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Pat's 5 Commitments for Change

1. More beds in clean hospitals

My commitment is to provide 2,300 more beds in hospitals that are clean.

We need more beds to deal with our health needs. We need our hospitals to be cleaner so that you can be sure that going into hospital doesn't mean catching MRSA.

To read more about this commitment, please click here (PDF format)

2. Pre-school education for all our children

My commitment is to provide pre-school education for all our children.

To give our kids the best chance they can is the wish of all parents, and we all know that the start they get is crucial to that.

It will support hard working families and will amount to five half-days of pre-school education, provided free of charge to all children.

To read more about this commitment, please click here (PDF format)

3. More Gardaí on the beat in neighbourhoods

My commitment is to ensure that there are more Gardai on the beat in neighbourhoods.

Hard working families are entitled to live in peaceful law-abiding communities. I am convinced that changes in the manning, deployment and organisation of the Garda Siochana would have a hugely positive impact on people's quality of life and on the rates of crime and anti-social behaviour.

To read more about this commitment, please click here (PDF format)

4. Abolish the means test for carers

My commitment is to abolish the means test for carers.

Carers in our communities provide unpaid help for a family member or friend with a disability. And while nearly half of these carers have no paid employment and one third of them give more than 43 hours of unpaid time per week, less than a fifth receive financial assistance from the state for their invaluable and tireless work.

It is time to recognise their selfless commitment.

To read more about this commitment, please click here (PDF format)

5. Enable more people to begin to buy a home

My commitment is to enable more people to begin to buy a home.

I have developed a new idea to help people get onto the property ladder.
It is a new scheme that will provide a means for morepeople with a job to begin to buy their own home.

This new proposal is called 'Begin to Buy'.

To read more about this commitment, please click here (PDF format)