Election 2024: Gerry Hutch lodges papers to run as independent ...

We’re now a full week in to the election campaign, with just another 15 days to go until voting day on Friday, November 29th.

There are clear divides now between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil as Taoiseach Simon Harris (FG) has rebuffed suggestions from Tánaiste Micheál Martin (FF) that Fine Gael should tone down attacks on campaign trail attacks on their Coalition partners.

Sinn Féin has unveiled its proposals for an immigration management agency, while the Green Party has said that free solar panels for low income households and extra supports for them to buy electric vehicles are among their climate action promises to the electorate.

The Social Democrats have pledged €5 billion to a Climate Transformation Fund as part of its Climate Action and Nature Protection plan.

People Before Profit Solidarity in their manifesto have said they will push to eliminate USC for people earning less than €100,000 with the move funded by a “wealth tax” on multimillionaires.

Earlier, Fórsa, Ireland’s largest public service trade union, said in it’s election document that gains made in hybrid and remote working arrangements during the pandemic must be protected.

This morning, our front page reported that the divide between Opposition parties and Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil on the rent freeze issue sharpened on Wednesday.

Key reads:Housing battle sharpens as parties clash on rent freezesGerry Hutch in the Dáil? Gangland figure may take some comfort from Donald TrumpMeet the voters: ‘We have enough room and money in this country to look after everybody’Inside Politics: Fine Gael’s promises begin to add up a week into election campaignElection map explainer: how has it changed and how are counties and parties affected?

That’s it for today’s live coverage, but keep an eye out for more developments on The Irish Times website and app as the general election campaign continues tomorrow, with just two weeks until voters head to the polls.

Election 2024 poll shows Fine Gael as most popular party

Finishing the day with a bang, Political Editor Pat Leahy brings us the results of the first opinion poll of the general election campaign.

The latest Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll shows that while there has been a jump in support for independents to 20 per cent, Fine Gael remains the most popular party at 25 per cent.

It is on course to be the largest party in the next Dáil, well ahead Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, both on 19 per cent.

Read more, including how other parties fare, party leader ratings, and the issues that will influence voters, here.

[ Election 2024 poll: Support for Independents jumps but Fine Gael remains most popular partyOpens in new window ]

People Before Profit pledges USC cut and ‘wealth tax’

Meanwhile, People Before Profit launched its manifesto on Thursday afternoon pledging to abolish the USC for those earning less than €100,000, a move which would be funded through the introduction of a “wealth tax” on multimillionaires.

The tax on individual wealth over €4.7 million would raise at least €8 billion in 2025, the party said, while four new tax bands on top earners and increased PRSI rates for employers would raise an additional €7 billion next year.

It also pledged to increase corporation tax to 20 per cent for large companies, and “close tax avoidance loopholes”, with the party saying both measures would bring in €20 billion in 2025.

The party would also introduce price caps on essentials such as food and energy, and cap mortgage interest rates at 3 per cent in order to tackle the cost of living, it said.

Using the Apple windfall, it would establish and capitalise a state construction company to build 30,000 social and 5,000 “genuinely affordable homes” per year.

It further pledged to increase social welfare payments, including the pension, to €300 and disability payments to €350.

It reaffirmed its commitment to introduce a rent freeze and an eviction ban and pledged to increase the rent tax credit to €3,000 from €1,000 in 2025, adding it would also declare a housing emergency and “ban vulture funds and short term letting”.

The party would “take private hospitals into public control”, and abolish health-related charges. It would also abolish childcare fees “immediately” and establish a fully public and free National Childcare Service, which it said would be funded through its “progressive taxation”.

It also pledged to introduce the choice of a four-day-working week without the loss of pay, two new bank holidays and increase the annual leave entitlement to 30 days per year.

“Other Opposition parties promise radical change, but if they are in Government with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, those promises are worthless. People Before Profit is the only party that has given a guarantee that our votes in the Dáil will not be used to put Micheál Martin or Simon Harris back in power.

