In the ongoing debate on whether or not the island of Ireland should end partition and reunify, the pro-British minority on the island, constantly refer to a lowering of living standards for the residents of the North and an end to free medical care, should the island of Ireland become a nation once again.
The debate is not if there will be a united Ireland, but when?
The discourse is now, how to make Ireland an island of equals and a home for all.
Here is my manifesto.
Free medical and dental care for all at the point of delivery.
Raising the minimum wage to £15/18 euros per hour.
No individual to earn more than six times the minimum wage.
Rents to be capped.
House prices to be capped.
A full programme of social housing initiated.
National all banks and utilities. Return all government outsourced jobs and services to the public sector.
Heavily subsidised or free travel.
Free education, at all ages and in all sectors, from nursery to university.
All natural resources to become the property of the Irish people, in the custody of the Irish government.
All politicians to be rotated. No one can serve a term in office of more than 5 years.
All elected representatives to be chosen by ballot or elected as representatives of local committees, elected by local residents.
Government bottom-up, not top-down.
No parties to be elected to office, only individuals.
Government to be overseen by an elected group who can only use power within the confines of a written constitution, agreed by the people, in the interests of the people.
Capped rents allow those on minimum wages to plan their expenditure with greater confidence.
House prices capped. Everyone should be able to buy their own home if they so desire.
Educational freedom will allow individuals to pursue their dreams and find a job that suits their personality and talents. People must have the choices and the opportunity to live their lives to the full.
The increase in the minimum wage will afford individuals and families the opportunity to have their own car, plan holidays and have the freedoms to enjoy life outside of the working environment. Not to struggle, simply to exist every day in a hand to mouth subsistence society, relying on the generosity of strangers precariously via food banks, clothes banks and soup kitchens.
Heavily subsidised or free transport will allow children and adults to access schools and jobs.
It will empower the disabled, the elderly and many more to travel for leisure. To visit friends, to view their towns and cities and feel free to exercise their bodies, minds and spirits, in a society where people feel they are truly cherished.
These challenges may appear aspirational to many but, I assure you they are very much achievable.
A national written constitution encompassing all of the above and much more will set the pace and direction of all future elected representative governments.
A guarantee that these promises, to the people, through a written contract /constitution will form the basis of a new more equal society.
Corruption, malfeasance and graft will not be tolerated.
Those found guilty will be jailed automatically. The term served to be commensurate with the crime.
The increased expenditure required from the new programme of the government will not be found through borrowing but through taxation.
All loopholes in legislation that allow tax avoidance or tax evasion will be closed.
No individual, company or corporation will be allowed to have offshore accounts.
All taxes will be gathered.
Any individual company or corporation who earns above an agreed level of profit will automatically have that money forwarded to the state, to be redistributed to the benefit of the people, in housing projects, subsidised travel, capped rents, capped houses, prices, education, health and welfare.
These goals are easily accessible, once the political will has been endorsed by the people.
End homelessness, poverty, extreme poverty and all the ills that befall society, through the redistribution of wealth for many, not just a few.
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