An amendment on neutrality, increase in Ireland’s development aid, full implementation of Good Friday Agreement and EU enlargement were prioritised in the final part of the Labour Party’s election manifesto.
At the launch this morning, Labour’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, committed Ireland to allocating 0.7 per cent of GNP to development aid by 2005 in line with UN requirements.
According to the UN Ireland currently contributes 0.31 per cent, proving Mr Higgins said that the current Government has promised much but delivered little.
"Labour’s position," he said, "is distinctive in relation to multi-lateralism, development aid trade and debt relief for poorer countries.
"In the long term Labour will strive to increase to one per cent of GNP our contribution to the development aid budget."
Also present at this morning’s briefing was Mr Proinsias De Rossa, MEP and Labour spokesperson on European Affairs.
The Nice Treaty, Mr de Rossa said, would one of the single biggest issues facing whatever government was elected on May 17th.
He said while Ireland’s rejection of the Nice Treat last year had sent shock-waves through Europe, it had allowed time for the proper consideration of the issues involved as well as clarification on neutrality.
"The opponents of Nice tell us to go back to our EU partners and renegotiate a better deal," Mr de Rossa said.
"They fail to recognise that renegotiation is not an option as far as our fourteen EU partners are concerned. They fail to offer a viable alternative to full Irish membership of the Union.
"To deal with this confusion we are proposing a declaration to clarify that Nice does not impact on Irish military neutrality and in addition we are proposing a referendum to clarify the Irish constitutional position on this issue."
The issues of transparency and countering the perceived "democratic deficit" in the European institutions also need to be addressed, he said.
"The Labour Party wants to see a peaceful, democratic, enlarged Europe based on solidarity and is calling on all those in Ireland who support this vision to lend us their support on May 17th," he said.