JUST 28 months ago we were given the chance to take part in building Ireland's future. Our country was beset by uncertainty and instability and ill equipped to meet what lay ahead.
We took up the challenge and met it head on. Now, 28 months later, we can look back at what we have achieved and at the new challenges that lie before us.
In Government, Democratic Left did what we always said it was possible to do. We achieved economic growth and unprecedented job creation. We welcomed the emigrants home and created work for our young people.
At the same time, we improved social protection, reformed the public service and made a real impact on poverty and in the battle against drug abuse and crime.
Now we have a new challenge. We must win the battle to enable us to continue what we started and do more. We intend to make the future work.
Before too long, we will be fighting a general election. We have an impressive record of past achievements and a vision of the future and, make no mistake about it, we can and will win.
But there are questions about the extent of hidden influences on our democracy. The Dunnes payments tribunal raises, not for the first time, questions about the extent to which business and politics are enmeshed, questions that were also highlighted at the beef tribunal.
The answer to these questions must be to put the relationship between business and politics above board, and out in the open, once and for all. We insist that this is the outcome of the present turmoil; and that we now strike the right balance between public and private funding of political parties. A balance with which the electorate, as both voters and tax payers, can be comfortable; and a balance which is also fair to the people who choose to serve the public interest in the political arena.
The Electoral Bill will soon conclude its passage through the Oireachtas. It is a brave and fair attempt by the present Government to strike the required balance. It provides for an equitable and moderate level of public funding of political parties, and public accountability in relation to private funding. It lays the basis for the greater openness which the people of this country deserve, demand and must get.
As a party, Democratic Left's roots are in the Enlightenment and its rationalist traditions.
Despite the many achievements of the present Rainbow Government, the next will have a full agenda and Democratic Left has very clear policies to contribute.
Jobs
The next Rainbow government will create the jobs we need for our growing population. We will continue to attract inward investment and we will also grow more and more of our own industry and services. By targeting specific areas, we will break the cycle of disadvantage and exclusion that deepened during the recession but can now be ended.
Tax reform - to spread the cost of our social services and infrastructure more fairly - is now well and truly under way. PAYE workers have been kept waiting too long for the changes they first sought in 1979. We'll also seek to shift taxes away from income by introducing eco taxes. The green strand of the Rainbow represents our range of environmentally friendly policies, including "green' taxes. Tax, PRSI and the levies have all been reduced under the Rainbow Government; and a major discussion paper on the future development of social insurance was published by me as Minister for Social Welfare. We want more change in this area, to ensure that pensions, now and in the future are properly and securely financed; and that workers who pay social insurance get value for their money.
Families and Children
Major welfare reforms have been made under the Rainbow. There was a strong profamily and prowork emphasis in each of our three social welfare budgets. We rid the system of the adverse effects of Fianna Fail's "Dirty Dozen" cuts of 1992.
We concentrated resources on improving Child Benefit as the primary form of support for families. We introduced a new, nondiscriminatory social welfare payment for one parent families.
We have supported and protected families and children in a new and effective way. However, we are not satisfied that we have adequately addressed the childcare issue.
Child benefit should be pitched at a high enough level to cover a much greater part of the true cost of caring for a child, whoever does that caring. There must be local community based childcare facilities, providing a high quality service and new employment opportunities. Workplace creches must also be a high priority for Democratic Left in the next government.
Care of the elderly and those who care for the elderly is a high priority for Democratic Left. The social welfare "pensions package" is a good one when you look at the full mixture of cash, non cash and other supports and this year's Budget contained no less than a dozen improvements to that package.
Democratic Left in Government has extended both the range of supports and the number of pensioners to whom it applies. Widows and occupational pensioners have been helped through extra tax relief. The National Pensions Policy Initiative which I have launched is now in full swing and will, I hope, serve to set out an even better framework for social welfare and occupational pensions for the future so that no one need have any worries about possible pensions time bombs. A framework which will mean better provision for women workers and the many "atypical" workers who are fast becoming typical.
The future must work better for pensioners too.
Our population is ageing. Democratic Left in the formation of the next government will be seeking better health care, better nursing home provision, greater integration of State services for the elderly. Democratic Left will be proposing the introduction of a new, social insurance based payment for carers - a carer's benefit which will enable workers who have paid PRSI to take time off work to care for elderly or incapacitated people.
This would operate alongside a greatly enhanced Carer's Allowance, which currently assists over 8,000 full time carers with very little means.
Our workforce is changing. It is becoming younger, more skilled, more flexible. More women are now employed. In Government we have kept the issues of unemployment, poverty, low pay and low income, women's equality and social exclusion, at centre stage. We have brought integrated policy proposals on tax, social welfare and employment to the Cabinet table.
