Sinn Féin will today promise a referendum in the lifetime of the next government to allow people in Northern Ireland and the wider Irish diaspora to vote in presidential elections.
The proposal, which will be contained in the Sinn Féin general election manifesto published on Tuesday morning, will be part of a series of pledges to push the united Ireland agenda. Sinn Féin says achieving Irish unity will be central to the work of the next government if the party leads it.
The party will seek referendums North and South on a united Ireland by 2030, though any referendum in Northern Ireland is a matter for the British government to call if it believes the measure is likely to pass.
Sinn Féin will promise to publish a white paper on Irish unity, to set up a special unity within the Department of the Taoiseach and to appoint a junior minister to head it. There will be a joint Oireachtas committee to examine unity issues and a citizens assembly. It will also promise to allow Northern MPs the right to speak in the Oireachtas.
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Elsewhere, Sinn Féin will promise to establish a €7 billion fund for retrofitting, with 75 per cent of funding reserved for low and modest income households. The new retrofitting regime will be a “tiered grants-based system”, according to a person familiar with the plans, designed so that ordinary households can benefit. Among other aspects of the new schemes there will be a special fund to replace solid fuel heating systems, especially targeted at small rural households. It will be a “radical reform of retrofitting”, says a source.
There will be a €2.5 billion renewable energy investment fund, allowing the State to invest in private sector joint ventures and also expand the role in renewable energy generation of State companies like the ESB, Bord na Móna and Coillte.
The party will pledge to restore the retirement age to 65 and abolish the means test for the carers’ allowance, a measure also promise by several other parties and which officials have estimated could lead to costs of as much as €2 billion a year.
Sinn Féin will also promise a second Garda training college to provide for an annual intake of an extra 500 recruits, growing garda numbers to 16,000 and with special focus on garda numbers in rural areas. It will also set up a garda retention taskforce.
Along with the Social Democrats, who also launch their manifesto on Tuesday morning, Sinn Féin is the last of the parties to set out its stall for the general election.
In a statement issued on Monday night the Social Democrats set out their red lines for participation in government: “50,000 affordable purchase homes, full implementation of Slaintecare, quality public childcare, credible climate action, and a senior minister for disability”
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