‘A vote for People Before Profit is the only vote that can bring the radical change working people demand,” party leader Richard Boyd Barrett said.

Fianna Fáil support in Galway West falls, according to new poll

Fianna Fáil support in Galway West has fallen significantly ahead of the general election with candidates Gráinne Seoige and John Connolly coming seventh and eighth in a new poll for the five-seater constituency.

A TG4/Ipsos B&A poll released on Thursday evening shows an almost 10 per cent drop in support for the party which had 23 per cent of the vote in 2020. The party’s incumbent TD, Éamon Ó Cuív, is retiring.

Both Seoige and Connolly were at 7 per cent, coming after Independent Ireland candidate Noel Thomas, a former Fianna Fáil councillor.

The remaining incumbent TDs are in the running to retain their seats, with Fine Gael potentially gaining, according to the poll.

Against an election quota of 17 per cent, both independent candidate Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughton are leading at 13 per cent, followed by independent Noel Grealish (12 per cent), Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne (10 per cent) and Sinn Féin’s Mairéad Farrell (9 per cent).

Green Party candidate Pauline O’Reilly is at 5 per cent, followed by Labour’s Helen Ogbu (4 per cent), Social Democrats candidate Eibhlín Seoighthe (3 per cent) and independent Mike Cubbard (3 per cent).

The poll, which was carried out on Monday and Tuesday by phone, before the official closing date for nominations, had a sample of 531 and a margin of error of 4 per cent.

Hutch lodges papers to run as independent candidate

Some photos just in of Gerard (Gerry) Hutch lodging his papers to run as an independent candidate this evening.

The 61-year-old arrived to the office of the Dublin City returning officer on a scooter on Thursday evening to lodge his nomination papers.

Hutch, who was arrested in Lanzarote last month on suspicion of money laundering, was granted bail by the Spanish High Court last week to permit him to run in the general election and released on a bond of €100,000.

Mr Hutch, who is also known as The Monk, is hoping to take one of the four seats up for grabs in the Dublin Central constituency, where Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald is also seeking re-election.

A couple of weeks ago, as he mulled a run for the Dáil, the Dublin gangland figure asked his friend Paddy Corcoran if he had a chance.

“The biggest criminals in Ireland are already in there,” Corcoran recalls telling Hutch before referencing the €335,000 spent by the Government on a bike shelter for Leinster House, Conor Gallagher writes.

Read more here.

Renewed call for RTÉ to host climate change debate

The Green Party, meanwhile has renewed its call for a televised debate on climate change but RTÉ has offered no indication it will agree to the demand, Cormac McQuinn writes.

Speaking as her party launched its climate commitment document Dublin Bay South candidate Cllr Hazel Chu said climate has been coming up as a concern on the doors and she highlighted the recent flooding in Spain that has claimed more than 200 lives.

She said: “Hundreds of people are dying. They’re dying as a direct consequence of climate change, making extreme weather events even worse”.

She suggested that if similar rainfall happened in Dublin, those gathered at the Green climate launch in Temple Bar would “all be standing in water right now”.

She pointed out that there have already been floods in Cork and reiterated her party’s call for a live televised debate on RTÉ focused on climate issues.

Ms Chu said: “This is something that we cannot back down from. We need a proper debate and discussion on it.”

RTÉ gave no indication that it will hold a televised debate on climate change in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

It said there has already been a dedicated climate debate on RTÉ radio programme The Late Debate and there is a planned climate debate on Today with Claire Byrne tomorrow morning.

It said: “RTÉ will continue to cover the issue of climate change throughout our comprehensive election campaign coverage which includes leaders’ debates, individual interviews, special election broadcasts and across all our key news & current affairs programmes and platforms.”

The broadcaster added: “In addition to our election coverage, RTÉ's dedicated Environment Correspondent George Lee is currently reporting extensively on climate issues from COP29 in Baku.”

