Day 21 : #GE16 Only Labour will deliver a Living Wage and Full Employment

Posted on February 23, 2016

This morning Party Leader Joan Burton and our candidate in Dublin South-Central visited Teeling Whiskey Distillery in Newmarket Dublin 8 to highlight our jobs plan.

[Read our Standing up for Jobs plan here]

The Labour Party is the party of work and opportunity, the party that stands up for working people. The recovery we’re driving has already created more than 135,000 new jobs and we will shortly have more than two million people at work.

Speaking at the visit of Teeling Whiskey Distillery, Tánaiste Joan Burton complimented the work of Jack and Stephen Teeling on making a real Irish success story.

Companies like @TeelingWhiskey are the way we will get 150,000 more people back to work - @joanburton #GE16 pic.twitter.com/HqWQZhP2mg

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Permanent link | Categories: Enterprise Trade & Employment

Hotpress Endorses Labour Party in #GE16

Posted on February 22, 2016

In the most recent edition of Hotpress Magazine, Niall Stokes has endorsed Labour's offering in #GE16.

[Read The Message - Niall Stokes on the election's burning issues]

"In the immediate future we could forget about Repealing the 8th. We would also be faced with complete stasis on one of the great scandals of modern Irish life: the control exerted by religious vested interests over Irish schools, an issue on which neither of the dominant political parties will take any risks whatsoever. We could also look forward to a wave of privatisation; the ongoing, abysmal treatment of refugees; further cuts in social welfare – and so on. 

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Day 20 #GE16 Labour is Standing up for Equal Access to Education

Posted on February 22, 2016

This morning we launched our plan for equal access to education with Tánaiste Joan Burton and Minister Kevin Humphreys in Shellybanks Educate Together in Dublin 4

For the Labour Party, equality is the keystone of what we believe. To ensure every child has equality of opportunity, to ensure every child has the chance to achieve in life, equal access to school is vital.

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Permanent link | Categories: Education

Day 19 #GE16 Labour’s proposals to increase take-home pay for low and middle income workers.

Posted on February 21, 2016

This afternoon we launched our plan to increase your take home pay for low and middle income earners with Tánaiste Joan Burton, Minister Aodhan . We want to make sure work pays. That is why we want to abolish the Universal Social Charge for everyone earning under €72,000. This change will increase an average retail workers yearly take home pay by over €1,000 and a teachers by over €1,700.

We have a proven track record of making sure work pays. We have increased the minimum wage by 20% since 2011 – which means that someone who works on the minimum wage is €3,000 a year better off because of Labour’s influence in government.We have also taken 700,000 people out of the Universal Social Charge.

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Day 18 : #GE16 We're Investing in the Services that Families and Communities Need

Posted on February 20, 2016

Today we launched our Standing up for Public Services plan in our Campaign HQ with Minister Brendan Howlin and Minister Ged Nash. 

We plan that for every €1 in tax cuts, we will spend €3 on schools, childcare, and healthcare. These are the vital local services that all families and communities need. Families endured a lot during the economic downturn and deep recession. Now that we have a recovery, it is time to make sure it reaches the kitchen table.

[Read our Plan for investing in the services that families and communities need]

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Day 17 : #GE16 Equality is the Keystone of What we Believe

Posted on February 19, 2016

Today with launched our plan for a more modern, equal Ireland with Tánaiste Joan Burton, Minister Jan O'Sullivan and former Deputy Leader of our party, Liz McManus.

[Read our Plan for a more modern, equal Ireland here]

If re-elected to Govenment, we will tackle gender pay issues by ensuring large companies and public sector employers make public the details their own internal pay gaps in order to stimulate stronger action towards pay equality.

Highlighting the gender pay gap with Tánaiste Joan Burton, Jan O Sullivan and Liz McManus #GE16

A photo posted by Labour Party (@labourparty) on Feb 19, 2016 at 2:47am PST

 Minister Jan O'Sullivan MC'd the event and spoke about the Labour Party always pushing equality forward in Ireland.

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Permanent link | Categories: Equality

Day 16 : #GE16 Only Labour in Government can Repeal the 8th

Posted on February 18, 2016

Today we launched our  plan to hold a referendum to repeal the 8 ^th Amendment. Minister for Communications, Alex White, Minister for Equality, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, and Senator Ivana Bacik outlined how the party would deliver a referendum, and campaign strongly to repeal the 8 ^th amendment, if returned to Government.

Speaking at the launch in Labour’s Campaign HQ this afternoon, Minister for Communications, Alex White, said: “It’s high time that this generation was given the right to choose – through a referendum – whether the 8 ^th amendment should remain in our Constitution.

Only @labour in Government can deliver a referendum to #repealthe8th #GE16 pic.twitter.com/96PY4gQ5RO

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Only Labour can provide a fair Government

Posted on February 17, 2016

Dear friend,

The recovery we have achieved together has been stable and it has been balanced. It has also been fair.

Only Labour can provide a fair government that will ensure that tax cuts are focused on low and middle income families, that there is proper investment in schools and healthcare, and that we can have a modern and progressive Ireland.

We need to keep building the strong economy so that we can have a decent society.

In this election, other parties are trying to undo all that we have achieved together. We cannot allow them to play with the recovery.

Tonight's Party Election Broadcast demonstrates this simple message. Please watch and share it with your friends, family and colleagues.

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Day 15 #GE16 : We're Standing Up for Irish Culture

Posted on February 17, 2016

Today we launched our plan for promoting arts, culture and heritage in the Project Arts Centre with Tánaiste Joan Burton, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Kevin Humphreys and Tony Award winning director Garry Hynes.

Ireland is a country with an extraordinarily rich heritage on which to base our cultural identity. Who we are as a people is firmly grounded in an outstanding foundation of artistic and cultural achievement and excellence. We believe that participation in and enjoyment of the arts and our cultural institutions should be for the many, not the few. That’s why we will push for greater access and more innovative uses of our artistic and cultural resources to the benefit of all our citizens.

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Permanent link | Categories: Arts Sport & Tourism

Day 14 #GE16 :Standing up for Education

Posted on February 16, 2016

Today the Tánaiste Joan Burton and Minister Jan O'Sullivan launched our Standing up for Education plan in Limerick. Among the commitments in our plan for education include delivering the smallest class sizes in the history of the State, ending the use of prefabs in schools, reducing school costs for parents, doubling the number of multi-denominational schools by 2021 and amending the Equal Status Acts so that local children can access local schools. 

[Download Labour's Plan for Investment and Reform of our Education System.]

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Permanent link | Categories: Education