Irish society has yet to confront the issue of how far this policy of welfare supplementing wages should go; and at what point employers should be asked for a quid pro quo in the form of minimum wages. Democratic Left will pursue the minimum wage issue in the future Rainbow government.
One of the key issues for Democratic Left was to end the double taxation imposed by water taxes. They have now been abolished. And make no mistake - Democratic Left and our partners in Government have turned off the water tax and it won't be coming back, unless of course Mary Harney has her way.
I would like to turn now to the issue of infection of Anti D and other blood products with hepatitis C, and the terrible human suffering and hurt which has resulted.
In hindsight, the Government could have handled some aspects of this issue differently and better. But we cannot be charged with either parsimony, or neglect of our duty.
Through dialogue with the victim representative groups, we have come to understand how deep the sense of hurt is and how the care and compensation measures should be framed. And we have acted on the basis of this understanding.
Democratic Left recognises the grievous wrong done to some 1,600 women, men and children. We are committed, as are our Government colleagues, to providing all possible redress and reparations to the victims and their families.
Neutrality
Our party position is that it is only under the auspices of the UN that Ireland ought to commit her military forces in the cause of peacekeeping. The next peace keeping challenge facing us is whether to participate in Sfor, the Stabilisation Force for Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the appalling genocidal war there over far too many years.
Sfor has as its mandate the implementation of the Dayton Agreement and it operates under the authority of a UN Security Council resolution. The rationale for our participation is excellent. But the United Nations has delegated command of Sfor to NATO, as the relevant regional force.
Although Sfor operates under UN mandate, participation would technically place Irish troops under NATO command for the, first time ever, along with contingents from 16 NATO members and 17 other non NATO members, including neutrals and non-aligned countries.
The fact is that, with the regionalisation of peacekeeping world wide for the future, we are likely to be invited to participate in peacekeeping operations in Europe rather than elsewhere. The fact also is that some of those operations, though UN mandated, are likely to be under NATO command.
Of course Democratic Left maintains that the relevant regional authority should be the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and not NATO. While we have worked to bring this about in practical terms, the argument has moved on.
I personally do not believe we will be compromised by participation in Sfor. In fact I believe it is critically important that the people of Bosnia see there is life outside military blocs. But neither would I in any way tolerate a "thin end of the wedge" mentality that would use this as a means of us slipping into NATO by degrees.
Crime
This is the first Government to tackle organised crime systematically. And the proof of the pudding is in the results. Drug seizures are up. Suspects are being brought to justice. The big criminals are being squeezed where it hurts - in their assets.
Stronger and more targeted powers to combat crime are on the statute books. The courts and Prison Service are being reorganised to function more effectively.
The bail laws are being reformed on foot of the decision by the people last November to ensure a better balance between the rights of victim and accused 800 plus additional prison places are being created. The extra places, together with the independent Prison Service and parole board, will bring an end to unstructured and unsupervised early releases.
At the same time, we are tackling crime through tackling disadvantage. When so much crime is related to drug use and when so much drug use (though not all) is related to disadvantage, we have to tackle causes as well as consequences. We are doing so through our national antipoverty strategy and through the local drugs strategy teams.
Ireland 2000 cannot be satisfied with itself without peace in Northern Ireland. The past year has seen a resurgence and intensification in sectarianism in the North.
Democratic Left has a different vision. We look to new political structures that will permanently free the people of Northern Ireland from the grip of inter communal division and recurring violence. These structures will not be found in a united Ireland, nor will they be found in a return to one party unionist rule.
The continuation of direct rule merely postpones a settlement indefinitely. So does unionist intransigence and unwillingness to seek accommodation with their neighbours and fellow citizens.
Democratic Left's concern is to assist in reaching an accommodation between Ulster unionism and Northern nationalism. At the same time, we also seek to create the basis for the political expression of other identities and allegiances.
A durable settlement in Northern Ireland cannot be reached either through violence or the threat of violence by any side. An accommodation will only be reached through exclusively peaceful and democratic means. Hence there can be no question of Sinn Fein entering all party talks without an unconditional and unequivocal ceasefire by the IRA - a ceasefire people can believe in.
We believe that, in the present circumstances, a vote for Sinn Fein is a vote for violence. Republicans must now decide whether to sign up for democracy, in which case they can enter the talks which will resume in June. Or they can betray the hopes of millions of people for peace, in which ease they will never be forgiven.
The broad outlines of an agreement are in place; no time should be lost in bringing it to completion. If, however, the parties are unable to reach agreement, the people should not have to carry the burden of failure. They should, at the very least, be consulted as to the kind of agreement they would settle for.
It may be necessary for the two governments to sponsor a referendum in order to give people a say in their future. This in turn could hasten an eventual agreement. In any event, there should be no surrender to political deadlock and no concessions to political violence.