Fine Gael’s Local Election Manifesto
2009
Local Strength, National Recovery

Message from Enda Kenny TD

1.
Creating Jobs – Getting Ireland Back to Work
2.
Protecting Small and Medium Businesses
3.
Reforming Local Government – Business & Employment
4.
Fixing the Banks
5.
Better Planning
6.
Climate Change
7.
Reducing Waste – Improving Water
8.
Creating a Fair Care Health System
9.
Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour
10.
Supporting Communities
11.
Improving our Universities
12.
Improving our Schools
13.
Transport
14.
Developing Agriculture

Guaranteed Change
Fine Gael believes that Ireland can return to growth and prosperity if we have the courage and vision to change the way we run our economy and govern our country.
Ireland is facing its worst economic crisis since the foundation of the State. By Christmas, at least 500,000 people will be out of work.
Across the country, anxious families are looking to Government for answers, for a sense that it has a plan to get things moving again. So far, the Fianna Fáil Government’s only answer has been to make ordinary people pay the price for its many failures.
Above all Ireland needs a Government that is not afraid of new ideas, and is willing to embrace radical change. Fine Gael can and does embrace change. We are not offering instant, easy solutions to Ireland’s many problems. But we do have a bold, ambitious plan, which will also strengthen local democracy, to get Ireland growing again.
Fine Gael’s plan for Ireland is built around three elements:
1.
A New Approach to Government
2.
A Greener, Smarter Economy, and
3.
A Fairer Ireland

A New Approach to Government
Over the last ten years, the Government has thrown money at every problem in the public sector, without making any real change to the way the system works. Billions are wasted, even as services for the most vulnerable are cut, and taxpayers are hammered by additional charges and levies.
The rest of this report can be viewed at http://www.finegael.org/policy/a/18/article/

 FG Local Govt Plan will drive job creation and abolish quangos

Abolish/merge 95 quangos + freeze rates for 5 years

Fine  Gael Environment Spokesman Phil Hogan TD has  set out his  Party’s  plans  to  reform  Local  Government:  ‘Power to the People –
Bringing Local Government Back to the People’. This latest Fine Gael policy is another ambitious plan to completely shake up Government structures, and follows  similar  proposals  for  the  Oireachtas, healthcare and education reform.

The  Fine  Gael plan will see Local Government become the primary driver of business  support  and development at local level. It will involve 95 State bodies  being  merged  or abolished, saving millions of euros for taxpayers every year, and freezing local business rates for the next five years.

“Local  Government  must  play  an integral role in dragging Ireland out of recession  and  in  driving  job  creation. However, Local Government is in limbo,  if  not  in  crisis.  Local  Government has lacked a strong primary mission  for  decades  with  power and services being devolved to unelected ‘quangos’. Fine Gael will change all that. Our plan, ‘Power to the People’, will see:

Local  Government  become  the primary driver of business support and development  at  local level. This will involve ending the wide-scale  duplication  of  services  among  unelected  bodies and bringing them  under  one  roof in Local Authorities to create a one-stop-shop. Fine  Gael-controlled  Councils  will  freeze  local business rates for the next 5 years;  Ninety-five   quangos   merged   or  abolished:  53  bodies  will  be  amalgamated  into  Local Government with the complete abolition of 42  more. This will result in an administrative saving to the taxpayer of over €70 million a year;  In  planning,  separate  transport  and  education  plans  need to be  included  in  the planning process and in County and City Development Plans;  Fine  Gael will support a directly-elected Lord Mayor for Dublin City   for   a  term  of  five  years  from  2014  provided  that  relevant, significant powers for the Mayor have been decided;   Simple  reforms  in  the  structure  of  Local  Government to improve   services  to both the public and elected representatives, including a  special  customer service unit which will be uniform across all local  authorities based on best practice.

“We want to see savings and efficiencies rather than new taxes and charges . We  need  to  restore  trust,  services  and  responsibility  back to Local Government.  Putting  Local  Government  back  into  a  central role in the community  will  result in greater community cohesion, better services, and more  employment opportunities, all the while saving millions of taxpayers’ hard-earned millons.

Agriculture  Minister  must spell out what EU meeting on dairy sector achieved

Fine Gael Agriculture Spokesperson, Michael Creed TD,  said the use of unspent CAP funds would not be enough to tackle Ireland’s dairy crisis and the Agriculture Minister must spell out what he actually achieved in his discussions with Commissioner Fischer Boel.

“Minister Smith has previously suggested that unspent CAP funds may be available to save the sheep sector.  Now there’s a suggestion from Europe that they can be used to assist the struggling dairy sector.  The reality is unspent CAP funds aren’t going to be sufficient to deal with the dairy crisis alone, never mind the sheep sector as well.

“The Agriculture Minister’s statements are getting longer and more meaningless by the day.  The latest missive outlines extensively the inner workings of the Minister’s mind on dairy sector supports and concludes that he had a ‘useful’ exchange with Commissioner Fischer Boel.  Since he tells us nothing of what the Commissioner actually said I’m not sure the exchange was useful to anyone besides the Minister.  We need to know what is actually being achieved to aid the ailing dairy sector and the Minister needs to come back from Europe with something more than a stream of consciousness and some vague noises about unspent CAP funds.”

FG secures crucial measures for ports and harbours across Ireland

Senator Donohoe improves flawed Govt Bill

Fine Gael has secured crucial changes to new laws on ports and harbours in the Seanad  which will ensure that local interests are taken into account in future plans for the facilities. The Party’s Seanad Transport Spokesman, Senator Paschal Donohoe has secured two amendments to the Harbours (Amendment) Bill 2008 before it is passed on to the Dáil.

