OPW subsumed into new Department under FG plans

Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has said the Office of Public Works is to be subsumed into a new Department of Infrastructure if his party is returned to Government.

Speaking at Fine Gael's General Election manifesto launch in Tipperary, he said one of his party’s key priorities is increasing services and reducing waiting lists for children with disabilities and special educational needs.

Mr Harris said he accepted that not enough progress has been made when it came to disability services and special education.

He said Fine Gael is promising a €1 billion investment to double training places for speech and language therapists with the aim of reducing waiting times.

The manifesto includes a promise that nobody on the average wage will pay the higher rate of tax.

Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe said he could "confidently" say that such financial promises being made by the party can be afforded.

Regarding the Office of Public Works, which garnered headlines over the controversial Oireachtas bike shelter, Mr Harris said it is to be subsumed into a new Department of Infrastructure if he is returned as Taoiseach.

Asked about the viability of extending GP care to all individuals up to the age of 18, he said it would be done on a phased basis - adding his party would provide an additional 277 training places for GPs.

Mr Harris rejected suggestions that Fine Gael’s spending plans were like passing around snuff at a wake, adding that his party was doing things on a phased basis over the next five years and the pace that they could move "is subject to the economic wellbeing of the country".

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He said Fine Gael had built in a buffer so that his own children would not experience the austerity that he had lived through.

Mr Harris also said the Government is working in real time to build the system for immigration here, adding that this was likely to be the first time a party leader was asked about immigration in an election because it has not been an issue up to now.

He said he had an open mind about how migration would be dealt with in the future but that it would be done in a way that is fully complaint with the EU migration and asylum pact, EU values, human rights and European law.

He said Fine Gael were aiming to improve processing time and move away from needing to use hotels in communities.

Asked if their VAT proposals would increase energy charges, Mr Harris said under his party’s proposals energy bills will fall.

He said this would be "much to the disappointment of my political opponents".

VAT on energy bills will increase to 11% next May, he said, adding that a Domestic Energy Rebate proposed by Fine Gael would give householders about €40 off energy bills which would bridge the gap between the 9% and 11% rate.

He said his party were proposing to keep the rate at "11% VAT forever more."

Additional reporting: Samantha Libreri