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Preface

The Ireland I grew up in during the 1950s and early 1960s was a failure. The newly independent State was economically incapable of sustaining its people, who emigrated in their thousands at enormous human cost, and its society was insular, static and often stultifying.

Ireland today is vastly different. Economic growth and prosperity have changed the face of our country. The prosperity dreamt of by the founders of the Irish state has been achieved. Ireland now is a far more open and tolerant society.

Ireland is no longer the failed entity of the past, but we have more work to do.

Ireland has a successful economy, but a society under strain. Hard working families across Ireland live life on a treadmill - a never-ending and ever more grinding cycle of traffic, work, and responsibility. Sections of our people continue to suffer disadvantage and deprivation. One in nine of our children live in poverty, and in some schools, one in three suffers severe literacy difficulties. Growing anti-social behaviour makes life miserable for vulnerable people and their communities. There are signs, particularly among our young people, of a society ill at ease with itself and in need of a fresh sense of purpose.

We cannot take our economic success for granted, but neither can we be content with economic success alone. We must measure ourselves too by the quality of our civilisation - by the kind of Ireland we create and bequeath to our children.We must seize the opportunity afforded to us by peace and prosperity to build an Ireland that I call the Fair Society.

The Fair Society is built on a prosperous and sustainable economy, personal liberty and social solidarity.

At the heart of the Fair Society is the idea of human potential. We are all born with gifts and abilities, which we develop over the course of our lives. Our human potential is sometimes expressed in the extraordinary, sometimes in the apparently ordinary, but it is through the development of that potential that we individually and collectively flourish.

To be a socialist is to recognise in each of us, the common humanity that binds all of us. The Nobel prize-winning philosopher-economist, Amartya Sen wrote that 'a common characteristic of virtually all the approaches to the ethics of social arrangements that have stood the test of time is to want equality of something'. To do otherwise, is to place one person on a different level to another - it is to deny our common humanity.

In the Fair Society, the talents and potential of all are equally valued, and society is structured so as to allow for the development of that immense human potential. As Richard Tawney wrote: 'A society is free in so far and only so far ... as its institutions and policies are such as to enable all members to grow to their full stature'. It is the task of government to confront the arbitrary interests and the concentrations of power which hold people back, and through positive measures ensure that all have the opportunity to fulfil their potential - to bridge the gap between our circumstances, and what is within us to become.

Labour is the authentic Irish expression of the great European socialist and social democratic movement. For a century, our movement has worked to improve the lives of hard working families and to protect the vulnerable in our society. Our values of democracy, equality, community and solidarity are unchanging. In common with our sister parties across Europe, we constantly debate and reassess the best means and policies through which our values can be given expression in a rapidly changing world.

Labour is a party brimming with ideas. Since I became Labour Leader, our party has continuously developed policies which apply our values to the needs of modern Ireland and to the problems confronting people in their daily lives. This manifesto reflects the outcome of that work. It outlines twenty of the most important challenges facing Irish society, and sets out concrete and realistic means of addressing them.

Our economic strategy is based on the necessity to build a new platform of competitive advantage for Ireland, based on investment in people, infrastructure and ideas. We are firmly committed to fiscal stability, and in government will adhere to the terms of the EU Stability and Growth Pact, but that is not enough to ensure continued prosperity. We have concentrated particularly on the importance of knowledge in driving growth and prosperity. We reject the notion that inequality is good for economic growth, but rather see an inextricable link between life-long learning and long-term growth and prosperity.

For this reason, and for its intrinsic value, education is at the core of the Fair Society. The Fair Society erects no barriers between any child, irrespective of income, and the attainment of knowledge to the limit of their potential. Equally, the Fair Society commits itself to life-long learning for all as a means of enhancing prosperity, enriching individual lives, and overcoming the unjust legacy of past inequalities. To achieve that goal, a significant shift in our society towards a 'learning culture' is required. Accordingly, the maintenance and extension of universal free education, from our pre-schools to our universities, is one of Labour's core values. Introducing at least one year of free pre-school education is one of my five key commitments for change in this election. We must also radically overhaul our concepts, attitudes and systems for training, up-skilling and adult learning.

