Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats will be sharply penalised by the electorate in the coming local elections, the Labour Party has confidently predicted
"I have detected a seething and growing anger among the people at the way in which this Government has become utterly out of touch with the people," the party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said at the launch of Labour's local elections manifesto in Dublin yesterday.
"It used to be said of Fianna Fáil that they were arrogant but competent. They are now widely seen as the most arrogant and yet the most incompetent government we have had for a great many years."
Demanding more local accountability, Labour wants county managers' positions abolished and replaced by a chief executive subject to the orders of councillors.
"The power of the Minister for the Environment to abolish a council and replace it with a commissioner should be ended," its manifesto declares.
Instead, a local authority refusing to set an annual budget should be stood down, and elections held to choose a replacement to serve out its term.
Rubbish collections should be carried out by the local authority, rather than by private companies, while proper recycling would do away with the need for incineration.
"Recycling cannot work without a recycling infrastructure. Since the closure of the Glass Bottle Company, glass is now sent to the North. Plastics are sent to England. Tetra Pak is sent to Scotland. And paper is sent to China. All because they cannot be recycled here. We need to build up a recycling industry in Ireland," the manifesto says.
Manufacturers who produce the packaging would have to meet the cost of such recycling services.
It says that An Bord Pleanála should be forced to give full reasons for its planning decisions, following a number of cases where the board has overturned its own inspectors' recommendations.
Demanding more public involvement in development, Labour said "huge sums" were spent hiring consultants who ended up ignoring the views of the public. Proper public consultation "which listened respectfully to the people" would resolve many problems in advance and progress necessary development.
Local authorities should expand local childcare and after-school services, while paid family leave should be available for both parents.
Transport in Dublin should be controlled by a transport authority that would be responsible for all bus and rail services in all parts of Dublin city and county.
A special traffic corps should enforce all traffic laws, while Labour would oppose transport privatisation plans.
The Government's promised 2,000 extra gardaí should be recruited, although the Garda must learn to deal with local authorities in a different way.
Local superintendents should be required to offer monthly briefings in public to councils. "I believe that that accountability would contribute greatly to reducing the policing vacuum in many urban areas," said Mr Rabbitte.
The Fianna Fáil Minister of State, Mr Noel Ahern, said: "Labour launched its local election manifesto today; the usual cloud of blather and negativity. Mr Rabbitte reverted to his own special form of petty criticism," he said.