“Fine Gael been successful in getting two vital changes made to the new Harbours Bill which will ensure that local interests are taken into account in future plans for all of Ireland’s ports and harbours.

“Junior Minister Noel Ahern accepted my two proposals that:    

 changes to ports or harbours must be consistent with local city or county development plans;
 And the need for public consultation in any changes has been placed on a statutory footing.

“However, I do not accept that there is any need to amalgamate ports or harbour in the immediate future. And I remain very concerned that the Government is still seeking to reduce the role of local representatives on port and harbour authorities, in yet another attack on local democracy.“As a maritime nation, Ireland’s ports are vital for commerce, fishing and travel as well as the burgeoning marine tourism sector. Fine Gael will continue to fight for the interests of our ports in order to ensure their long term future.”

Fine Gael Proposals for

Oireachtas Reform

March 2009

1.      The Executive

• Reduce the number of Junior Ministers to 12.
• Increase the accountability channels for Ministers to the Dáil.
• Reduce ministerial staff associated with constituency matters to 2.

2.      Civil Service

• Cut and cap pay and conditions of senior management in Civil Service. 
• No special payments to be made to senior management in Civil Service or agencies arising from failure to discharge their remit.
• Provide for wider external recruitment with management skills into the civil service from the private sector at all levels.
• Modernise employment practices in the public service to take account of developments in current employment arrangements so that performance related practices can be employed.
• Facilitate flexibility in working arrangements in the public services to facilitate cross agency transfers.
• Provide protection for whistleblowers in the public service to make complaints to a dedicated statutory officer in private such that they can be investigated and pursued if appropriate.

3.      Oireachtas

• Dáil

i.        Extend the Dáil sitting times to 4 days per week.

ii.       Reduce the number of Joint Oireachtas Committees from 19 to 9.

iii.     No allowances will be paid for committee chairperson, vice chairpersons or convenors.

iv.     Allow for wider use of pairing where TDs are engaged in Committee work.

v.      Make ministers amenable to the public accounts committee in relation to policy decisions.

vi.     Extend the power of the Dáil Committees to hold people to account – in particular introduce new Constitutional amendment to reverse effect of Abbeylara decision.

vii.   Appoint parliamentary inspectors to assist parliamentary committees in investigative roles that will reduce the requirement for tribunals of inquiry

viii.  TD’s will be allowed to raise topical matters on a daily basis.

ix.     Leaders Questions to be reformed to allow more supplementary questions.

x.      Ministerial Pensions – no ministerial pensions should be paid while a member continues to serve in either house of the Oireachtas.  This new arrangement should apply to all relevant members simultaneously.

•  Seanad Eireann

i.        Membership of the Seanad to be comprised of

·  23 to be elected by members of local councils & public representatives.

·  20 to be elected by directly by the general electorate based on euro constituencies. These elections to take place every five years on the same date as local and European elections.

·  Right of address in the Seanad conferred on MEPs and former Taoisigh.

·  Six senators will be elected by all Graduates after each general election.

·  11 senators will be nominated by the Taoiseach.

ii.       Provide Seanad Eireann with additional powers to;

·  Review proposed EU legislation.

·  Take presentations from the public on matters of national importance.

·  Initiate constitutional referenda on matters of public importance.

·  Power to ask the President to test the constitutionality of a Bill under Art 26.

·   Interview applicants for various prescribed public positions (C&AG; Ombudsman).

4.      Elections

i.        Establish an Electoral Commission that will assume the electoral responsibilities of SIPO and will be in charge of;

·  The conduct of elections

·  The registration of voters

·  The registration of political parties

·  The monitoring of election expenditure

·  The determination of constituency boundaries and the number of representatives

·  Advising the Minister on electoral reforms

·  Date for elections to be prescribed in set 5-year terms, unless the Dail is otherwise dissolved.

5.      Ethics and transparency in office

·  The new Electoral Commission will be free to investigate complaints on its own initiative at national or local government level.

·  Commission power to make mandatory codes of conduct in relation to office holders, public representatives, public servants and certain designated persons.

·  Responsible for monitoring adherence with disclosure of interests legislation and registers.

·  Prosecuting function.

·  Regulate lobbyists and persons or organisations involved in lobbying.

·  Introduce sanction of disqualification from office for persons guilty of unethical behaviour.

6.       Transparency

·  Reinstate FOI legislation as originally enacted.

·  Strengthen role of Ombudsman.

·  Provide for maximum levels of public access to parliamentary and local authority debates via the web.

7.     Committees and Other Reform

Current Situation

1.       Nineteen (19) Joint Committees (see table 1) and Nine (9) standing committees, of which three are activated as required.

2.       British /Irish Parliamentary Association.

3.       Payment is made to 23 chairs, 22 vice –chairs, 27 convenors and 2 chairs of Sub Committees. The total cost is €955,000.

4.       There are eight (8) paid members of the Commission, at a cost of €160,000.

Recommendations

1.       Reduce the nineteen (19) Joint committees to ten (9), through amalgamation, as Per Table 3, five (5) chairs and vice-chairs should come from the opposition.

2.       The Standing Committees are reduced to three.

3.       Abolish all remuneration.

4.       The number on each committee should be sufficiently small to ensure that no member is on more than one committee. The government should have a majority on each committee.

5.       The chair of the Public Accounts Committee will continue to be a member of the Opposition.

Full Report Available on http://www.finegael.ie

I welcome Fine Gaels proposals for amended Radical Overhaul of the Dail and the Seanad. The public perception of the two houses is that they are top heavy and that there is a urgent need for streamlining to reduce costs while increasing productivity and effectiveness. The Seanad is seen to be remote from the people with no real role or tangible benefit.