The Fair Society is built on a strong public realm - the place in the life of our community where we meet each other as equal citizens, sharing rights and obligations, and providing common services. The place where we debate with each other, elect a government and hold it to account. Our democracy is suffering from a deep sense of cynicism among our people, and the Oireachtas, which should be at the heart of our democracy, is losing its relevance. This manifesto sets out a comprehensive set of measures to reform the Dáil, to end the waste of taxpayers' money, and to transform government more generally, making it more accountable and ensuring that local and national governance delivers high quality public services to our people. Our commitment to public services is grounded in our conviction that, acting collectively, people achieve more than when acting alone. Government must be an agent of progressive social reform and the provider of high quality services, particularly in areas where excellence and equality of access are ethically and socially necessary.

Nowhere is this more urgent than in health. Labour's approach to health is based on the principles of excellence, equality and value for money. We must rescue the health service from its deep-seated crisis, beginning with a substantial expansion in capacity. I am committed to providing 2300 extra hospital beds. Labour is utterly opposed to the major extension of for-profit medicine being proposed for Ireland, and will scrap the present coalition's plan for superprivate clinics. We are committed to the development of a system of universal health insurance, so that resources are directed to addressing the needs of all patients on an equal basis:'the money follows the patient'. The proposals in this manifesto would make substantial progress towards this goal, including free health insurance for all children up to age sixteen.

Labour's commitment to equality is at the heart of our existence as a party. Labour has always been at the forefront of the fight for greater equality and human rights in Ireland. This manifesto commits the Labour Party to continuing that work in government, legislating to protect the rights of people who are experiencing discrimination in our society. Passing our Civil Unions Bill will be a priority for Labour in government.

We are committed to tackling social and economic inequality, and to spreading the opportunities of modern Ireland to all our people, through reform and enhancement of the social welfare code. We are proposing a range of social welfare measures, including a concerted effort to tackle child poverty, and because I believe that our society must respect and care for those who care for others, I am committed to abolishing the means test for carers. Labour in government will invest in those communities which are afflicted by multiple and cumulative disadvantage through our 'Fair Deal' initiative. We will extend the hand of solidarity too, to those Irish people who emigrated from our shores and have fallen on hard times in the UK and elsewhere.

Labour recognises the vital importance of the communities in which we live, and is committed to the values that underpin community life, including mutual respect and service to others. Ireland's communities are strong, but our community values are being eroded by two decades of the 'devil take the hindmost', and by patterns of development that have placed the needs of property over the needs of people and the building of communities. In a range of areas, including transport, planning and land use, and in our proposals on sport, culture and the arts, we are bringing forward measures to enhance and strengthen community life. My commitment to our 'Begin to Buy' scheme reflects that priority.

Our proposals on policing are centered on the importance of genuine community policing. We want to build a modern and effective Garda force, where Gardaí work in communities they know, serving people they know. Through my commitment to increase the number of community Gardaí, and by building partnerships between communities and those who police them, we can tackle the plague of low level crime and anti-social behaviour that is so destructive of community life.

Government, alone, however, will not enhance restore community life, or create the environment in which our young people will grow and flourish. As a people, we must also commit ourselves to the values of mutual respect and service, and apply them in the conduct of our lives.

Global warming now ranks alongside global poverty as one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. It is a challenge that will motivate and mobilise a new generation of people to engage with politics. It is also a challenge that Labour instinctively understands and responds to, because global warming reflects the failure of markets to address the broader social and environmental impact of economic activity. It is, at its heart, an ethical challenge to which we must all, as a society and as individuals, respond. Labour is committed to working with our partners in Europe for global action on climate change, while taking the measures necessary to reduce carbon emissions in Ireland.

We believe, too, that Ireland must honour its commitment to the world's poor, and achieve without further delay the UN target for ODA of 0.7 per cent of GNP. Our ODA bill will put this commitment on a statutory footing. This is one element in a shift towards an Irish foreign policy that is rights-based, that respects international law, that promotes human rights and development and that gives concrete expression to Labour's ideals of international solidarity.

I believe in government as a powerful agent for change. I believe that Ireland can have a strong economy, and a strong society - the Fair Society. My five commitments for change are the first things Labour in government will do to achieve this goal, and this manifesto sets out a wider ranging agenda for change.

That change will not be possible unless Labour is in government. So if you, like me, believe in a Fair Society, then join us, campaign for the ideas in this manifesto, vote Labour, and make that change.

Pat Rabbitte TD
Leader of the Labour Party