Over the past ten days, political parties have made literally hundreds of promises to voters on every topic imaginable, from child care has accommodation At economy and everything else.

Almost all parties have now published their general election manifest, with Aontú is expected to release its document Thursday morning. For many, the 2024 general election will have seemed like a storm of rushed promises, a situation made even more confusing when different parties actually promise the same thing in certain areas.

But as the dust has settled, stark political differences are emerging between each party. With many people still unsure who they will vote for, The Irish Times has developed an easy-to-use online tool where readers can see what has been promised. And here we look at the top three areas voters cite as important (both on the doorstep and according to an Irish Times poll) and the key points of difference. Of course, manifesto commitments may turn to dust when negotiations over a government program begin, but they provide a solid guide as to the vision you can expect.

Promises, promises: how do the parties compare?

Accommodation

Once again, accommodation has become a major concern of voters. One thing all parties agree on is the need to build more housing and make renting and buying more affordable. The clearest difference here is between the two main outgoing government parties, Good Gael And Fianna Failwho wish to preserve and enhance Help with purchasing And First house equity programs and the opposition, who say they only drive up prices. Opposition parties also want to see different variations of rent freezes and eviction bans.

As for promises about how many houses each party would build, here’s how it breaks down. Good Gael say they would build 300,000 homes by 2030 and introduce a new housing plan to follow the Housing for all document. By 2030, they plan to build 12,000 new social housing units per year.

Fianna Fail say they would increase the rate of housing construction to 60,000 homes per year in 2030 and beyond and build at least 12,000 social housing units per year. They also say they would protect and extend the First Home program until 2030 and expand it to support the purchase of second-hand homes. There is also a promise to create 2,000 Housing First tenancies to help eliminate long-term homelessness.

Sinn Féin has also committed to delivering more than 300,000 homes over the next five years, including 125,000 social and affordable homes, as well as a plan to end long-term homelessness by 2030. Their more big difference is that they want to phase out homelessness support. Buy a five-year program and introduce a six-month no-fault eviction ban. Their Home of Your Own policy also committed to introducing a three-year emergency ban on rent increases.

The Green Party committed to delivering an average of 50,000 to 53,000 new homes per year over the next five years, including 15,000 state-supported affordable/costly rental homes, 12,000 social homes and at least 4,000 vacant homes and abandoned renovated. For tenants, they want to introduce a tenant deposit guarantee scheme where deposits are held securely by a public body such as the Residential Tenancies Board. They say they would target the Help to Buy scheme towards those who need it by aligning it with the First Home Scheme house price caps.

Work have also promised to build an average of 50,000 new homes per year over the next five years and increase delivery from 2027 to more than 60,000 per year. Their big project is to transform the Land use planning agency into a state construction company that will absorb the costs of the land and “eliminate profit taking on sales”. They also want to phase out the Help to Buy scheme by 2029 and replace it with a Save to Buy scheme for buying new homes, with income caps on the tax refund available.

The social democrats have promised to build 75,000 affordable housing units over a five-year period. This would be made up of 50,000 affordable housing units and 25,000 affordable rental units. They also want to introduce a rent freeze for three years.

People before profit want to increase the tenant tax credit to €3,000 in 2025, freeze rents and reinstate the ban on eviction.

Cost of living, money and economy

Good Gael committed to increasing the threshold at which a worker enters the top tax bracket by at least €2,000 per year, so that people earning €54,000 would not be subject to the income tax rate the highest. They also said they wanted to raise the entry threshold for the 3 percent USC band from €27,382 to €40,000, and the entry threshold for the 8 percent USC band from €70,044 to €75,000. They also want to increase the inheritance tax brackets.

Fianna Fail say they would increase the entry point for the higher rate of income tax to “at least” €50,000 and reduce the lower rate of USC from 3 percent to 1.5 percent. They want to increase the state pension to at least 350 euros per week and keep the VAT rate at 9 percent on energy bills.

Sinn Féin say they would abolish USC for all workers on the first 45,000 euros of their income, at a cost of 1.84 billion euros. They also pledged to end corporate tax relief for bailed-out banks and increase the rate of child benefit by 25 euros as well as disability allowance, the blind’s pension and the disability pension of 70 euros. One of the main commitments is to abolish local property tax and replace it with direct funding for local authorities to the tune of €500 million.

The Labor Party say they would index tax credits and brackets as well as welfare rates to a basket of inflation and wage growth measures to protect against the rising cost of living. They want to reform the national minimum wage to guarantee a living income linked to 66 percent of the median hourly wage.

The social democrats say they would end so-called one-off “gimmicks” and introduce a wealth tax levied at 0.5 percent on assets above 1 million euros, or 1 percent on assets above 2 million euros. They are demanding a 1 euro public transport ticket and free public transport for those under 18.

People before profit say they would abolish USC for workers earning less than 100,000 euros and use a tax on “multimillionaires” to pay for it.

The Green Party say they would continue to increase tax brackets and credits to prevent people from being hit with higher income tax bills. They would also increase social benefits based on income and inflation and provide 100% subsidies to low-income households at risk of fuel poverty for the installation of rooftop solar panels.

Health

Just as with housing, all parties agree on a few basic principles when it comes to health: more doctors and nurses are needed and waiting lists must be reduced. But of course they have different plans to achieve this.

Good Gael have promised a comprehensive assessment of existing and future demands on health services in the first year of the new government, as well as plans to increase capacity by 5,000 inpatient hospital beds by 2031. They promised to recruit GPs employed by the HSE to help with GPs. blanket.

Fianna Fail committed to reducing emergency department overcrowding and increasing the number of emergency medicine consultants by 50 percent, as well as increasing the number of general practitioners by 1,500 through a combination of international recruitment and increase in training places. The party also wants to extend free general care to all children aged 12 and under.

Sinn Féin want to develop a “first-class national health system across Ireland, which learns from the best and the worst in both jurisdictions and across Europe”. The objective is to achieve complete public health coverage by 2035. The party wants to develop “a historic contract for public general practitioners” which employs 250 public general practitioners. They want to provide free prescription medicines for all households, turn every GP visit card into a full medical card and offer comprehensive medical cover to all workers up to €45,000. They have also committed to providing 5,000 hospital beds by 2031.

Work say they would create a “Sláintecare Transition Fund” starting with an initial billion euros from the A windfall in the Apple tax case. They want to set aside USC as a health contribution and place any future revenue increases due to job growth into the new fund. They pledged to act immediately to provide free medical care to all children under 18 and to increase health service staff by 30,000 over the next five years.

The social democrats want specific legislation to support and maintain maximum hospital waiting time targets. They also want to introduce a legal right to home care and budget for a person-centered home care program.

People before profit say they would introduce free primary care for all, including GP care, and immediately add 1,000 permanent acute beds.

The Green Party have promised to expand capacity in acute healthcare settings by developing new elective hospitals and surgical centers in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Dublin. They want to extend the general practitioner visit card to all children under 11 years old.

Bonus: childcare

Canvassing teams across the country have told the Irish Times that childcare services are regularly discussed close to the gates. All parties, in one way or another, have committed to reducing childcare costs to 200 euros per month. All except People before profilewho want universal, free childcare.