Social Democrats pledges €5 billion climate fund

The Social Democrats has outlined its Climate Action and Nature Protection plan, Cormac McQuinn reports.

Its environment spokeswoman Jennifer Whitmore argued that the outgoing Government has “absolutely wasted their opportunity to deal with climate action”, accusing it of missing targets and failing to bring in “tangible measures” for communities.

The Social Democrats are promising a €5 billion Climate Transformation Fund. There would be €200 million ring-fenced for research and development on offshore, floating wind power.

Ms Whitmore said solar panels would be installed on 500,000 homes, with free panels for low income households. There would be a €1.5 billion fair transition fund to support the agriculture sector and the party would double the size of Ireland’s national parks.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has rebuffed a suggestion from Micheál Martin that Fine Gael should de-escalate campaign trail attacks on Fianna Fáil.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Thursday, the Fine Gael leader responded to remarks made by Mr Martin about his surprise that Mr Harris’ party were “strategically” targeting Fianna Fáil more than Sinn Féin.

“I think after he said that, he then went on the attack,” Mr Harris said of his counterpart in Fianna Fáil. “Giving out about being attacked whilst then attacking is an interesting way of doing things.”

He said that during an election it was important to debate ideas without being personal, and that there were policy differences between his party and Fine Gael. “The fact we’re debating them is good,” he said.

Mr Harris, who was heckled during the doorstep interview with journalists by a passerby who shouted that he “should be ashamed” over the homelessness situation, was asked about a new book authored by his one-time cabinet colleague, minister for housing Eoghan Murphy, which criticises the previous government’s urgency on housing.

He said that at the time Ireland was “fighting for its economic sovereignty” in light of Brexit, “of course there would be a priority on those matters”, alongside recovery after “our political predecessors bankrupted the nation”.

Fianna Fáil has launched a new health policy document in Dublin today that promises to greatly ease emergency department over-crowding and to reduce waiting times for access to care, Harry McGee reports.

Unveiled by outgoing Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Sen Lorraine Clifford-Lee, it pledges to invest in ED services, increase the number of ED consultants by 50 per cent, and ensure more access to diagnostics after hours and at weekends.

In terms of access to other hospital departments, outpatient services, and getting access to GP care, it has also promised it will increase the number of GPs by 1,500, open 4,000 more hospital beds and open a further 100 ICU beds.

Inevitably, the situation in the Mid-West and, specifically, in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) cropped up during the press conference.

Mr Donnelly acknowledged there as a lot that remained to be done but defended what he has done to improve the situation there since becoming Minister for Health.

He said: “We know the waiting times in the Midwest have been radically reduced, and we do need to acknowledge what our healthcare workers have done there”.

Free solar panels for low income households and extra supports for them to buy electric vehicles are among the Green Party’s climate action promises to the electorate.

Party leader Roderic O’Gorman launched its manifesto for climate and nature in Dublin’s Temple Bar on Thursday, which our correspondent Cormac McQuinn attended.

O’Gorman the party had climate at the centre of its ambitions and said that after its stint in Government Ireland has the lowest emissions in 30 years while the economy continues to grow.

Among the party’s climate pledges are €1.2 billion to be spent on retrofitting public buildings like schools and hospitals to make them warmer and more energy efficient.

There would be €200 million to help businesses with climate action measures and €250 million to use heat generated at places like data centres for district heating for households.

Another €100 million would be spent to support the roll-out of offshore wind.

Outgoing Dublin-Rathdown TD Catherine Martin said the party understands that people are worried about rising costs.

She said that the party wants to make it free for 200,000 low income households to install solar panels.

Ms Martin acknowledged that electric vehicles sales have begun to fall. She said they are cheaper to run but their upfront cost is considerable.

Speaking in Baku at COP29 on RTÉ’s refusal to have an election debate on climate, Minister for Environment and Climate Eamon Ryan said it was an essential requirement in the election for many reasons, Kevin O’Sullivan reports.

