Labour manifesto launch:Social solidarity and inclusion underpin Labour's election manifesto, party leader Pat Rabbitte said as he launched the 120-page document in Dublin yesterday.
Entitled The Fair Society, the manifesto consists of 20 chapters on different policy areas. It is thought to be unprecedented for the party, both in its length and in its detail.
"This is our aspiration for the kind of Ireland that we would like to live in," Mr Rabbitte said.
"I have set out on a number of occasions my conviction that we live in a strong economy but in a weak society.
"The document is imbued by Labour values which are based on social solidarity and inclusion."
The Labour leader stressed the need for economic success to be combined with equality and fairness. "Above all we want to maintain a prosperous, enterprising economy, as the basis of making the improvements in our society that are detailed in this document."
Mr Rabbitte again emphasised Labour's commitment to resolving the crisis in the health services. "People out there who want a public health service that is world-class and accessible on the basis of need ought to vote for the Labour Party."
There was no excuse for delays in providing hospital beds.
"A developer can build an apartment block in your back garden while you are on summer holidays, but over 10 years this Government couldn't provide public hospital beds. The political will has been the real obstacle to providing additional bed capacity."
In the field of education, Labour's proposals were "designed to give people a better chance in life, irrespective of what background they come from". Labour sought, for example, the abolition of part-time fees on undergraduate courses "for people who didn't get a chance first time round".
But he pledged that the party would not increase capital gains tax or corporation tax. He pointed out that Ruairí Quinn, who brought in the 12.5 per cent tax rate when he was finance minister, was in the room at the news conference.
The Labour leader was asked if his party was "becalmed" in the polls because some people felt the party might go into coalition with Fianna Fáil.
"Well, if they do," Mr Rabbitte said, "like a lot of other people, they are mistaken. I can assure you of that."
Questioned on Labour's plans if projected growth levels were not reached, Mr Rabbitte said Labour's figures were authoritatively sourced. There would have to be priorities in the event of a downturn, but he added: "I am a bit reluctant to get into the business of gloom and doom. We're minded to stick to projections that are based on official published assessments."
Asked if provincial towns should be concerned about Labour's commitment to an "audit of decentralisation", Mr Rabbitte said his party favoured planned and negotiated, as distinct from "forcible" decentralisation. He described the McCreevy plan as "a failure".
Labour spokeswoman on finance Joan Burton outlined the party's plan for a commission on taxation which would review the tax code on a continuing basis in terms of fairness, equity and balance.
"We have to bring to an end, I believe, the spectre of extraordinarily wealthy people with very high annual incomes who effectively end up paying little or no tax," she said.
Asked if Labour was proposing that citizens whose water was polluted should have the right of redress, Dún Laoghaire TD Eamon Gilmore said: "We are proposing there should be a legal right to water. Water is essential and public authorities have a duty to provide clean drinking water." But the redress might not necessarily be in the form of individuals having the right to sue.
