The electorate deserves a better quality of life from Ireland's booming economy, Labour party leader Pat Rabbitte said today.
Speaking at the unveiling of Labour's election poster advertising campaign this afternoon, Mr Rabbitte said the party's election mantra "But, Are You Happy?" reflected what Labour was hearing on the doorstep.
He said the campaign slogan would "strike a chord with the electorate, because they are asking themselves: 'Is this all there is, and is it worth it?'," said Mr Rabbitte.
Mr Rabbitte told ireland.com: "I'm here to provoke a debate with the Irish people about the quality of life. I'm here to say that yes we have a successful economy, but what is all this for if we don't improve the quality of life of the people who are generating that wealth.
"Remember . . . it is the people who have created that wealth; in return they are entitled to expect a greater quality of life," he said.
Mr Rabbitte refused to commit the party to matching a Progressive Democrats' pre-election promise to increase the State pension by nearly €100 per week if elected into Government.
However, Mr Rabbitte said he "accepted" that pension concerns are a "quality of life" issue and insisted that Labour would fight the election from that perspective.
Fine Gael and Labour are to sign an agreed economic and taxation plan within weeks, which will include Labour's pledge to cut the standard tax rate to 18 per cent within two years.
Talks on an agreed Fine Gael/ Labour economic election platform have been under way for months, though both sides yesterday indicated that they expected them to conclude early next month. Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton said Fine Gael/Labour pre-election tax commitments would have to be part of a wider economic package, including tax bands, spending and better value for money.
Defending his proposal, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the tax plan would cost just over €1 billion, while other pre-election commitments would cost €1.25 billion, so it was "very modest, really".
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said today Mr Rabbitte's approach lacked consistency.
"My preoccupation as Minister for Finance . . . is to make sure the people are allowed look at what is a sustainable budgetary position going forward," Mr Cowen said.
"The idea that you can on any whim on any weekend, as Mr Rabbitte decided, to regard the Exchequer as bottomless pit to dip into to fund every passing whim, as I've said, is not a sensible or responsible approach.
"[Pat Rabbitte] spent years of attacking the tax-cutting agenda of the Government, and now as he's getting excited as we approach a General Election, years of Socialist conviction are thrown out the window."
The Progressive Democrats this morning promised to increase the State pension to €300 per week, an increase of nearly €100 per week, if re-elected into Government.
The announcement, which came in a 36-page supplement published by the Irish Independent, is being seen as a move designed to buy votes from the older generation and to counter the party's recent weak showing at the opinion polls.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning Tánaiste Michael McDowell denied that the move represented "auction politics".
The PD leader said: "It's not a question of buying votes, it's a question of doing justice to those people in our society who have worked in the past, many of them at periods when the country wasn't doing so well.
"It's not offering money, it's telling people what they are voting for," he added.
Mr McDowell said the money for the pension increases are based on a five-year programme taken from a conservative outlook of economic growth in Ireland.
However, the Green Party's spokesman on social and family affairs, Dan Boyle, said the PD's proposals amounted to nothing more than "superficial magic numbers" that failed to deal with inequalities within the pensions system.
"Where is the shame at policies that have perpetuated inequality amongst those who are retired, such as giving more away in tax relief to support private pensions than is paid directly in State pensions?" Mr Boyle asked.
"With likely inflation rates over the next five years, we need pension increases of at least €25 a week per year to move us closer to the EU pension average. That is 40 per cent higher than what the PDs are proposing, but it is the level of increase that the Green Party will be striving to achieve if part of the next Government," he said.