It was needed “to take on our responsibilities”, he said, and necessary in light of the new UK commitment, Ireland’s nearest neighbour, to reduce its carbon emissions by 81 per cent before 2035, based on 1990 levels.

“There will quite soon be a race here as to who is best at this, because this is the new economy. It will be where the jobs are; where greater security is. And in truth we have a long way to go. We are making real progress, we are no longer laggards, we are starting to be leaders,” he said.

This was being recognised in international commentary and at COP29, Mr Ryan added. “But we need to go so much further. We need to be honest with our people ... The entire transport system needs to change ... Business as usual will not work, and that really needs to be understood in a debate. Manifestos and the commitments to it need to be questioned and you do that in a debate.”

The Minister said Fianna Fáil had committed to reducing emissions by 90 per cent by 2040. While that would be good, it would be really challenging. “I don’t see in their plans how we actually deliver that. Those questions need to be asked,” he added.

Corinthians Boxing Club in Summerhill in inner city Dublin have posted on their Instagram page asking locals to vote number 1 for Gerard Hutch.

The Dublin gangland figure, known as The Monk, returned to Dublin this week with the intention of registering as an Independent candidate.

Earlier this week, chairman of the boxing club Paddy Corcoran told The Irish Times that people in the area are not put off by Hutch’s criminal past as he “looks after people” in the area.

It was “great to have Gerard” in the boxing club yesterday, the club said in its post.

Taoiseach Simon Harris was heckled by passersby while answering questions from journalists on housing and other topics in Dublin this afternoon. As he was speaking, a passerby told him he should be ashamed of himself about homelessness in the country. More to follow.

The Green Party is willing to work with all parties after the election, but any entry into coalition will have to be on the basis of strong policies, party leader Roderic O’Gorman told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

“We know how to bring about change. I am asking people to renew our mandate,” he said.

Mr O’Gorman denied that his announcement of the date of the general election before Taoiseach Simon Harris had officially done so had led to “ill feeling” between the Green Party and Fine Gael.

“I gave my view when asked when I thought the election would be. We have all moved on,” he said.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that if Sinn Féin enters government, in the first 100 days a minister for reunification would be appointed, a green paper on reunification would be drafted, and a Citizens’ Assembly would be put together.

Ms McDonald said conversations would then happen with the British government to discuss what the “tipping point” is for the holding of a Border poll.

Jennifer Bray is attending Sinn Féin’s launch of the party’s immigration management agency plan.

Currently, the party feels the different bodies and Government departments involved in our migration system, which have been acting independently of one another, is a cause of “fragmented decision making, which along with a significantly under resourced and under pressure system leads to significant delays and bad planning and outcomes”.

Sinn Féin said it would set up a new Immigration Management Agency, under the Department of Justice and Home Affairs, that would have responsibility for processing of applicants, enforcement of rules, registration of individuals and accommodation.

This would bring together personnel from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), Border Management Unit (BMU), Immigration Service Delivery (ISD), International Protection Office (IPO), International Protection Accommodation Services (PAS) and those involved in relevant functions at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) under one department rather than multiple departments.

The party said it would “ensure cohesion in planning sharing of information and speedy decision making”.

In today’s Inside Politics newsletter Pat Leahy writes on what may well become a talking point today:

Last night, in an interview with Colette Fitzpatrick on Virgin Media, Taoiseach Simon Harris announced another policy departure – if re-elected to government, he said, he would abolish the means test for the carers’ allowance.

We can expect that the details will be fleshed out by Fine Gael today, but the costs for this move will be significant. Earlier this year, officials in the Department of Social Protection estimated the cost would be an additional €600 million annually, based on current claim numbers. That is, in other words, before adding any new inflow of claims.

But removing the means test could cause an influx of new claims, officials believe. The department has costed a potential inflow of the people who self-reported as carers in the census. Once the inflow is reckoned, the cost estimates rise to between €880 million and €2 billion a year, they said.