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Don’t Throw Us All Away – PD Manifesto
Read more about: Election Spending, Government, Irish Election, Irish Politics, Manifesto, Policy, Progressive Democrats 
PD manifesto is up on the website some of the main promises;
- Reduce the Tax rates for the higher and standard rates to 38% and 18% respectively.
- REbalanc tax in favour of couples so that they can earn E40,000 tax free and up to E100,000 on the standard rate
More below;
- Abolish Stamp Duty for first time buyers
- Band the rates so you only pay a rate on the portion of value over the threshold
- Maintain investment under Transport 21 for public transport, create the Dublin Transport Authority and make public transport effective for other towns and cities. Roll out a smart ticketing card for all Dublin Transport.
- No mention of privatising public transport.
- Maintain and extend the motorway programme to complete major inter-urban routes by 2010-2015
- Essentially stick to the NDP/Transport 21
- Why did we bother building the port tunnel? Theories on a post card to the usual address. Why do I ask?…”Relocate the industrial activities of Dublin Port over time to Bremore in North County Dublin and redevelop the port site for a high quality mixed use development of cultural commercialand housing as well as a port for cruise and passenger ferries – creating A New Heart for Dublin.” www.newheartfordublin.ie
- The ‘you could have done that in government already’ one;
- In Government the Progressive Democrats will:
• Establish an independent Electoral Commission should be permanently established
to take charge of:
o Overseeing the overall election process in the State.
o Compiling and maintaining the electoral register.
o Setting the boundaries of Dáil constituencies.
• Resist the implementation of any electronic voting system that cannot reliably, and to the
satisfaction of the electorate, produce a transparent, verifiable printed voter audit.
• Engage in a process of meaningful Dáil reform that will see greater number of sitting days
and that maximises the work undertaken on those days.
• Introduce increased use of technology in the legislature, to maximise efficiency and greater
reflect the changing nature of modern business practice.
• Establish an Oireachtas Channel as part of the roll-out of digital terrestrial television and
radio services across the State.
• Implement the key recommendations of the 2004 Oireachtas Committee report on Seanad reform.
- They have gone green too, meet the Kyoto 2012 target and ‘meet the 2020 target’. 30% of electricity from renewable by 2015 and a department of Environment and Energy
- Extra Gardai (around 1,000) if elected.
- Cafe Bars are back in
- Civil partnership proposals for securing non-married couples regardless of sexual orientation
- Pursue restorative justice
- Double childcare supplement to E2,000 have over 50,000 extra childcare places by 2010
12 Guarantees for Patients
- 1. Guarantee of an offer of an appointment for treatment from the National Treatment Purchase Fund, initially after three months’ waiting, reducing to two months for elective procedures.
- 2. Guarantee of seven day a week discharges from hospital. Patients in hospital will be discharged as soon as medically ready. No patient will stay in hospital waiting over a weekend for a doctor to make a discharge decision.
- 3. Guarantee of quality cancer care for people in every region. Cancer patients in all parts of the country will receive the same quality standard of care. The cancer centres will be required to manage services to meet target, short treatment times for each aspect of cancer care.
- 4. Guaranteed frequency of screening calls for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer.
- 5. Guarantee that all children needing cardiac and cancer care procedures will be treated as soon as medically ready.
- 6. Guarantee that all beds in publicly-funded hospitals will be routinely available to all patients, starting at co-location campuses.
- 7. Guarantee that standards of hygiene and infection control are enforced for patient safety, with the ultimate sanction of withdrawal of a license for failure to adhere to standards.
- 8. Guarantee that hospitals will be organised to meet the target that no-one will wait for admission or discharge at an A&E Department beyond six hours from the time they arrive.
- 9. Guarantee that no-one will face unaffordable nursing home care costs.
- 10. Guarantee that clear standards are communicated, set and enforced in nursing homes and residential care settings.
