{"id":11150,"date":"2025-01-15T17:03:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T17:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=11150"},"modified":"2025-01-16T10:01:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T10:01:37","slug":"new-government-is-a-conservative-coalition-that-will-bring-the-country-backwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/new-government-is-a-conservative-coalition-that-will-bring-the-country-backwards\/","title":{"rendered":"New Government is a Conservative Coalition that will bring the country backwards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>The draft programme for government lacks ambition and comprises tinkering around the edges with more failed FF and FG policy\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The next government will be a conservative coalition which will bring the country backwards not forwards, according to Social Democrats acting leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy O\u2019Callaghan was commenting following publication of the draft programme for government this evening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe incoming government needs to be ambitious for the country and committed to transformational change in a whole range of areas \u2013 housing, healthcare, disability services, climate action and childcare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead, what we see in this draft programme for government, is a lot of tinkering around the edges and much more of the same, when it comes to failed Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, it\u2019s very difficult to see any input from the Rural Independents in this document, which appears to be a crude collation of the Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il manifestos. The fingerprints of Independent TDs are notably absent, with more apparent focus on junior ministerial positions than policy proposals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegrettably, the new government has all of the hallmarks of a conservative coalition that will bring the country backwards, not forwards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest challenge facing this government is the housing disaster. Regrettably, there is nothing in this document which suggests the incoming government are prepared to tackle it. The only new idea appears to be extending the \u2018first-home scheme\u2019 to second-hand homes \u2013 an inflationary measure which will drive sky-high house prices even higher.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cost of living crisis was one of the biggest issues on the doors during the election, but there is very little in this document that will do anything to ease the extreme financial pressure that so many people are enduring. What we need to see is significant investment in public services \u2013 like childcare, healthcare and education \u2013 to bring down the cost of living.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is deeply regrettable that it appears the incoming government will not be adopting the Social Democrats\u2019 proposal to appoint a senior minister for disability. The crisis in disability services is ruining lives and the clout of a senior minister, with a large budget and a reforming zeal, is a prerequisite to tackling the many issues that urgently need to be addressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile it had been reported that the incoming government planned to lower the VAT rate for hospitality to 9 percent, the draft programme for government is vague and non-committal on the issue. It promises only to \u201cbring forward measures\u201d on VAT during the budgetary process. The Social Democrats proposed a 9 percent VAT rate for food-based hospitality businesses in our manifesto. It is alarming that the incoming government can\u2019t simply commit to this in black and white.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government also appear to be watering down an election commitment to enact the Occupied Territories Bill. The draft programme for government commits only to \u201cprogress\u201d the legislation. A failure to act swiftly, and enact the Occupied Territories Bill, would be a huge betrayal of clear commitments that were given by government parties during the election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe incoming government\u2019s level of commitment to credible climate action is also a huge concern. The last government failed to meet its climate targets and there is nothing in the draft programme for government that suggests this trajectory will be reversed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some measures in the document that are welcome. For example, a new transport security force and plans to implement the Dublin City Centre taskforce recommendations. However, much more clarity is needed on these proposals \u2013 together with timelines for implementation. In relation to childcare, a public model is an essential reform that the new government must rapidly roll out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>January 15, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The draft programme for government lacks ambition and comprises tinkering around the edges with more failed FF and FG policy\u00a0 The next government will be a conservative coalition which will bring the country backwards not forwards, according to Social Democrats acting leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan. Deputy O\u2019Callaghan was commenting following publication of the draft programme for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cian-ocallaghan","category-news","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Government is a Conservative Coalition that will bring the country backwards - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/new-government-is-a-conservative-coalition-that-will-bring-the-country-backwards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Government is a Conservative Coalition that will bring the country backwards - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The draft programme for government lacks ambition and comprises tinkering around the edges with more failed FF and FG policy\u00a0 The next government will be a conservative coalition which will bring the country backwards not forwards, according to Social Democrats acting leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan. 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