Opportunity 2016

Good evening.

It’s a huge honour for me tonight to stand in the footprints of the great leaders who gave heart and soul to this party. Men like Dick Spring and Eamon Gilmore – whose commitment to Ireland’s cause was absolute. Whose character was resolute. And whose dedication to Labour values was beyond dispute. Values shaped so much by the women of our party. So I take particular pride standing here as the first woman leader of the Labour Party. We stand here as spring takes hold throughout the country. And right now, we are witnessing an economic spring too. Students being recruited straight out of college – last week hundreds were hired at ‘Career Zoo’. Apprentices being snapped up – this week in Portlaoise, I met the first of 300 new apprentices being recruited by the ESB. The next generation of talented craftsmen – and women – powering the company that powers our country. We’re building the economic recovery. And with it new jobs and opportunities for our people. Unemployment will shortly fall below 10% for the first time since the economic crisis. Over 90,000 new jobs have been created. 40,000 more are on the way this year. Wages have increased by more than 2% over the past year. Contrast this hopeful spring with the economic winter when we took office. When fear was rampant – fear for Ireland’s future – for the future of our sons and daughters, our family and friends. We’ve conquered that fear and replaced it with hope. But a country is more than its economy alone. It’s a society too. So the true measure of our success will be delivering a social recovery alongside the economic one. Meaning every person, every family and every community benefits from renewed prosperity. That is our challenge: To live up to what we are – what we have always been. The Labour Party is the party of work and we are getting Ireland back to work. The Labour Party is the party of opportunity – and we are now creating opportunity.

I know something about the importance of opportunities in life. My adopted parents, Bridie and John, had little money. But lots of love. Lots of encouragement. And above all – lots of belief in opportunity. They knew the key to opportunity was education. I went to UCD on a scholarship. My parents could never have afforded the fees. That scholarship was there to give people of my working-class background opportunities in life. I joined the Labour Party because it believed opportunity is what allows us – as Larkin said – to “close the gap between what ought to be and what is”. We in the Labour Party do not measure success just by balanced budgets or bond yields. We measure success by the progress of our people. By the jobs they have and the quality of life those jobs offer. By the sight of communities prospering, and children thriving. It doesn’t matter much to me that we get approval for Ireland’s recovery from boardrooms or rating agencies. It matters everything to me that we get the approval of the people. And for that, people must see the fruits of recovery in their lives. This is what we’re fighting for now – a shared recovery – the common good. A decade of opportunity – for all.

Now, there are progress-deniers out there. Some of them highjack peaceful protests to make their point. In a free society, that’s bullying. The Labour Party has a long, long history of standing up to bullies. And I’ll tell you something else: Labour women are not easily intimidated. Nothing will stop me from leading the drive to rescue this country after Fianna Fail pushed it over a cliff. Our progress has been such that we’ll eliminate the deficit in this Government’s second term. We’ll balance the books as part of our long-term plan to bed down the recovery. What does that mean? It means, firstly, no return to crisis. Not on our watch. It means, secondly, more money for essential public services. For schools, for hospitals, and homes for families. We’ll do it because tax revenues are strong. That’s what happens when you get people back to work. Every taxpayer has more money in their pay packet because of the tax reductions in the Budget. Pensioners, people with disabilities, people living alone – they’ve all received a Christmas bonus. This is the Labour Party living up to our standards – this is Labour in action. The Labour Party is in Government to ensure economic strength goes hand in hand with social justice. That opportunity and prosperity go hand in hand with fairness and equality. That workers and businesses are helped to get ahead. That families are helped to get on, rather than just get by. That we reach full employment. Deliver a fair and equitable tax system for workers. And affordable homes for families to live in. That’s why we are in Government.

In the coming year, we’ll continue to push back poverty. Poverty has always been our enemy. And the best protector against poverty is a job. We’re building an economy that works. Because of the progress we’ve made, we’ll reach full employment by 2018. A productive economy with full employment means people have the opportunities to reach their full potential. A fair wage and decent working conditions are essential to that. This means tackling low pay and zero-hour contracts. Because workers are entitled to a Living Wage – rather than dreading the arrival of every bill. The first thing we did in Government was raise the minimum wage after Fianna Fail had cut it. Just this week, we launched the Low Pay Commission to examine the Minimum Wage every year. And if they recommend an increase, I can tell Conference here and now: We will increase it.

Fianna Fail introduced the Universal Social Charge. Its effects on low-income workers were savage. Labour in Government has freed 410,000 low-income workers from USC. In the Budget, that will go to half a million. Half a million low-income workers freed from USC – completely. And we will continue to reform it for middle-income workers. To make sure that the teacher or the tiler earning €35,000 a year continues to see their Universal Social Charge come down.

Helping small and medium businesses to prosper is central to what we do. That’s why Labour’s Strategic Bank is open for business with an initial €400 million to lend to those businesses. We are also providing the fast broadband so crucial to businesses in rural areas. Electricity transformed rural communities in the 20th century. And broadband will create jobs, opportunity and prosperity for those communities in the 21st.

