I’m no socialist, insists Leo as he pledges pay rises and a health and housing splurge
TÁNAISTE Leo Varadkar has insisted he has not had a road to Damascus conversion to socialism, similar to that attributed to former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Despite ditching his previous policies of backing only people who get up early in the morning and balancing the books, in favour of an unprecedented spending campaign aimed at providing a living wage and statutory sick pay for all, the Fine Gael leader last night claimed his core political beliefs have not changed.
Speaking on his way into the Simmonscourt Pavilion at Dublin’s RDS yesterday, from where he addressed the party faithful at a virtual Ard Fheis, Mr Varadkar denied he had become a socialist.
‘That’s a political charge, that’s not what I’m after at all,’ he said.
‘I’m the person who increased the minimum wage seven times in 10 years, increased health spending, brought in paternity leave and paternity benefit, all those things. So it’s just nonsense, I’m afraid.’
But the Tánaiste’s address to delegates last night was a sharp departure from the free-market-forces-style economics that have defined his Fine Gael party for generations.
On housing, the Tánaiste told his party’s Ard Fheis that Ireland needs to build 40,000 homes a year to make the dream of home ownership become a reality.
He said he wants to meet a target of 70% home ownership by the end of the decade, and to achieve it through public and private investment.
Mr Varadkar claimed that other political parties ‘talk’, but Fine
Gael ‘builds’.
The Tánaiste said the health services should retain the additional staff, and billions of euro in extra funding which was provided to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that Sláintecare, with its promise of affordable healthcare for all, must be implemented, including expanding medical card eligibility, while reducing expenses for medicines and hospital charges.
In his speech, instead of highlighting the need to represent those ‘who get up early in the morning’, the Tánaiste appeared determined to redefine his party as the low-paid workers’ champion.
The Fine Gael leader said: ‘As a party, one of Fine Gael’s core beliefs is in the “social market economy”. It’s the right model for
Ireland to follow. It is the philosophy of the European, centrist and Christian Democrat family to which we belong.
‘The belief in a social market economy is grounded in the knowledge that a market economy is the best way to generate employment, resources and wealth alongside the understanding that we need a strong State to achieve our social objectives, an active State, a State that cares.’
He continued: ‘As a country, we have endured 15 extremely difficult months. Together, we battled Covid-19, together we suffered, and together we prevailed.
‘We remember those who we lost, more than 7,000 people, north and south. Families and friends who still mourn, individuals with stories we will never forget. We commit, in their memory, to build a better Ireland that is worthy of them.
‘I believe our response to the pandemic was Ireland at its best. We learned that we can achieve the impossible when we work together for a common cause. As a team of five million. Let’s make this the new normal. Having led Ireland through the financial crisis, Brexit and the pandemic, as we celebrate a century of Statehood, let’s embark on a new mission.
‘A mission to build a just society, one in which everyone has the opportunity to grow and prosper – to get a good education, to find a job and get promoted, to own a home, to raise a family, to build a successful business, to be looked after when sick, and grow old in security and dignity.
‘The pandemic has caused us all to re-evaluate what really matters to us the most. The value of community, solidarity, care, our natural environment, our personal health, our home, our family and friends.
‘We have redefined essential workers. Not just nurses and doctors, gardaí and paramedics, but also supermarket workers, drivers, cleaners, and people working in food production and service.’
Mr Varadkar set out a number of the party’s future policy goals, including the introduction of a living wage and reform of social welfare system.
‘I believe a legacy of the pandemic must be better pay, terms and conditions for all workers, public and private sector. Fine Gael will take the lead on this through the introduction of statutory sick pay, the move to a living wage and access to an occupational pension for all employees to supplement their State pension. Reforming our social welfare system to provide a better safety net for people who lose their jobs or take time out to care for others.
‘When it comes to the workplace, I don’t believe we should return to the old normal. We need a new normal in which people are facilitated to work from home or work from a hub near to where they live. It’s about choice.’
‘We need a strong State, a State that cares’