EAPN Ireland Election Blog No. 10
By Robin Hanan, EAPN Ireland (with thanks to Paul Ginnell for detailed analysis of party manifestoes)
Time to vote
As the election campaign draws to a close, EAPN Ireland urges all of our members and friends to do three things:
- Vote tomorrow (Friday 26th)
- When you vote, think about the implications for people affected by poverty and for a more or less inclusive Ireland
- Encourage your family and friend to do the same
How to vote
To vote effectively in our system, you need to know four things:
- Mark the candidates in order of preference on your sheet. Your favourite gets a ‘1’, your second favourite gets a ‘2’ etc.. until you reach the one you dislike most who gets your lowest number (in fact no need to write a number – if you mark the others 1 to 12 in a 13-canddiate race, it is clear that the only one you don’t mark is number 13
- Your lower preferences can NEVER, EVER be used against your higher preferences. If you mark a 4 opposite a candidate, this vote can only transfer after 1,2 and 3 on your list are either elected or eliminated. It can only be used to give a slight preference for the person you marked 4 against those you marked 5, 6 etc., never against your 1,2,3.
- To avoid spoiling your vote, don’t mark the same number twice. (two 1s on the paper will disqualify your vote. Two 2s will make it non-transferrable, etc.) An X can be counted as a 1, but better not to risk it – use numbers. Don’t write anything that could identify you on the paper – that will rule it out. For safety, better not to write any smart remarks on the paper at all – that’s what Facebook is for.
- Bring I.D. with you in case you are challenged. You don’t need a polling card, but bring it if you have it.
Voting to end poverty
The election itself is not going to +reverse the devastation to so many lives, particularly since the economic and social collapse of 2008. However, the strength of the parties negotiating a programme for government after the election, and the strong voices fro the opposition benches keeping poverty issues on the agenda, will make a difference to who benefits from the recovery (or who suffers for another downturn).
The EAPN Ireland briefing on poverty and proposals for 2016-2021 identifies the main elements of an anti-poverty strategy needed:
- A comprehensive strategy against poverty
- A strategy for a decent income
- A strategy for quality jobs
- A strategy for quality services:
- A strategy to end homelessness and ensure housing for all
- A strategy based on human rights, dignity and equality
- A strategy which we can afford “… a five-year plan to bring overall Irish taxation levels from their current 30% of GDP to the EU average, which is currently 40% of GDP.
We have tried to track the responses to the parties, which are given on the previous nine election blogs. Here are some pointers.
What do the parties say about an anti-poverty strategy?
- The Anti-Austerity Alliance – People Before Profit do not specify the structures, but include policies throughout their manifesto(es) to redistribute resources to low and middle incomes.
- Fine Gael proposes a new Integrated Framework for Social Inclusion, built on our three pillars of i. More and Better Jobs; ii. Long Term Thinking for Better Services; iii. Equality of Opportunity. – help eliminate any persisting discrimination and draw on existing as well as new strategies.
- The Green Party calls for an approach that tackles the disease of poverty globally rather than the symptom of migration.
- The Labour Party proposes to produce a new National Action Plan for Social Inclusion in 2017, with the eradication of child poverty the primary objective of that action plan. They want to establish a new body, the End Child Poverty Commission, to work to eradicate child poverty to make sure that we at least halve child poverty by 2021. They support a strong, social Europe that delivers for its citizens
- Sinn Fein plan to fund the rollout of an area-based anti-poverty programme based on the Young Ballymun model.
- The Social Democrats want to set and official all-of-Government target of ending Consistent Child Poverty by 2021, led by An Taoiseach; within 6 months develop a New Anti-Poverty Strategy, with clear targets, timeframes and lines of responsibility, and with families as a key focus; poverty-proof all Budgets and set against the targets of the new Anti-Poverty Strategy and replicate targeted area-based investment similar to the Young Ballymun programme
Is anyone talking about income and welfare?
EAPN Ireland Policy Officer, in the second of these blogs Income and welfare – the forgotten debate?, lays out the issues and the manifesto proposals of the main parties.
More recently Writing in the Irish Times, John FitzGerald of the ESRI says: Main parties’ manifestos fall short on welfare payments. He continues:
“Social welfare payments provide the vital safety net for those who cannot work. The welfare system plays a major role in providing a more equal distribution of income than the market would deliver, and in preventing individuals and families falling below the poverty line.