Businesses and families are slowly beginning to recover from the effects of the crisis. We must do everything we can to speed up that progress. Having already increased Child Benefit, we’ll do so again in the next Budget. By the end of this year, we’ll set out the steps that will enable us to introduce two weeks’ paid paternity leave. So that new mums and dads can both afford to spend precious time with their new baby. Mums and dads will also be able to bring their young children to the doctor for free. Because this year, we’ll deliver another of our core commitments – to provide free GP care for children under six. Childcare is another concern for families. We are increasing access to subsidised childcare and afterschool places. But that won’t be enough, and we must do more. I want to ensure that before they start primary school, every child has a right to two years of free pre-school. This will be a key plank of our election platform. Families also need the certainty of a roof over their heads. Building a social recovery means sufficient homes for people to live in. We’ll start by delivering tens of thousands of new affordable homes for working families through the Construction 2020 strategy. And at the same time, we’ll pump in a record €4 billion to provide 35,000 social houses by 2020.

And to provide the essential public services that people need, we’re hiring more Gardaí, more teachers and more nurses. 300 new Garda recruits are now in training in Templemore. In health, we’re hiring more staff on the frontline. In education, we’ve just had the best reading and maths results in our primary schools in three decades. We’re hiring 1,400 more teachers and 350 special needs assistants. To ensure that all our children get the best possible education. And have every opportunity to reach their full potential.

Dealing with our debt has been horrifically difficult. We tore up the toxic promissory note. We renegotiated our interest rates. We fought for changes that have saved us tens of billions of euro. And here’s the good news – we can now borrow money for less than one per cent. That’s an amazing turnaround. We’ve eased our debt burden by being smart, tough and flexible. We’ll also make the right decision in maximising the return on our stake in AIB. Labour opposed the bank guarantee, because we knew how disastrous it would be. And boy, was it disastrous. On taking office, the banks became our problem to fix – and we’re fixing them. It’s only right that the people share in any benefits that flow from selling them. In other words, a social dividend. A measure of fairness for the massive injustice inflicted on all of us.

The Labour Party is all about equality. I want to see an Irish society that’s equal. And this means that all citizens are treated equally under our constitution. Some time back, driving to Limerick for work, I stopped at the Obama Plaza in Moneygall. A woman in a yellow coat approached me, wanting to talk about the marriage referendum. I told her what I thought and stood back slightly. Because I thought she was going to be critical. Instead she told me about her beloved son – her beloved gay son. And her desire that he have the right to marry and settle down. She wanted what every Irish mammy wants for their child. We were both a bit emotional. Tears welled up as I realised we’re fighting for more than just two people in a loving relationship. We’re fighting for everybody who loves them in turn. And we’ll win by making conversation and making our case. Face to face, one person at a time. To ensure equality of love before the law.

A socially just society – that’s our goal. It will take passion. Commitment. Dogged hard work. And time. Central to this is a basic reality: You cannot solve big issues with small politics. In 2011, this party took our responsibility seriously. We put our country first and entered Government. Some say we made a mistake. That we should have stayed out in our own interest to advance the party’s cause. Those people do not understand this party – and they never will. We put Ireland first – and we always will. In highly unstable economic times, politicians have one critical role – to provide political stability. We have provided that stability. And the country is recovering. As we approach Election 2016, contrast this with the chaos on the Opposition benches. Fianna Fail won’t enter government with Sinn Fein or Fine Gael. Sinn Fein won’t enter government with either of them. The Independents can’t govern themselves. And the hard-left are opposed to governing. It’s a coalition of chaos – and the country simply cannot afford it.

By contrast, this Government ended the chaos of the economic crisis. We converted fear into hope. And an economy built on quicksand into one built on solid and sustainable foundations. It hasn’t been easy. Labour and Fine Gael see individual issues in different ways. Sometimes very, very different ways. What we share is a desire to secure the recovery and spread its benefits. And we work together – the Taoiseach and I – in partnership – to achieve it. John F Kennedy once said: “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democraticanswer, but the right answer.”

There’s a lot of noise right now about the election, but when the time comes, the focus will narrow to a single question: What’s best for you, your family, and your community?

Next year, we will celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Rising. We will look back and look forward. At the country we have become. And the country we can become. The 1916 Proclamation envisaged a Republic of equal rights, equal opportunities, and prosperity for all. The depth and scale of the economic crisis struck a blow to that vision. Ireland has been through immense turbulence this past seven years. But we’ve come out the right side. And we’re perfectly placed to deliver a decade of opportunity. The economic recovery is under way. Now we’re building the social recovery too. As Labour Party Leader, I am fighting for a strong economy. And a society that’s just. The opportunity is there for us to achieve both. The cranes are on the skyline again, the jobs are emerging again. A generation stands ready to come home to a Republic of equality, of opportunity, of hopes and dreams and possibilities. Let’s deliver for them. Let’s deliver for all of them. Let’s deliver that decade of opportunity.