Workers' Party calls for wealth tax

LEFT:THE WORKERS' Party has called for a wealth tax and a 50 per cent top rate of tax on those earning more than €100,000 a year.

The party is fielding six candidates in the general election.

Its party manifesto, launched yesterday, puts the emphasis heavily on job creation through the public sector. It proposes merging the ESB, Bord Gáis and Bord na Móna into one State energy company that could double the workforce from 40,000 to 80,000.

It also wants oil and gas found off the Republic’s coast to belong to the people of Ireland.

Tax exiles would be forced to pay their taxes in Ireland and all tax loopholes would be abolished.

Party president Michael Finnegan, who is standing in Dublin Midwest, said there should be a fundamental change in the way this country is governed and the country should make a turn to the left in the general election.

He admitted his party had much in common with many of the other left-wing parties standing in the election, but it also was similar to Sinn Féin in standing on an all-Ireland platform.

The party’s other five candidates are Cllr Ted Tynan in Cork North Central, one of the two councillors the party has in local government; Malachy Steenson in Dublin Central; John Dunne in Dublin North West; Séamus McDonagh in Meath West; and Joe Tobin in Waterford. Mr Finnegan said the party was particularly strong in Dublin Midwest, where it polled 900 votes in the local election in the Lucan area.