With the canvassing in full swing, we can't turn a corner or drop the kids to school without at least one candidate coming up and asking for your vote. But what will you get in return?
To help you make up your mind on which party you want to run this country, we have complied a list of their family-focused promises that they believe will help us.
FINE GAEL
Jobs/ tax
- Create 200,000 extra jobs by 2020
- Reduce the unemployment rate to 6%
- Abolish the USC by 2021 and introduce a 5pc tax on income over €100,000
- Introduce a new Working Family Payment to ensure that every parent working 15 hours or more per week takes home at least €11.75 per hour
- Increase the minimum wage to €10.50 per hour
Housing
- Increase the output of new housings to 25,000 a year by 2021
- Create a new scheme to help families in mortgage arrears gain access to independent expert financial and legal advice
Education
- Hire 852 teachers and reduce pupil-teacher ratio for junior and senior infants from 28:1 to 18:1
- Increase the mandatory schooling age to 17
Healthcare
- Extend free GP care for the children of all working families under 18 (unemployed parents already receive free GP care through the medical card)
Childcare
- Extend paid leave for parents in the first year of a child’s life
- Roll out a new scheme of subsidised, affordable childcare for children aged 9-36 months
LABOUR
Jobs/ tax
- Abolish the USC for those earning up to €72,000
- No one earning less than €100,000 will pay more income tax
- Labour’s fiscal strategy provides for a €500 million Jobs Fund to finance a series of pro-jobs initiatives that involve elements of current expenditure
- Introduce a living wage of €11.50
Housing
- Provide houses as quickly as possible to take families out of emergency accommodation
- Provide €500 million for the development of affordable rental housing with rents 20% or more below market levels
- Establish a ‘Save to Buy’ scheme to make saving for a deposit easier for those who want to buy their own home
- Introduce a deposit protection scheme and extend the maximum lease period for tenants
Education
- Increase funding to schools by €60 per child, in return for an end to voluntary contributions and other charges on parents
- Double the annual funding available for book rental schemes
- Provide new schools in areas where the population is increasing
- Ensure publicly funded schools prioritise children from the local community, rather than focusing on their religion
Healthcare
- Free GP care for all
- Introduce 2,800 new nurses and 500 new consultants
Childcare
- Increase paid parental leave by three months
- Cap childcare costs for parents at €170 per week, with further reductions to no more than €2 per hour by 2021
- Increase child benefit by €3 a year until 2021
FIANNA FÁIL
Jobs/ tax
- Eliminate Universal Social Charge for those earning up to €80,000
- Create 250,000 jobs and deliver 150,000 new homes by 2021, including 45,000 social housing units
- Abolish Irish Water and water charges and re-examine the introduction of charges in 2021
- Increase child benefit by €10 a month
Housing
- Put a cap on the rate of interest charged on standard variable mortgage holders
- Extend mortgage interest relief until 2020
Education
- Reduce the pupil/teacher ratio to 23:1
Healthcare
- Scrap prescription charges
Childcare
- Establish a €2,000 childcare support credit
- Lengthen maternity leave benefit to 30 weeks
- Allow for shared parental leave
SINN FÉIN
Jobs/ taxes:
- Deliver 250,000 jobs over the next five years
- Open up public procurement to small businesses, maximising this annual €12 billion stimulus for domestic businesses
- Increase the National Minimum Wage to €9.65 an hour and continue to track the hourly rate against median earnings and the cost of living
- Scrap water charges
- Remove workers earning under €19,572 from the USC net
Housing
- Empower the Central Bank to set caps on interest rates chargeable by banks
- Seek amendments to the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets to no longer accept repossessions as ‘solutions’, thereby putting pressure on banks to find solutions or face consequences such as greater capital requirements (equivalent to fines).
- Initiate a review of the socio-economic impact of the Central Bank’s mortgage rules with a view to ensuring that the rules are working and not making homes unaffordable.
Education
- Gradually reduce the ratio of pupils to teachers from 27:1 to 20:1
- End religious discrimination against children in school admissions
- Increase resource-teaching hours for children by 15% and increase funding for SNA provision
- Increase funding to the school meals programme by 40% and the School Books Grant by 30%
- Increase the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance by €50
- Increase the Back to Education Allowance for under 26s to €188
- Introduce a generic school uniform policies
Healthcare
- Free GP care at a rate of almost a quarter of a million more people each year
- Free prescription drugs for all
- Recruit 621 additional midwives and 239 obstetricians/gynaecologists
- Increase funding for Healthy Ireland by €200,000 and introduce a sugary drinks tax
- Abolish the €100 charge for the use of Emergency Departments and the €75 per day charge for inpatient care.
Childcare:
- Extend maternity benefit by 6 weeks and allow that portion to be taken by either parent
- Deliver 52 weeks of maternity or parental leave
- Increase the rate of maternity benefit to €260 per week (to begin with)
- Cap maximum fees for childcare costs at €180 per week and move to €150 per week (€3.75 per hour) over the term of Government
