The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, yesterday called for a new approach to politics which focused on improving the quality of life of citizens, rather than depending on economic indicators to measure the State's success.
He outlined policies aimed at tackling hospital waiting lists, the housing crisis, traffic congestion and childcare when he addressed the Fine Gael parliamentary party conference in Clonmel. These would be issues which the party would pursue in the coming months.
"While our economic numbers in Ireland are very positive, on a quality of life index it is not so positive and for some people their quality of life has deteriorated," he said.
Fine Gael would draw up a national residential plan for Ireland, which would designate places where facilities should be provided for people to live and work, so as to integrate both, providing the best possible services with the least environmental damage.
As part of the plan Mr Bruton said he would like to see entire Government departments moved out of Dublin.
"For example, there is no reason why the Minister and the Department of Agriculture should not operate from Wexford or Cork city," he said. ail Eireann should continue to meet in Dublin, there is no reason why the Constitution should not provide that Seanad Eireann should meet in a location outside Dublin, such as Galway, Athlone or Dundalk."
The national residential plan would be developed in conjunction with transport policy, with Mr Bruton earmarking the railway system as the primary artery of national development. Houses and businesses should be built close to the rail network so as to put the maximum amount of traffic on to the railways and off the roads.
Mr Bruton said he believed increases in bus and train fares should be tightly controlled. The authorities should aim to keep increases in bus and train fares at half the rate of increase in the consumer price index.
Fine Gael also believed a major increase in local authority house building was part of the solution to the housing crisis. This year local authorities were provided with funding to build 4,500 houses, although there were 46,000 families on the housing list. Mr Bruton noted that local authorities built just 7.5 per cent of all houses in the State, and this had to be increased to 15 per cent.
In a plan to tackle hospital waiting lists, Fine Gael was proposing the creation of a new grade of hospital doctor, below consultants but substantially above the level of junior hospital doctors. These hospital specialists would be paid salaries equal to or above the salary paid to consultants, but they would not have the facilities to operate private practices.
Having a senior medical decision-maker on site in the hospital to deal with any case that needed a senior-level decision would speed up the decision-making process and dramatically reduce waiting lists, Mr Bruton said. These specialists could also carry out operations, he added.
As part of Fine Gael health policy, the number of public health nurses would be increased from 1,400 to 2,000, with due allowance being made for areas with higher concentrations of older people or infants.