Bruton sets election date and promises tax cuts

Bruton sets election date and promises tax cuts

The Irish Prime Minister, John Bruton, yesterday ended months of speculation by announcing that an Irish general election will be held on 6 June.

After a brief announcement to TD's (MPs), he went to President Mary Robinson to request the dissolution of the Dail then joined colleagues in his three- party coalition in launching their manifesto. Flanked by Labour Party leader and Foreign Minister Dick Spring and Proinsias de Rossa, the Democratic Left leader and Social Welfare Minister, Mr Bruton committed the coalition to reducing "the tax take" for an average single earner to 22p in the pound and to 14p for a married person. He said this would not be achieved by simple cuts in tax rates alone but by a wider re-alignment of personal allowances, tax bands, social insurance contributions and the basic tax rate. Alan Murdoch