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Key points from Aontú election manifesto

Among Aontú's measures are a cap on the cost of childcare at €100 per week
Among Aontú's measures are a cap on the cost of childcare at €100 per week

Aontú is the latest party to publish its election manifesto, a key document which sets out each party's key priorities if it forms part of the next government.

With issues such as housing, cost of living, immigration, public sector waste, abortion laws and gender ideology all examined, what exactly does Aontú's general election manifesto propose?

Here are the main points covering five key areas.


1. Economy and public sector spending

Reduce the VAT rate for pubs and restaurants from 13.5% to 9%, at a cost of €545 million per year

Limit core spending growth to 5% a year as Aontú says this is the estimated growth rate for the Irish economy

A reversal of the last two excise duty increases on petrol and diesel fuel

A "zero VAT rate" on electricity while prices remain high, which Aontú says would cost €195m a year

Create a junior ministry for ensuring efficiency and ending "waste throughout the public sector"

Change civil servant job advertisements so that individuals can be held responsible for spending under their watch. This would include disciplinary measures "including losing their job" in certain circumstances


2. Housing

Re-introduce the no fault eviction ban

Convince construction workers who have emigrated to return home by speeding up accommodation for them

Construct 15,000 social and affordable homes a year

Provide 8,000 vacant home grants worth up to €70,000, which Aontú says would cost the State €560m a year


3. Children and health

Cap the cost of childcare at €100 per week

Create a €3,000 childcare subvention for parents who choose to say at home within the first three years of a child's life

A second means tested child benefit rate costing €700m a year, which Aontú says could help 100,000 households and lift 40,000 children out of poverty

Introduce a recruitment freeze for health service administrators and management, which Aontú says could save €30m a year

Employ 3,500 more nurses and midwives at a cost of €259m over five years, and 400 more consultants in 2025 at a cost of €88m

Block any emergency department closures, and develop a new emergency department in the Mid West to take pressure off Limerick


4. Abortion and social issues

Continue the three-day wait period for anyone seeking an abortion

Economic supports for all mothers who are pregnant

A "full freedom of conscience" rule on the right to life for anyone working in the health service

Oppose abortions based on gender or disability

Aontú says it is the "only" party in the Dáil which can say a woman is a female adult and which does not believe a man can get pregnant or give birth

"Ensure" that information provided to pupils in SPHE classes "adhere to the ethos of the parents and schools" involved

Oppose and "speak against" any "censorship laws", including hate speech legislation. It also says it opposes all forms of discrimination and all forms of incitement to violence

"Female only safe places" for women and girls


5. Immigration

Create a new Irish border agency to oversee border control, applications processing and enforcement of rules. Aontú's manifesto says this plan could be based on a similar body in Lithuania which employs 4,000 personnel

End the planning laws exemption for asylum accommodation

Introduce a "community dividend" which Aontú says would be worth millions of euro to communities which agree to host migrants or asylum seekers

Introduce a six-month deadline for any asylum application decision

End the existing approach to some people who are seeking asylum allegedly destroying their passports or other travel documents on arrival to Ireland. Aontú says this is a "breach of Irish and European law" and that anyone whose first actions in Ireland are to break the law should not be "allowed to remain"

A zero-tolerance policy for anyone applying for asylum who has what Aontú says is a criminal record

An Irish sea border to limit what Aontú says is the practice of some people who are seeking asylum arriving into Ireland


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