New govt will deliver on radical and reforming programme
Issued : Wednesday 9 March, 2011
Statement by Eamon Gilmore TD
Leader of the Labour Party, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade
Ten days ago, the Irish people chose to break with the past and to fundamentally change Irish politics. The composition of this Dáil is unlike any seen since the 1920s. And the Labour Party’s strength in the 31st Dáil is greater than at any time before.
Labour has made many gains, of which I am deeply proud, and elected many new Deputies, of whom I am proud. But with these gains come responsibilities.
In normal times, the natural role for the second largest party, as Labour now is, would be one of constructive opposition. But these are not normal times. More than any other consideration, what our country needs now is a strong, stable and balanced Government to confront the crisis facing our country.
For the past ten days, as I have worked with Enda Kenny and with colleagues from both parties to form a national Government, it is that responsibility which has been foremost in our minds.
Labour and Fine Gael are different parties, with different values and priorities, but we share a common interest – the national interest. We share a common desire to provide strong, stable and fair Government for the Irish people.
And it is in that spirit that we have come together to form this National Government.
And as we worked, we have been conscious of the hope and goodwill of the Irish people. So many who stopped me in the street, or called out from a passing car, to simply say ‘good luck’. We are acutely aware that the Irish people want us to succeed, that they need us to succeed.
I know how much hope is resting on the shoulders of this Government. In some ways that is daunting. But hope is never a burden. Because it is only with the goodwill, commitment and hope of the Irish people that we will succeed.
We must succeed for the people who are at risk of losing their homes.
We must succeed for those who have lost their jobs
We must succeed for the people we met on the doorsteps whose children have left for other shores, and who fear that their grandchildren will be strangers.
During the past ten days, we have worked to put together a Programme for Government that will deliver for those people. That will come up with solutions to make sure that people who make an honest effort to pay their mortgage, do not lose their homes.
That we make every possible effort to create jobs and opportunities for those who now have none.
That we work to ensure that if you are sick or in fear of being sick, you can get access to affordable and high quality health care.
The Programme for Government, on which this National Government is based, is a radical and reforming document. It sets out what will be the hallmarks of this Government – delivering on jobs, on reform and on an agenda for fairness.
The National Government is determined to break from the failed economic policies of the past – the blank cheque banking policy that brought our country to the edge of ruin, and the failure to take action to create growth and employment.
We are determined to ensure that economic policy, while recognising the need for difficult decisions, has growth and job creation at its core. As I have said, on countless occasions, neither the fiscal crisis nor the banking crisis can be fixed without growth and jobs.
We can, and we will, work our way out of this crisis. This is a great country, with a great future. But it is up to each of us to make that happen. It is up to us to come together, to draw on all of the talent, all of the commitment, all of the hard work and graft we know we are capable of, to rebuild Ireland’s economy.
Not in its old image, but to forge a new, sustainable, enterprise economy, defined by its readiness for new challenges, new markets and new opportunities.
At the heart of that enterprise economy, is innovation. Not just innovation in our universities, or in our laboratories, or in our high-tech companies, but right across our economy: innovation in the agri-food sector; in tourism; in renewable energy. Because innovation is the bridge between what is, and what could be.
Together with fostering innovation, this government will put the commercialisation of new research and ideas at the top of its agenda. We are a country with no shortage of ideas. What we need now, are the mechanisms to turn those ideas into jobs.
As well as developing new goods and services through research and innovation, we must develop new markets to sell them in. Ireland is open for business. That is the message we will be bringing to the emerging economies in every corner of the world.
This will be a core purpose of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. But it will also be the proud duty of every Minister, every representative of the Irish people, to repair Ireland’s reputation abroad, and to ensure that Ireland never again finds herself friendless, without allies, when storms gather on the international horizon.
This will be a reforming Government. The Programme that we have drawn up contains a radical reform agenda, covering our constitution, the political system and the public service. This crisis marks the third time since the Second World War that our country has been beset by a profound economic crisis.
We cannot continue to lurch from one disaster to the next. We must reform our system of politics and administration to provide the Irish people with the stable and forward-looking Government that they deserve.
We must change our politics, to make it more open, less susceptible to special pleading, and more accountable. We need a parliament that works, that holds the executive to account, and we need to break down the huge gap that has opened-up between the political system, and the people it is supposed to serve.
There is no place in this government for golden circles.
This will be a Fair Government. We know that there are difficult decisions to make. But in that process, we also have an opportunity to build a fairer Ireland. We must restore our economy, and in doing so, leave a legacy for the future. Nowhere will that be more obvious than in how we treat our children.
I am proud that the Programme For Government makes literacy a national cause, just as I believe it is right that the Minister for Children should have full cabinet rank.
The Programme for Government contains within it a historic commitment by both parties, to end the apartheid that has bedevilled our health service for decades. It is a commitment that both parties made in opposition, to end the two-tier system, and that is reflected here as a core priority for the next five years.
Anyone who reads the Programme for Government will see that it contains ideas and proposals from both parties, many of which we had in common at the outset of our discussions. It is a pragmatic document, that focuses on what will work.
And it is an ambitious document, because it has to be. The scale of the task is so great, the crisis too deep, the urgency so pressing, that only an ambitious programme will meet the need of the times.
Labour Ministers will approach their task in the same spirit. They are, all of them, men and women who have given distinguished service to the cause of Labour, and the cause of Ireland. They are, each of them, people of judgement and integrity. They are infused with Labour’s values, and they will be champions of those values in everything they do, because that is who they are. But they are people, too, who have always put the national interest first, and who will work in a spirit of partnership to pursue that interest.
And I want to say, A Ceann Comhairle, that I am personally deeply proud that the Labour Party has today nominated the first woman to hold the position of Attorney General.
No one in the Labour Party is under any illusions about the scale of the task ahead.
No-one in the Labour Party doubts that there will be dark and difficult days ahead.
No-one in the Labour Party believes that we have anything ahead of us, except hard work, and hard choices.
But we believe too, that we can govern in a new and different way. That if we are open, and honest, and transparent, that if we stay in touch with, and we stay true to, the people who elected us, then we can channel their good will and good wishes in the days ahead.
I want a Ceann Comhairle to say a particular word to the new Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny. I want to congratulate him on what is a great day for him and for his family. I have known him for years as a dedicated public representative of integrity and honour. He is a man who is acutely conscious of the dignity of the office that he now holds, and I know that he will bear the burdens of that office with grace, courage and determination.
We have worked to form a new Government based on partnership and trust. We are resolved to work together to confront the crisis in our country, but also to restore trust in politics itself. I wish him and his family well, and I look forward to working with him in the years to come.
This Government has the largest parliamentary majority in living memory. It has a huge mandate from the people who voted for Fine Gael or the Labour Party. But we should also be profoundly conscious that the others did not. And yet, there is only one Government – a Government must act in the interests of the people as a whole.
That is why this Government will be open to hearing the proposals and the ideas, not just of the members of the Government parties, but of every TD elected to this House. All of us are here as equals and all of us represent a free people who voted as equals. None of us has a monopoly of wisdom or of solutions.
The Government in which I, and my party, will play our part has much to do.
But we have all, all of us in this House, a constructive role to play in making sure that we make this a better country for everyone.
