FG Manifesto out

nesf

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0215/finegaelmanifesto.pdf

Peruse at your leisure people. I'd give a synopsis except I'm still reading it myself. Still, interesting reading.

Ghost Estate

No property tax

Good stuff!

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Reilly616

Just skimmed, but I didn't find anything about same-sex marriages or reforming of religious discrimination (except in education).

mgmt

Still reading, but I really disagree with this on page7:

Fine Gael will reduce the voting age to 17 and give eligible citizens the right to vote at Irish embassies in the Presidential election.

17 is too young.

Clanket

mgmt wrote: »

Still reading, but I really disagree with this on page7:



17 is too young.

Why? Not really much difference between a 17 and 18 year old. Most of them probably wont be arséd voting anyway.

mgmt

Clanket wrote: »

Why? Not really much difference between a 17 and 18 year old. Most of them probably wont be arséd voting anyway.

At 17, you are still in the sheltered environment of school and have not truly developed as a person.

FG Manifesto
Overseas Missions: We believe that the Triple Lock must be modified to allow Ireland participate in peacekeeping missions. The failure of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution should not prevent us from taking part in overseas missions. We believe that Irish troops should be capable of being deployed at short notice, if requested, to assist in emergency relief efforts at times of humanitarian crises.

Disagree with this also. We should not be doing overseas missions when we can't even defend ourselves e.g. relying on the UK for air cover, not being able to defend our fishing rights. Going to places like Chad to support colonial interests is not in the best interest of Ireland.

Michael Collins Medal:
To commemorate the forthcoming centenary of the creation of the Irish Volunteers, we will strike a medal named after General Michael Collins and will discuss with military authorities the nature of the award and to whom it should be given

I can see some objections from FF.:D

Air Traffic Controllers:
As an island nation, Air Traffic Controllers provide an essential service to the Irish economy. We will legislate to ensure any ATC grievances must first be taken to the Labour Relations Commission and then Labour Court before any industrial action can take place.

Good nip this one in the bud.

Overall I'm impressed, it reinforces my voting decision.

dashboard_hula

There's so much basic stuff in there that FG say they'll fix that you wonder what the hell the government has been doing for the past 4 years....

I know the bigger topics will take years to sort out, but I really, really hope that the new government will take a checklist approach to some of the smaller or less budget-dependent issues and just get.it.done.
I don't want to hear at the next GE about the bloody passport structure still needing to be sorted, or FAS still having their performance meetings @ 5 star resorts.

And it turns out that I've swung much further right in the last 12 years than I thought I would. My Granda's going to have kittens when he hears I'm voting FG.

Clanket

mgmt wrote: »

At 17, you are still in the sheltered environment of school and have not truly developed as a person

Theres many an 18 year old still in school. And you don't magically grow up as soon as you leave school or turn 18.

Riskymove

mgmt wrote: »

Still reading, but I really disagree with this on page7:



17 is too young.

you can have sex, children, get married etc

I think its reasonable you can vote for your future prospects

mgmt

Clanket wrote: »

Theres many an 18 year old still in school. And you don't magically grow up as soon as you leave school or turn 18.

Not that many. Imagine the Gombeen politics when every school demands their students to vote for new gyms etc.

nesf

Something interesting:

Capping Tax Relief on Big Pensions: The net objective of our changes will be to cap taxpayer contributions to existing public and private sector schemes that deliver pensions of greater than €60,000 in retirement, while maintaining adequate incentives for younger, middle incomes families to continue to save for their retirement. There will, per usual, be transition arrangements for those approaching retirement.

This is very good I think. It protects your average middle class highish earner and will only really effect very high earners. 60K a year retirement income is a very good bar at present I think for a cap on State support.

snubbleste

5.3 Fine Gael will reverse the ban on stag hunting.

Amtmann

snubbleste wrote: »

5.3 Fine Gael will reverse the ban on stag hunting.

Well spotted. Ridiculous. There are quite a few nuggets in there for rural Ireland, very few of which I'm keen on.

WeeBushy

Quick scan through with my intial reactions...

Rural Activities: Fine Gael will reverse the ban on stag hunting.

:mad:

Mediation: Fine Gael will take the steps necessary to encourage and facilitate the use of mediation to resolve commercial, civil and family disputes in order to speed up the resolution of such disputes, reducelegal costs and ameliorate the stress of being involved in contested court proceedings.

Free to Air: We will maintain the current regime with regard to the Heineken Cup.

Climate Change Legislation: Fine Gael will legislate for a climate change law that sets the Kyoto andEU2020 targets in national legislation but only on the basis of all party agreement.

:mad:

Supporting Marriage: Fine Gael recognises the value of the family based on the institution of marriage.

:mad: (depending on their definition of marraige, can't figure out if they are referring to the RC idea of marriage, or the union of two individuals)

Supporting Irish Pubs: Fine Gael recognises the importance of the Irish pub for tourism, rural jobs and as a social outlet in communities across the country. We will support the local pub by banning the practice of below cost selling on alcohol, particularly by large supermarkets and the impact this has had on alcohol consumption and the viability of pubs.

