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Building a republic that reflects the ideals and ambitions of its founders

Issued : Friday 23 July, 2010

Speaking at the MacGill Summer School, Glenties, Co Donegal

Firstly, let me say that I'm delighted to be here in Glenties again and to take part in the MacGill summer school.

Events such as the MacGill School are an important part of the political calendar. In politics, there is always a tension between the immediate demands of the issues of the day, and the need to look to the longer term. Between reacting to events, and offering a longer term vision. Politicians must, of course, respond to the crisis of the moment, be it an issue to do with banking, the deficit, or unemployment. But we must also look to the longer term, and events such as the MacGill school play an important part in facilitating deeper reflection about the future of our country.

This year's theme of renewing the Republic is a good example of that longer-term thinking.

For me, it sits well with many of the arguments I have been making since the onset of the economic crisis.

Last year at the MacGill school, I put forward the idea of a New or Second Republic. The argument I was making was that we can think of the history of independent Ireland as falling into two phases. The first, from 1921 to 1958, was a period of state-building, but also a time of inward-looking and insular thinking in the economic and social sphere.

From 1958, Ireland began to look outwards, embracing free trade, and opening up socially and economically. It was in this phase that Ireland embraced the idea that our future lay in the European Union. But during this phase, political change was limited.

I believe that we can now enter into a third phase, where this economic crisis is seen as a watershed moment. Where we confront the reality that this is the third time since the second world war that Ireland has experienced a profound economic failure. The idea of a New Republic is about making the changes we need to emerge from this crisis, but also to make sure it doesn't happen again. It means embracing political change, and creating a new and better Ireland.

The debate about the New Republic is an important framework within which we can set out a vision of the future.

But let me also say what it is not.

It is not an excuse for cynicism or negativity. It is not an outlet for the kind of sweeping generalisation that all politicians are the same, or that we cannot achieve meaningful change through the democratic structures that we have. We cannot go down that road. In a republic, it is only the action of citizens, working through democratic structures that will achieve change and reform. We know this to be true, because, to paraphrase one American writer, it is the only thing that ever has.

I passionately believe that Ireland is a great country. That we have enormous natural and human resources. That we have it within ourselves to create a better future for our children.

From the very beginning of this crisis I have been saying: Look, we will get through this. All recessions eventually end. The future for Ireland is bright

I believe that more than ever now. I believe we can create jobs, and provide our people with stable prospects and greater opportunities. We can, but it is up to us - all of us. In a Republic, there is no 'they', there is only us.

To shape the future, we have to have some targets and a time frame to work towards.

Whether you are talking about creating jobs, or fixing the health service, or tackling climate change or constitutional reform - you have to have a view of what the world is going to look like, five or ten years down the road. You have to have a time-horizon, and you have to think and plan, so that the changes you make now, are moving you to where you want to be at that point in the future. You have to have ideas about where you are going, what the world will look like, and how Ireland will fit into it.

For me, the time horizon we should work towards is 2021. Roughly a decade from now, the lifetime of two Governments, and the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the State. I believe we have to think and plan for where Ireland will be, for what Ireland and the world will look like in 2021, and plan towards that time.

That is not an argument for delaying action or for slowing down change. It's an argument for being ambitious about what we can achieve.

By 2021, I want the Irish economy to offer the Irish people the real assurance of stable employment, in an economy that is economically, financially and socially sustainable.

That economy must also be environmentally sustainable. Our recovery has to be based on a much lower carbon footprint.

I want us to have reformed our system of Governance so that we are assured that this kind of economic meltdown will not happen again. But more importantly, so that we have restored trust and confidence in our democratic institutions.

I want an Ireland that inspires its citizens to public service. Where we measure success for our children, not on what they can consume, but on what they can contribute to their community and to the world.

And I want a fairer Ireland. I have repeatedly argued that, to deal with this crisis, we must work together as One Ireland, and afterwards we must continue to be One Ireland.

What will Ireland look like in 2021? Of course, we don't know. But there are trends evident today that we know will shape the world a decade from now.

We know, for example, that the emerging economies of Brasil, Russia, India and China will grow more quickly than the older OECD or Eurozone economies. We know they will account for a far greater share of the world's economic activity. Each week, 1.5 million people move from a rural to an urban setting, joining the global trading system.

We know also, that technology is changing our economy and our society.

We are living through another industrial revolution - creating new industries, transforming old ones. The information age is not just about a few 'smart economy' companies in high-tech sectors - it's about the growth of a knowledge economy that brings change into every firm, and every sector.

The future in Ireland is digital. Wireless broadband is the new roads, except this time we have a highway straight to Shanghai, or Chicago. Within a few years, one in four of our workforce will have a job that depends on the internet. All successful businesses in the services sector - from tractor parts to high-end consulting - will need to have an online presence to survive.

That change encompasses education, where we will be able to webcast lessons in minority subjects like Chemistry, or Japanese or Applied Maths, between schools, to maximise our teaching force. It includes health, where telemedicine will allow a doctor to diagnose and treat a patient remotely.

In fact - that future is already here. Students in Dunshaughlin are already learning their Leaving Cert Chemistry in real time, from a teacher based in another school. And in January this year, an 81 year old stroke victim in Mullingar was diagnosed and treated by a consultant in Tallaght Hospital.