- 11. Guarantee that patients will have available a range of high quality, primary care, mental health and community health services, accessible locally in modern centres and delivered by teams of skilled GPs and other professionals.
- 12. Guaranteed assessment for services and a personal plan for persons with disabilities.
- Explicit licensing system for Hospital quality
- Increasing the number of NEPS psychologists from 127 today to over 200 in the next two years
- No fees for third level
- NDP 2 billion for improving equity in access to education
- Complete review of grants system
- 0.7% of GNP in Aid by 2012
- Transfer Equality out of Dept Justice to a new Department of Social and Equality affairs which will govern integration
If anyone believes a word of this shite, they need to have their heads examined.
McDowell is almost as big a liar as Pinocchio Ahern…
And almost as full of shit as Cowboy Kenny, Three hugger Sargent, Comrade Rabbitt and Osama Adams. They are all going to fill us with promises they have no intention of keeping over the next 3 weeks. The election campaign has been on for 3 months. I wish we could just vote now and put these guys out of our misery.
Another closest government supporter who doesn’t have a blog or a profile or any means to track what he says. Where are government supporters online?
Actually I’m not sure what it makes me but as I recall 5 years ago I voted for candidates in the order of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Independent and Fine Gael. I can’t remember the rest but I generally go all the way down the list. I didn’t realise I needed to be a blogger to contribute to the discussion here. I’ll come back in 6 months when I’ve quit my job and devoted myself to blogging so that I can dare to add my opinion beside yours.
Regards,
Stephen McNamara
p.s.
And by the way Dan I’m yet another NUI voter you’ve pissed off with your attitude. Best of luck in the election and save the environment by not sending me your leaflet.
You don’t need to be a blogger, to contribute. I would just prefer if people would have a consistent handle so we can tell one stephen from another stephen. I’m sure that you can understand why that would be problematic when people pop up and disappear again. There is nothing to stop someone else coming along and posting as ‘stephen’, how do I even know that you’re the same ‘stephen’ as the first ‘stephen’. I’ve come across loads of contributors who expres opinions in support of the government who do the same thing.
So I’m sorry my ‘attitude’ has pissed you off but I think most people can understand where I’m coming from.
Is it necessary for anyone who posts a comment here to have a blog or a profile?
If you don’t, are you accused of having an agenda?
Well my agenda is anti-PD.
My hope for this election is that this group of anti-society extremists will be wiped out, and we can start repairing all the damage they have done to this country.
I can assure you, Dan, that this will be my consistent opinion before, during and after the election.
Patsh, it is not necessary or a requirement to have a blog or a profile. Just that it makes it easier to follow whether or not we’re really dealing with the same person each time. I referred to “stephen” as a closet government supporter because he named checked everyone except Ahern, so it’s reasonable enough to think that he believes Ahern isn’t going to someone who will ” fill us with promises they have no intention of keeping over the next 3 weeks.”
And I was simply noting that for whatever reason those contribution online tend to be more so from the opposition, though I would also say it is my impression is that there are more PDs than FFers. It’s just an impression and could be more reflective of where I read stuff online.
To Dump the PDs:
First reason… understanding. We do not value inequality nor extol its necessity. We understand that some people acheive much less than others and that some place wealth above all else. We can manage to tolerate the reality of inequality by acting to dispel its effects.
Second reason…. gist. The fine residue of perjury, scam and collusion. Legal shorthand for “there will always be bastards who can buy their way out of prison”.
Third reason…. integrity. The political ethos that spawned Mr. Brian Curtin’s career (?) as a judge must be vacuous.
Fourth reason…. education. Do we need a policy???? The global economy needs hot houses lets not get confused here!
Fifth reason… representative democracy. A form of joined up thinking distinct from that found in crossword puzzles. An autocrat’s cul de sac.
The Irish Independent recently reported that the Minister’s constituency office did not conform to Dublin city planning regulations. The reply was: we sell PD literature and paraphenalia and, as such, conform with the planning law. So would there be VAT returns to that effect?