Party members to vote on programme for government

The words Cavan and Monaghan appear once each in the final programme for government agreed between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party earlier this week.

The 139-page document sets out the agreed programme for government over the next five years post the Coronavirus pandemic and Brexit.

If passed, it will see Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, historic rivals since the Civil War in the 1920s, form a government together for the first time since the foundation of the State.

Ballot papers will be issued in the coming days with the final result announced on Friday, June 26.

If the deal is rubber stamped, the Dáil will sit on Saturday, June 27, to elect Micheál Martin as Taoiseach, a role he will hold until December 2022, when the position will rotate to the Fine Gael leader.

On Monday evening, the Green parliamentary party voted in favour of the programme for government. The vote of TDs was nine in favour with three abstentions.

Crucially, Catherine Martin, the party’s deputy leader, backed the deal. The Monaghan native is challenging Eamon Ryan for the leadership of the Green Party.

Deputy Martin is the Dublin Rathdown TD who led her party’s negotiating team. Her support is seen as pivotal to securing the required two-thirds support of grassroot Green members, including those north of the Border.

In a statement released after the meeting on Monday evening, Ms Martin said the Green Party was committed to implementing green policies in government.

“There were never going to be, nor could there have been, outright winners in these negotiations and clearly we did not get everything we sought.

“I am however satisfied that the deal negotiated was the best achievable and that it includes some worthwhile and transformative policies,” she said.

Cavan commitment

The only specific reference to Cavan in the document concerns the development of end-of-life care services and facilities. It states an objective to progress plans to built end-of-life care units in Drogheda and Cavan and a future inpatient unit in the midlands. There is no mention of the Virginia by-pass project, which is included in the Government’s Ireland 2040 programme.

The only direct reference to Monaghan concerns a commitment to engage with the British Government to access all original documents relating to the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings by an independent, international judicial figure.

There is also a stated objective to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver the flagship cross-border Ulster Canal project as a premier tourism attraction.

The authors of the document also hope to work with the NI Executive to deliver key cross-border infrastructure initiatives, including the A5, the Ulster Canal connection from Clones to Upper Lough Erne, the Narrow Water Bridge, and cross-border greenways.

In a lengthy section on ‘a shared island’, a commitment is outlined to working with all communities and traditions on the island to build consensus around a shared future, as underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

Areas singled out for cross-border development include the establishment of a cross-border research centre to bring together universities and industry north and south; better co-operation and information sharing between policing authorities; and the development of an ‘all-island strategy to tackle climate breakdown and the biodiversity crisis’.

Other points of interest in the document include a commitment that there will be no increase in income tax or the Universal Social Charge (USC) in the next Budget.

There is also a promise to protect social welfare rates.

In terms of pledges in respect of retirement rules, the requirement of those retiring at 65 to have to ‘sign on’ and be actively seeking work is to be eliminated. Plans to increase the State pension age to 67 years are to be deferred pending the outcome of a commission to examine the issue.

The Greens have demanded a commitment to cut carbon emissions by 7% on average annually over the five years of the government and also a ban on the importation of gas extracted by fracking.

Some 50,000 social homes will be provided over the next five years, with an emphasis on new builds.

The authors of the document, in their introduction, stated:

‘The world was approaching a climate crisis long before COVID-19 hit our shores. The pandemic has acted as a catalyst, enabling us to implement radical policies that were considered impossible before; it will not and must not be used an excuse for failure to take immediate action to deliver on all that is needed to build a better society and a secure future for all living things.

‘This is a Programme to recover our economy, rebuild our society, renew our communities, and respond to the challenges we face both nationally and internationally. This will be a Government of enterprise, creating new jobs, preparing for the jobs of the future, driving our economic recovery, and improving the quality of life for all our people.’

Fianna Fáil councillors on Cavan County Council, meanwhile, are calling on grassroot members to reject the deal.

Read more here.