WITH THE BUDGET over, Irish political eyes are now focused on the general election, likely to be held in the spring of next year.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has come out with the first major political promise of the campaign – scrapping the Universal Social Charge.

The tax measure, introduced by the late finance minister Brian Lenihan in 2011, was cut in Tuesday’s Budget.

But Kenny said that if he is still in charge after the election next year, it will be scrapped in the lifetime of the next government.

Speaking ahead of the Fine Gael presidential dinner this evening, Kenny said that abolishing the “savage” tax will be a “central tenet” of Fine Gael’s general election policy.

Kenny says the measure would create 200,000 jobs, reduce unemployment to 6% and attract 75,000 emigrants home.

In his speech, Kenny said: “Since the introduction of the USC by Fíanna Fail, Ireland’s personal tax system has damaged the incentive to work and is now a barrier to keeping the recovery going.

“That is why, if returned to Government, Fine Gael will put complete abolition of the USC at the centre of the most radical overhaul of personal taxation in a generation, all designed to make work pay, encourage labour force participation and entrepreneurship and keep the recovery going.”

Kenny said that he felt the government had kept its two “core promises” of stabilising the national finances and improving employment and that he “looked forward” to the election campaign.

Read: Can we really just abolish the USC?