A lookahead to the Irish General Election: What have the parties promised?

The election of the 34th Dáil (the Irish Parliament) will take place on Friday 29th November 2024. The three-week campaign is now into the final week with Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin all in a tight three-party battle to become the largest party and have their leader hold the office of Taoiseach.

All the major political parties have now launched their manifestos, with Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats launching theirs just ten days before polling day. Ahead of polling day, we look at some of the key announcements on which the Irish public will be voting.

Planning reform and housing delivery

Before the Dáil was dissolved, the Planning and Development Bill laid the foundations upon which the next Irish Government can address the housing and infrastructure challenges that have limited growth and caused significant social challenges. On planning and infrastructure, the parties have pitched strong promises to improve Ireland’s water infrastructure, public transport and construction targets.

Among the key pledges from the main parties:

• Fine Gael proposes the creation of a Department of Infrastructure, Climate and Transport. The new Department will manage mega-capital projects, speed up delivery and provide supply chain certainty. However, planning legislation and regulations would remain with the Department of Housing under Fine Gael’s plans.
• Fianna Fáil pledges to ramp up construction capacity to 60,000 homes per year by 2030, recruit 400 additional planning staff to deliver homes quicker and invest at least €3 billion in Irish Water to expand wastewater facilities. The party also aims to establish a Central Construction Supply Unit to track and coordinate all major public sector construction projects.
• Sinn Féin proposes to build 300,000 homes by 2029. This would include 125,000 social and affordable homes at a cost of €7.4 billion per year. Furthermore, the party pledges a €1.5 billion investment in wastewater infrastructure across Irish Water over the same time period.
• The Green Party highlights the need to deliver an average of 53,000 new homes each year until 2029. The Greens also support a target of 15,000 “state-backed affordable/cost rental homes.” Further to this drive for new homes, the Greens propose a recruitment drive for planners, architects and ecologists.
• Labour promises to build more than 50,000 homes per year through the re-purposing of the Land Development Agency into a state construction company.
• The Social Democrats have calculated that under their housing plans, 70,000 social and affordable homes will be built by 2029. This plan includes the establishment of a Housing Delivery Oversight Executive to coordinate the delivery of housing and use Compulsory Purchase Orders to acquire development land for housing.

Energy & green initiatives

Ireland is committed to increasing wind and solar electricity to 80% by 2030. This ultimately will deliver on a pledge to deliver on the goal of a climate neutral economy by 2050.

Among the key pledges from the main parties:

• Fine Gael promises to increase public charging infrastructure for EVs to 10,000 nationwide. The party also plans to develop port infrastructure for facilitation of upcoming offshore renewable energy projects.
• Fianna Fáil promises to expedite delivery of wind energy by building more onshore and offshore wind farms. The party will also “accelerate” the transition to the use of lower-cost, more sustainable renewables in electricity generation.
• Sinn Féin pledges to provide funding of at least €80 million from their proposed Renewable Energy Investment Fund to “kickstart” investment in ports for offshore wind. Their manifesto also pledges targeting environmental taxes on “excessive consumption” through a pollution tax on private jets.
• The Green Party argues that through Government owned share sales, further investment shall be made in EirGrid to explore new renewable energy technologies. In terms of planning policy reform, the Greens will implement a new “spatial policy” to ensure offshore wind and solar farms are situated in the right places, delivering real benefits to communities.
• Labour aims to ensure that all carbon tax revenues are fully ringfenced for climate action and related Just Transition measures. This includes a plan to reshape the Irish economic model so that it is energy efficient and delivers wellbeing for all.
• The Social Democrats promise to create a revised Climate Action Plan that will allow Ireland to reach its international climate targets by 2030. The party also promises to establish a National Just Transition Commission and restore the EV grant to €5,000 and increase investment in the EV charging network.

How has the campaign shaped up so far?

Fine Gael have run a presidential style campaign focused on the ‘TikTok Taoiseach’ Simon Harris and continue to lead in all the recent polls.

Their partners in Government, Fianna Fáil, to lag behind them slightly in the polls. The party argues that, with their leader Micheál Martin as Taoiseach, Ireland will be able to navigate domestic and global events with ease.

In reality, if the polls are correct, both parties will make up the next Government and this will symbolise stability and continuity for both voters and investors.

Sinn Féin has campaigned on the slogan “Time to Change the Government.” The party aims to galvanise voters around leader, Mary Lou McDonald, as the first female “Taoiseach in-waiting.” Sinn Féin has focused its campaign to provide voters with an alternative to the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-led coalition. Consistently throughout the campaign, Sinn Féin has highlighted its housing and immigration policies as key to its programme for the next government – two policies that are most likely to set the party apart from their rivals.

Labour’s campaign has focused on “Building Better Together” through its six missions to build a sustainable, fairer and equal Ireland. The party is widely expected to be the first party that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will negotiate with in the likely event of a hung Dáil. Labour has served in government before with both major parties at one time or another throughout the history of the Irish state.

What this means & next steps?

With less than a week to go until polling day, the mathematical makeup of the next Irish Government is far from certain. So far there hasn’t been one core issue that the election is being fought upon, with focus on several areas such as housing provision, immigration, cost of living and public spending. ?

As we enter the final days of electioneering and beyond, we will be providing updates and insight into the likely formation of the next Irish Government.

In 2024, Cavendish expanded and now has offices in Belfast and Dublin. If you’d like to find out more about how the new Irish Government will impact your business and how Cavendish are best placed to help you - get in contact with us here.

Written by,

Edward Ferrin | Account Executive