The Taoiseach promised public service reform, and the Minister for Finance pledged to tax the wealthy, as Fianna Fáil moved to neutralise key criticisms made against it by the Opposition.Pledge to tax wealthy and public service reform proposal aim totackle criticism
The party used its weekend ardfheis to insist it was the party of economic growth and to attack Fine Gael and Labour for producing no detailed policies. Having spent the last few weeks on the defensive over a series of failures, Mr Ahern and his Ministers outlined moves to tackle various public concerns.
Mr Ahern said the Government would enter the next partnership negotiations seeking public service reform in exchange for pay rises. The Government was determined to get "good value" for the benchmarking pay rises.
He said benchmarking was modernising pay bargaining and "getting rid of old-style and wasteful internal relativity claims. But we are equally determined to get good value for this investment. We cannot continue into the 21st century with structures and procedures that are old-fashioned and out of date. We need modern financial and project management systems that deliver value for money. Above all, we need a flexible public service, delivering change for a changing Ireland."
The Government would, therefore, enter partnership negotiations with the public service unions seeking change and reform. He said public servants were already treated well by the Government, implying it was, therefore, reasonable to demand that their unions agree to change and reform of work practices.
"Public service unions have a job to do in defending their members. But this Government is no penny-pinching exploiter of a vulnerable workforce. We have no race to the bottom. We have no desire to depress the living standards or cheapen the working conditions of 350,000 public servants. We want the best for them provided they deliver the best for society."
Mr Cowen said his budget would include measures to ensure everyone paid their fair share in taxes. "It is unacceptable to me that some of the wealthiest residents in Irish society should use property and other tax incentives to avoid paying any income tax while at the same time enjoying the services provided by the State," he said.
"This is true for everyone regardless of their contribution to the development of the economy or more generally to society. In the forthcoming budget I, therefore, intend to address any abuse of such property and other tax incentives." Such incentives can make a positive contribution to the economy, he said. But he would be considering measures such as a cap on the total allowances a person could claim from them.
"Any decisions here will be taken in a thoughtful and balanced manner in order to minimise the impact on employment, particularly in the construction sector."
Mr Cowen also pledged to introduce measures to make childcare more affordable in December's budget. "I intend to support parents further through measures to make the cost of childcare more available." On health he acknowledged that "in many accident and emergency units we have not yet got it right". The Government was "determined to address the issues and to sort the problems in A&E".
Party delegates voted for the introduction of a quota for women on key party bodies, but only after an intervention by Mr Cowen. The vote means that 10 of the 20 delegates elected by the ardfheis to the ardcomhairle, the party's national executive, must be women.
The party also endorsed a commitment that one third of all election candidates would be women by 2014. In the 2002 general election less than 10 per cent were women.