NATIONAL CONFERENCE
»»Varadkar’s pledge to lure crucial voters »»taoiseach in €100bn infrastructure promise
Leo Varadkar has made an early election pitch to middle earners by promising to ease the tax burden for this crucial group of voters for at least three budgets.
And in a further effort to lure people to the leading Government party, the Taoiseach promised to splash the cash on massive infrastructure in the decade ahead with a slush fund of €100billion to be set aside under Fine Gael’s watch.
Mr Varadkar was speaking during his first national conference as party leader and Taoiseach at the Slieve Russell Hotel in Cavan.
And a key part of the speech saw him outline his tax policy for middle income earners for the next three years.
Mr Varadkar said: “It’s not fair that people on middle incomes pay income tax at the highest rate.
“That means the State takes almost 50% of everything you earn above that threshold, including any overtime you get, any pay increase you earn, or any extra hours you work.
“That’s not fair, and we’re going to change it.
“Fine Gael believes in rewarding work. So in the Budget we raised the standard cut-off point, and we will do so again in the next one and the one after that and the one after that.”
The Fine Gael chief also promised €100billion for infrastructure projects, with the emphasis being out on the tech sector.
He added: “For Ireland to succeed, we need to plan long-term.
“We must imagine what an Ireland in 2040 should look like – home to eight million people, North and South.
“Our new National Development Plan will set out how we will invest €100billion over the next 10 years and prepare us for the future.
“That plan will build an Ireland that is futureproofed: balanced regional development, climate action, quality of life, continued capacity to grow, making Dublin the tech capital of Europe.”
The Taoiseach’s speech was notable for its lack of criticism of political rivals but he did exclude Sinn Fein from a list of other parties he said Fine Gael had worked well with, including Fianna Fail, Labour and the Greens.
He also paid tribute to the strong relationship they have built up with their Coalition partners in the Independent Alliance.
It was left to Foreign Minister Simon Coveney to aim fire at the Opposition – describing them collectively in one of the warm-up speeches as “the crazy gang”.
In total 1,500 delegates registered for the conference, which continues today.
The keynote speech at national conferences and Ard Fheiseanna normally takes place on Saturday evening and is broadcast live at 8.30pm during TV’S prime time slot. However, Mr Varadkar wisely decided to move his address back a day so as not to clash with the Ireland vs Denmark World Cup play-off which starts at 7.45pm tonight.
The Taoiseach has often been accused of being out of touch with the general public, but many noted that at least on this occasion he knew not to even try and compete for an audience with the Boys In Green.