“Ireland’s social welfare system has proven a more important lever than the tax system for redistributing income from the rich to the poor. ..Even in a period of low inflation, significant resources will be needed over the next five years just to maintain the real value of welfare payments.
“In the Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin manifestos there is a specific budget for social welfare, while in the Fianna Fáíl manifesto no budget is specified but a number of commitments are made to index certain benefits.
“On a crude calculation it could require the best part of €2 billion to maintain the real value of welfare payments for five years. The highest planned allocation for welfare of €1.7 billion is set out in the Labour manifesto. Fine Gael allocates around €1.4 billion, and Sinn Féin €900 million.
“The Labour commitment would go close to indexation, and it makes specific commitments on pensions and child benefit which amount to indexation. The Fine Gael allocation would fall short of providing for indexation of all benefits, but it has a commitment to index pensions. It also provides for an enhanced working family payment, which would leave less funds for indexing other benefits. Fianna Fáil does not give details of any budget allocation, but it does commit to indexing pensions. Also it makes provision for an increase in child benefit and working age payments, though at a rate below the likely rate of inflation. Sinn Féin has the smallest allocation for social welfare, only half of what would probably be needed to maintain the real value of welfare payments.”
To balance this assessment, it should be noted that Sinn Fein proposes to reinstate the full rate of Jobseekers Allowance for under 26s, recognise the cost of disability by increasing Disability Allowance by €20 and raise the cut-off age of the One- Parent Family Payment to 12 years old. The AAA/PBP propose to reverse cuts to welfare rates and One Parent Family Payment. Al parties have a range of improvements to welfare in their manifestoes. See our blog Income and welfare – the forgotten debate?
Renua wants to make welfare payments conditional on 20 hours’ community service.
What about quality jobs?
The EAPN Ireland blog Towards a ‘living wage’ – what does it mean and what are the parties saying? covers just what the title says, going into the manifestoes of the parties in some detail.
ICTU have tracked the election debates in some detail, and they report on their special web page. They provide a list of candidates who have signed up to their charter on Fair Conditions at Work.
What about unemployment?
The INOU has produced a detailed analysis of the positions of different political parties under three headings:
- Support unemployed people to achieve a minimum essential standard of living
- Deliver better services for unemployed people
- Provide unemployed people with decent and sustainable jobs
Are they talking about homelessness?
EAPN Ireland election blog No 8 looked at the positions of NGOs working for the homeless and how the issues are reflected in political parties’ manifestoes. This has been a big issue in the campaigns, for obvious and tragic reasons, and it will be important to se how this is reflected in the new programme for Government.
How will we pay for decent income, services and jobs?
Tax has been a big part of the election debate. Very few parties are explicitly calling for an increase in overall tax take to pay for services.
The Social Democrats are calling for the current tax level to be maintained to allow for investment in services.
The Green Party continues to support a Basic Income and refundable tax credits, and a basic income has also been mentioned by Fianna Fail in the campaign
AAA/PBP propose a range of new taxes on the rich and corporations while Renua proposes a flat tax on all income.
The issue of abolition of USC (Fine Gael) or abolition on lower incomes (Fianna Fail and Labour) has been a big one in the election debates.
Sinn Fein is proposing a wealth tax.
Health, disability, childcare, communities etc., etc.
This election has been tracked buy more interest groups than any other. EAPN Ireland Election Blog no. 3 lists a number of these, while Blog No 2 gives an overview from the point of view of the Community Platform’s Four Tests for the Next Government.
Some analyses of manifestos and party positions include:
And remember … It’s not over when the voting is finished.
Keep the information you have gathered during the election campaign and remind your representatives of their commitments as the new Programme for Government is negotiated and as the new Dáil debates policies to end poverty. The struggle conti8nues until poverty is ended.
Reminder: Here are the previous 9 EAPN Ireland election blogs:
9. Guest Blog – an Tánaiste Joan Burton, TD, Labour
6. Guest Blog: Gerry Adams TD, Sinn Fein
5. Guest blog: Lucinda Creighton, TD, Renua
2. Community Platform’s Four Tests for the Next Government
1. Intro: Poverty in the election
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EAPN Ireland 
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