IRELAND should be a place where the "strong help the weak on their journey", according to the Taoiseach.
In his opening statement, Mr Bruton said he wanted to create an Ireland where everybody is respected, whether lone parents or married, whatever their address, whenever they left school, whatever their age respected for what they can give". Politics could not create this kind of climate, said, but it could help foster it.
"Politics can't make people care, but it does set the tone."
He said he wanted people to be "respected and brought along the road by an Irish people who know that we must take time out and go out of our way to make sure that it's 100 per cent of our people, not just 80 per cent that are on the road with us".
He began his statement by referring to his 28 years in politics. "A lot has changed in that journey and I've had to change a lot myself too - change some of my ideas, become more open to other people. The country has changed a lot too. Ireland was a rural country 28 years ago. People knew their neighbours. Everything was a bit slow moving.
"In the last 10 years, the change has been really rapid - people changing their jobs, changing the way they live, travelling the world and coming home again, home to a country that has really taken off, passing out Britain at last after 75 years of independence."
He said women's role in society had changed "fundamentally" and this had changed the way that "men think and behave, including myself". Having covered the successes of the last 10 years, he went on to wonder about the changes in the next decade.
Mr Bruton said he had visited Roscommon Hospital a week ago. He said it was "a good hospital, but it needs more investment".
"But I saw something there that's really much more important - than all the investment. On a hot sunny day when everyone would want to be out enjoying themselves, I saw members of families beside almost all the beds of the people there who were sick, being with them, helping them get better, lifting their spirits, taking the time - the strong and the healthy - taking time out to help the weak because it meant something.
"And I asked myself will that be the sort of Ireland we will have 10 years from now - an Ireland where the strong help the weak on their journey, or will it all be a race about status?"