Fine Gael and Labour will present a joint election manifesto this week in an effort to build on Enda Kenny's ardfheis pledge of a "contract for a better Ireland".
The joint policy document will contain the key commitments made by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte to cut the basic rate of tax to 18 per cent, and will also include core Fine Gael pledges such as the reform of stamp duty and extra tax relief for people working in the home.
It is expected that the manifesto will contain a commitment to index the tax bands over the lifetime of the next government.
In his keynote address to the Fine Gael Ardfheis in Dublin on Saturday night, Mr Kenny promised that if he was elected taoiseach, he would not seek a second term unless he delivered on the specific promises he was making to the voters in his contract. His speech was immediately dismissed by Fianna Fáil. "The Taoiseach set out a programme of detail and substance a week ago. Enda Kenny's address was sound bites and empty rhetoric," said Minister for Children Brian Lenihan.
Among the specific pledges made by Mr Kenny were:
Free health insurance for every child under 16;
Free GP visits for every child under five;
Tax relief to families where someone stays home to care for a child or a parent;
An end to stamp duty as we know it, with lower rates for all and its abolition for almost all first-time buyers;
2,300 more hospital beds;
An end to automatic reduction of sentences for criminals.
He told the ardfheis that the Irish people would soon face a choice between the vision of Ireland being offered by Fine Gael and Labour, or the Fianna Fáil-PD Ireland where services still lagged behind and promises were just words.