Ireland can be at the vanguard of change, if we are open to it - if we have the vision to embrace the visionaries.

Thirdly, we know that the problem of climate change will continue to define our age, and that the search for a more sustainable economic model will drive invention and economic change.

Domestically, we also know that our population is getting older. We are once more losing people who are predominately in younger age brackets. Yet by 2021, the number of people over 65 will have increased by 50%, and the number over 85 will have doubled.

All of these changes present us with challenges, but also with great opportunities.

In 1958, Ireland turned outwards to the world, and started on a road that led to membership of the European Union. Today, our challenge is to look further afield, and to connect to the growth in the East, particularly in India and China.

Technological change provides us with economic opportunities in all sectors, if we can grasp them. Labour's proposal for a Strategic investment bank, is an example of the kind of Strategies we need to develop the knowledge economy. It is intended to ensure that the necessary financing is in place, not just to deal with the short-term needs of SMEs, but with the longer-term financing needs of knowledge-firms

We need a strategy for enterprise that builds on Ireland's strengths in many sectors, but particularly where we have strong natural advantages. Food, for example, is probably our most important natural resource. Every year, 75million people join the global middle class - people who will move from eating sweet and sour, to wanting surf and turf! Ireland can meet those needs. Similarly tourism is and will continue to be a major industry for Ireland, if we develop our tourism product in new and innovative ways.

Not everyone can work in a lab, or a high-tech start-up, but innovation is a challenge for everyone.

A knowledge economy is driven, not by coal or steel, but by people and their creativity. We do need on-going investment in our infrastructure, but we also need to put investment in people on an equal footing with investment in concrete. Even before this crisis, it was known that Ireland had a serious skills deficit. Now, we are confronted with 450,000 people on the live register. Unless we act quickly, and with urgency, we risk seeing too many of our citizens falling into long-term unemployment.

For more than two years, I have been calling on Government to get serious about this. And we need to get past the Victorian notion that a person has to serve their sentence on the live register before they can qualify for a training or work experience scheme. As the ESRI has recently pointed out, you can tell when a person signs on for social welfare, what their chances are of getting another job - who needs training and who doesn't. You don't need to wait to intervene.

Technology will drive change in the private sector, but also in public services. We have to ask ourselves, what will the hospital of the future look like? How will technology change what is possible in medicine and how will it be delivered?, How will schools function in 2021? If, as we must, we have to invest in our school buildings and in our health service in the next decade, we have to ensure that we are thinking ahead, not always playing catch-up. If we do that, if, for example, we are innovative in finding solutions to our health-care needs, then we can also turn problems into economic opportunities.

As part of the changes we must make, we should review our constitutional arrangements. The present crisis is too great - the failures too profound not to do so. But the constitution is the property of the people, and the kind of review we need requires the direct involvement of the people. My proposal for a constitutional convention would involve public representatives and civil society, but also individual citizens in drawing up a new constitution, which would then be put to the people.

If we are to reach these goals. If we are to build a better Ireland by 2021, we need political change. This project, is a progressive project. It will not be achieved through the failed ideology of the right that has brought us to this crisis. It will not be achieved by Governments wedded to the notion that the role of the State in the economy is to get out of the way. It will not be achieved by light-touch regulation, by write-your-own tax reliefs, or by allowing the robber barons to ride rough-shod over everyone else.

To achieve these goals, we will need reform -reform in the public sector, and, make no mistake, reform in the private sector. To achieve these goals, we need new standards of responsibility, and we need to embrace the concept of a capable state. So, above all, we need political change.

This session is about a Republic that meets the ideals of its founders. Of course, we all have our favourite among the founders. It is well known that some of the founders of the Republic, were in the words of Kevin O'Higgins, conservative revolutionaries. But not all were

Some, like Connolly, who is said to have been responsible for the social provisions of the 1916 proclamation, had a different vision. So did Tom Johnson, a leading member of the Labour Party, who wrote the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil.

Despite their great contribution, and that of the Labour movement to the foundation of the Republic, Labour was told to wait. Even though, across Europe it is regarded as entirely normal for a Labour Party to lead a Government, it is still a novel concept for Ireland. The idea which I have advanced, of Labour leading a Government has been, and continues to be, seen as some as simply impossible. What is normal in other European countries, is entirely possible here too.

Now is the time for that to change. Labour stood back in 1918 in the interests of the Republic. Now is the time for Labour to step forward, and to build a better Republic.

Now is the time to give expression to the ideals of those for whom a Republic was more than a changing of the guard. Who had a vision of a better Ireland.

Ireland is a great country. Even from the depths of this recession, we have before us a horizon that is full of possibility and promise. We will reach it, if we put aside the politics of division and pull together. We will reach it, if we can re-discover the One Ireland principles of people like Johnson,. If we return to the ideals that he summed up, in the words of the democratic programme.

We affirm the duty of every man and woman to give allegiance and service ... and declare it is the duty of the Nation to assure that every citizen shall have the opportunity to spend his or her strength in the service of the people. In return for willing service, we, in the name of the Republic, declare the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the produce of the Nation's Labour.