Four parties – Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, the Greens and Social Democrats – give unequivocal support to the full implementation of Sláintecare in their 2020 election offers. Fianna Fáil and Labour give partial support, while Solidarity/PBP give no clear support for the policy.

That’s according to the political parties’ responses to a range of issues raised with them during the election campaign, which Fórsa published today.

All the parties give full or partial support to investment in mental health services, while all but Solidarity/PBP give full or partial support to recruiting more health and social care professionals.

The union’s assessments are based on party manifestos and other official election pledges. Fórsa also sent a draft to each party to give them the opportunity to clarify their positions if they wanted to.

The union prioritised pay and working time in its questions to the parties. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats commit to negotiate a new pay deal in their manifestos and, when prompted by Fórsa, the others said they would too.

All were fairly short on details, and there was scant support for addressing the additional working time introduced for many public servants during the crisis.

The only two polices that every party supported was large-scale investment in house building, and legislation to compel companies to declare their gender pay gaps.

See the full details of party positions HERE.

See our analysis of party positions on pay and related issues HERE.