:mad:

passive

Ugh... Lots of those things bother me. But I agree with their economic policy and I think that's more important right now than social policy so... resentful voting!

bijapos

snubbleste wrote: »

5.3 Fine Gael will reverse the ban on stag hunting.

I wonder what Alan Shatter has to say about this. He is a former president of the Irish Council against Blood Sports.

PeterIanStaker

I would have liked to have seen Civil Partnership/Same sex unions in the manifesto.

nesf

WeeBushy wrote: »

:mad: (depending on their definition of marraige, can't figure out if they are referring to the RC idea of marriage, or the union of two individuals)

I think it's a sop thrown to their more conservative wing at most. There's no word about actually legislating on the issue.

andrewire

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Low taxes?! That's such a joke. FG will undoubtedly increase taxes in the coming years if in power. The level of our debt is so astronomical that they will have to do it so saying the contrary is, quiet frankly, misleading the people.

andrewire

PeterIanStaker wrote: »

I would have liked to have seen Civil Partnership/Same sex unions in the manifesto.

FG is against same-sex unions. I have been told this by two FG TDs: Lucinda Creighton and Leo Varadkar. They will do nothing for the gays.

ei.sdraob

Adopt a Road Scheme: We will study an ‘Adopt a Road’ scheme that would allow private companies to
advertise on national routes in return for contractual agreements to keep sponsored roads litter free and in
good condition. The result will be better kept national roads and savings for the local authorities.

Interesting idea

dashboard_hula

C'mere can someone confirm something for me (armchair debate going on next door). If FG gain a majority of TD's (how many do they need for that?) in the Dail, then basically they are guaranteed passage of any measures introduced, without requiring a coalition with Labour or the support of independents? I know this might be obvious to most of ye, but bear with me.

Does the Constitution have anything to say about non-elected politicians being made a Minister, or is there any amendment required?

Finally, and this might have to go in another thread, but I'll throw it out anyway - FG have traditionally been slightly conservative in social matters, but it's not as rabid an issue to them as it would be to say conservatives in the US, so if massive public support was there for something that 20 years ago they would have balked at, they'd go with the flow? I remember they either supported or didn't object to divorce being legalised, and they support civil unions while not being wild about full gay marriage?

limklad

I am very much against their Defence policy. That a red line with me.

I will not be voting for Fine Gael now. We cannot afford EU defence upgrade equipment.
We can barely afford peace keeping missions and pay for the Banks. Also our young are leaving our shores and we grieving with them leaving to work elsewhere.
Seeing British families suffering with their young coming home from both Iraq and Afghanistan serious injured, emotionally and psychological damaged or worst still dead for the family to buried have firmed up my opinion. I do not see the difference between NATO and EU Defence as the EU defence is to complement NATO as many of the joint EU/NATO members says.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Security_and_Defence_Policy
http://www.finegael.org/upload/file/fgneutrality.pdf
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fg-urges-end-to-neutrality-despite-lisbon-vote-1586282.html

Greens or Independents more likely get my vote now.

limklad

limklad wrote: »

I am very much against their Defence policy. That a red line with me.

I will not be voting for Fine Gael now. We cannot afford EU defence upgrade equipment.
We can barely afford peace keeping missions and pay for the Banks. Also our young are leaving our shores and we grieving with them leaving to work elsewhere.
Seeing British families suffering with their young coming home from both Iraq and Afghanistan serious injured, emotionally and psychological damaged or worst still dead for the family to buried have firmed up my opinion. I do not see the difference between NATO and EU Defence as the EU defence is to complement NATO as many of the joint EU/NATO members says.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Security_and_Defence_Policy
http://www.finegael.org/upload/file/fgneutrality.pdf
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fg-urges-end-to-neutrality-despite-lisbon-vote-1586282.html

Greens or Independents more likely get my vote now.

Neutrality is a sham, just look at what the UN did for Yugoslavia compared with NATO. Sarajevo was under seige for 4 years with genocide of tens of thousands of people. The UN watched for years, when NATO intervened it ended with a peace treaty in 3 weeks

Lawrence1895

andrewire wrote: »

FG is against same-sex unions. I have been told this by two FG TDs: Lucinda Creighton and Leo Varadkar. They will do nothing for the gays.

Of course, they won't :mad:

And what's next? A law against multinational marriages?

mgmt

WeeBushy wrote: »

Quick scan through with my intial reactions...

Climate Change Legislation: Fine Gael will legislate for a climate change law that sets the Kyoto andEU2020 targets in national legislation but only on the basis of all party agreement.

:mad:

Restricting our economy based on 'climate change' will be a top job killer. Hopefully this is one measure that FG will not implement.

The Volt

No chance of even a transfer from me now. They don't give a flying fúck about social policy. Says a lot for the type of society they want to foster.

RandolphEsq

mgmt wrote: »

Restricting our economy based on 'climate change' will be a top job killer. Hopefully this is one measure that FG will not implement.

But we do not want another ice age surely?

Chucky the tree

Most of it is pretty solid, nothing that would be enough to put me off voting for them.

Reilly616

andrewire wrote: »

FG is against same-sex unions. I have been told this by two FG TDs: Lucinda Creighton and Leo Varadkar. They will do nothing for the gays.

If this is true, then it loses them my transfer.