. Only Sinn Féin has the will to tackle the super rich - the exploiters who make super profits by the clever use of tax loopholes - and to maximise public ownership of profitable companies. Sinn Féin is committed to public finance reform and taxation justice, to enhancing non-tax sources of public revenue, and to spending the public wealth responsibly - on the delivery of services, infrastructure and social protections for the benefit of all.
The Sinn Féin Platform for Taxation Justice
Our basic principle is that people should pay according to their ability to pay. We believe that tax policy should be about reducing the burden on low and middle-income people as much as possible. It should be about encouraging local small businesses and the social economy. It should be about ensuring there is sufficient revenue to deliver strong public services, infrastructure and social protections. That is what we would work to see delivered in government.
It is not fair that the lower-paid should subsidise the wealthy, as is currently the case. Everybody should pay their fair share - and no more than that.
The tax system needs to be overhauled to bring about a fair and equal system where everybody pays their fair share. Our first order of business for tax policy will be eliminating and closing all the loopholes and reducing the burden on the lowest-paid. We are also committed to reclaim and protect Irish sovereignty over taxation from encroachment by the EU and to harmonise the tax system on an all-Ireland basis.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Reducing the Tax Burden on the Lowest Paid
Ensuring the Wealthiest Pay their Fair Share
Fundamental Tax Reform
A New Emphasis on Non-Tax Revenue
We aim to keep public service provision high and taxes as low as possible. This means that finding other non-tax sources of public revenue must become a priority. Sinn Féin would therefore put a unique new policy emphasis on maximising non-tax sources of revenue.
Current Government policy is not concerned with this. In 2005 only approximately 1.5% of overall Government revenue came from non-tax sources. There is ample but as yet underdeveloped potential to realise significant revenue from profitable public companies, particularly in strategic sectors such as transport, communications and energy. For example, in 2005 the Exchequer received in excess of €5 million in royalties from Marathon Petroleum, in excess of €10 million from Bord Gáis Éireann, approximately €73.5 million in dividends from the ESB and it is estimated that the Corrib field may contain reserves valued at up to €21 billion.
The experience of Norway where the mineral exploration sector has become one of the engines of economic growth proves the benefits of state involvement in the natural resources sector in particular. Earnings from oil and gas contribute almost one third of state revenue in Norway. In contrast, the Irish Government has actually surrendered our entire stake in any finds, reduced tax levels, abolished royalties and granted long-term frontier licences. All this has been done at a great financial loss to the people of Ireland and the Exchequer.
The Sinn Féin Platform to Enhance Non-Tax Revenue
We would reverse the irresponsible policies of natural resource giveaway and official neglect of opportunities to raise non-tax revenue by investing in profitable public companies.
Moreover, we would invest strategically in the accelerated development of the renewable energy sector, as this is the way of the future: moving us towards environmental sustainability, energy independence and enhanced non-tax sources of public revenue.
We recognise that current EU rules impose some constraints on our objectives. We would therefore work with allies in Europe for the necessary reforms at EU level to remove these impediments, and we would also pursue specific exemptions similar to those achieved by Germany to allow Ireland to use State aid to finance reunification.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Reclaiming our National Resources
Realising the Potential Revenue from Renewable Energy
Maintaining Profitable Companies in Public Ownership
Responsible Spending of Public Wealth in the Public Interest
The big question for many people is whether the vast amount of revenues, generated from both the EU and taxation, are being put to the most efficient use. The answer to that question is No. Official incompetence and corruption have resulted in waste of public resources and failure to meet budget and completion targets. We all know about the faulty electronic voting machines, the PPARS health computer system which does not work, the overruns in the Port Tunnel and other major road and infrastructure projects. There has been some improvement in relation to spending on major road projects in recent months but the overall problem remains. The era of government squandering public finances has to end.
All parties claim a monopoly on fiscal responsibility, but what we need are credible proposals to deal with the problem. Sinn Féin is determined to change the bad planning and procurement policies, the poor decision making and established practices - and to challenge the vested interests, privatisation and lack of public accountability - that have resulted in cost overruns and wastage. We are equally determined to introduce new policies and practices that ensure responsible spending of the public wealth in the public interest.
The Sinn Féin Platform for Responsible Spending
Sinn Féin believes that publicly-funded projects must deliver on budget and on time, and we would take the necessary steps to guarantee value for public money. We propose to introduce efficiency and effectiveness audits to ensure that public spending is meeting economic and social goals. We propose to end the wasting of public funds on Public-Private-Partnerships which are inefficient and ineffective. We propose to introduce significant efficiencies in investment and spending through all-Ireland procurement. And we propose to introduce more direct accountability for public spending and participation in public spending decisions through mechanisms including the establishment of an All-Ireland Consultative Civic Forum.
The Sinn Féin Record in Leinster House:
Introducing Efficiency and Effectiveness Audits
Ending PPP-Related Waste
Introducing All-Ireland Efficiencies in Spending
Increasing Transparency and Accountability in Public Spending