A NUMBER of new promises are being made to voters by Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats on the eve of polling. drawing accusations from the Coalition parties of a return to the auction politics of 1977.
In a strategic attempt to sway working class and public sector voters, a series of three joint statements were issued by the Opposition parties yesterday to counteract some of the perceived damage inflicted by the PDs' commitment to cut back 25,000 jobs in the public service.
The Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats alliance made three new promises in a joint statement setting out their "agreed priorities on personal taxation" for their first budget next November: they will increase personal allowances by at least the rate of inflation; they will start reducing employer/employee PRSI and levies; they will introduce a special tax allowance for the long term unemployed of £3,000 plus £1,000 per child, tapered over three years to encourage the recipients back into the workplace.
Fianna Fail spokesmen admitted last night that these particular commitments were not "spell out" in its election manifesto.
The other Fianna Fail/PD priorities, already announced in their manifestos, include bringing in an introductory rate of 20 per cent for the first £2,000 (£4,000 for a married couple) of taxable income; a £2,000 per year standard rated tax allowance, worth £10 a week, for married people who stay at home to care for children; a cut of 1 per cent in the top rate of income tax; and special relief for pensioners by raising the exemption limits.
Their second and third joint statements, targeted at public sector voters, promised to restore the link between the pensions of retired public service staff and increases in current rates of public service pay. They also made a commitment to allow Telecom Eireann workers to hold up to IS per cent of the company's shares in an employee trust.
The last minute spate of promises drew immediate accusations from Coalition leaders yesterday that Fianna Fail and the PDs were attempting to bribe the electorate just before polling day with "an irresponsible tax giveaway package in the forthcoming budget".
The Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, asserted that the preliminary costings of their proposals would amount to £600 million in a full year. A Fianna Fail spokesman said that they would cost £400 million.
Mr Quinn also stated that yesterday's escapades made a nonsense of Fianna Fail's claim that it would manage the public finances responsibly.
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, said Mr Ahern and Ms Harney both arrived in the Oireachtas as Fianna Fail members in 1977 "on the back of the most dishonest and dangerous Fianna Fail manifesto ever. Twenty years later, it seems they have learned nothing.
The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, said the Fianna Fail/PD budget, in which both parties abandoned previously stated positions and introduced a new series of unspecific and uncosted promises, was an indication of desperation.
