LEADER'S SPEECH (EDITED): THIS HAS been our best conference yet. You can sense the enthusiasm and excitement. So far, we have had great ideas, energy, debate, discussion and friendship. And it's not over yet.
It has been an "interesting" year. A year which has seen our transformation from a party of opposition to a party of government, a year in which we translated vision into reality, words into actions, policies into legislation.
A year which has seen a major growth in our party membership. And it is you, the party members, who supported overwhelmingly our policy to enter government, and it is you, the party members, who will ensure at all times that we remain true to our founding principles and that we, in the words of John F Kennedy, "use power, but that power does not use us".
And there is one person who understands that better than most - a man of deep principle and unswerving integrity, a man to whom the Green Party owes a great debt of gratitude.
He is my friend and former party leader, Minister for Food Trevor Sargent.
Managing radical change is always difficult. It brings with it challenges and understandable fears. The Green Party understands the nature of political power, its opportunities and its limitations. We knew, and recognised honestly, that we could never get everything we hoped for in government, but equally we knew that outside of government we could achieve nothing.
What remains unchanged and steadfast is our vision of a better society and, with each and every day, more and more people can relate to our vision of better-planned communities, with good quality and well-insulated houses where people have access to good public transport, and to schools and playgrounds and crèches for their children, where there is real local government and not just local administration, where our energy comes from renewable sources, where we have clean food, clean water and a healthy environment for present and future generations.
We know that we are still a long way from achieving that society, but let us examine what we have achieved already in government in a very short space of time.
When we made that momentous decision to enter government, our primary motivation was a desire to tackle the defining issue of our age - climate change. We knew that all of the scientific evidence was now showing that we had a 10-year window of opportunity to stabilise CO2 emissions globally, and that this required a major policy shift, a change in attitude, a new way of political thinking, a new generosity, a new sense of partnership.
We appointed members of other Opposition parties to key positions on State boards dealing with this issue because, frankly, these individuals were the best people for the job and because climate change is far too important to play politics with.
I appeal to members of the Opposition to reciprocate that generosity, put away the petty squabbling and the cheap shots, forget the negative nonsense, and come on board and work with us in the best interests of this country and our planet.
I believe that our system of social partnership offers the opportunity for a new cross-sectoral approach, complementing a strong cross-party approach to tackle climate change.
We need to empower environmental NGOs to become part of social partnership.
Through our participation in government we have already changed attitudes and behaviour; we have changed the nature of public discourse on the issue of climate change. Just listen to the advertisements on the radio for cars, which now use lower CO2 emissions as a selling point. People are beginning, my friends, to think carbon - so much so that the majority of people would now support the introduction of a carbon levy.
A new €13 million awareness-raising campaign has revealed that people in our society are beginning to understand that climate change is the biggest issue facing humanity. It is our task to persuade them that having the Green Party in government and in council chambers across the country is by far and away the best means of ensuring that energy, security and climate change issues are effectively tackled.
We implemented new rules to ensure that new houses will be 40 per cent more energy-efficient, and this is only the beginning. We will improve this to a 60 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide by 2010, with the ultimate aim of reaching zero carbon emissions by 2016. New residential guidelines for urban areas will combat urban sprawl in our villages, towns and cities by ensuring that public transport and schools and other facilities are provided when, and not after, the new homes are built.
As long as the Green Party is in government, the days of bad and irresponsible planning are over.
For car owners, we have made it cheaper for them to buy low-emission vehicles by changing the motor tax and VRT systems. These are now based on CO2 emissions. From January 1st next, we will ensure that only low-energy light bulbs are on sale in shops.
These measures show that Green politics is not only good for the planet, it is also good for people's pockets.
Minister Eamon Ryan is leading the way. He has increased subsidies for offshore wind from €57 to €140 per megawatt hour. He has announced a €26 million investment in ocean energy and a €200 million investment in energy-efficiency research. Only two weeks ago secured a €22 billion investment in the ESB to revolutionise the company, making it a leading green utility in the world.
These are remarkable achievements by any standard. They show clearly how we are translating vision into action and they vindicate over and over again our decision to enter government.
Our Minister for Food and Horticulture, Trevor Sargent, has been working diligently, and he has been delivering. He has announced a €21 million investment in sustainable agriculture; he initiated a new organic food strategy to be published very soon, and he has sent potato-growing kits to over 4,000 schools to teach our children about the value of food security. He is progressing the network of farmers' markets, working with local authorities and my department.
[In government] we form a very tight and disciplined unit based on collegiality. [Green councillors] know we have succeeded in getting more investment in water-treatment plants, in sewage-treatment plants, in preserving our green spaces through more special areas of conservation, special protection areas, special amenity orders, more investment in recycling facilities and the roll-out of brown bins for biodegradable waste.
Over the last number of years we have seen decision-making powers shift to the centre; we have witnessed the disempowerment of local councillors and local communities. How many times have we heard people at public meetings complain about the lack of local democracy and about the failure to listen to their voices? With the Green Party in government, this trend towards centralisation will cease.
The forthcoming Green Paper on Local Government Reform will start a process which will lead to the election of a mayor, with real powers, for Dublin in 2011. This will be followed with the election of mayors in other parts of the country. It represents the biggest advance in local government reform in the history of this State.
But there are so many other areas where our presence in government is having a positive influence on Government policy (on senior citizens, and for those with disabilities).
We also ensured that the programme for government [ had a] commitment to recognise the 12 existing ABA schools. In government, we are using our position to improve the lives of children with autism and the lives of their dedicated parents.
It is also clear that ever since the Green Party's participation in government there has been a distinct change in the attitude to the problem of alcohol in our society. It is time to deal comprehensively with a problem that has left so much tragedy in its wake.
Access to health can never become a commodity; we expect to see tangible improvements in access for public patients at the end of our five years in government. Delivering health care begins at an early age and that is why we in the Green Party are so pleased that Minister Eamon Ryan has today indicated his intention to introduce legislation for a code curbing advertising of junk food to children.
We are very proud to be a pro-European Party, working closely with our counterparts in the European Greens.
Mar is eol daoibh go léir, is teanga oifigiúil í an Ghaeilge san Eoraip anois. Dá bharr sin, is minic a bhíonn deis agam labhairt as Gaeilge sa Bhruiséal agus támuid bródúil as an méid sin.
Tá muidne sa Chómhaontas Glas go láidir ar son polasaí an dá-theangachais. Sa rialtas támuid ag cur an fís seo i bhfeidhm.
The Irish Green Party is not just a European party, it is also an all-island party. I am delighted therefore to welcome Brian Wilson, member of the Northern Assembly.
The Good Friday agreement - 10 years old this weekend - has established the Stormont Assembly and now allows us to move beyond sectarian politics.
Respect for human rights must extend to all cultures and countries. One country which has been exploited and suppressed and suffered for far too long is Tibet. We have always enjoyed good relations with the Chinese people, but we condemn this abuse of human rights and we call on the Chinese government to enter dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
It is our dedication to human rights, social justice and ecological sustainability which has motivated this party. It is this dedication which has also motivated our insistence on high standards in public life.
Unlike other parties, the Green Party has taken a principled position, perhaps to our own disadvantage, to refuse donations from big business.
We have always said that we would look after our political morality. It has been said that when we were faced with the choice between looking after other parties' ethics and saving the planet, we took the easier option and decided to save the planet. And rightly so - and we make no apologies.
Our position since entering government on standards in public life has not changed one iota. The Green Party has consistently expressed full confidence in the Mahon tribunal and expressed the hope that it will reach its conclusions quickly. And it is our fervent hope that all of the tribunals of inquiry will root out forensically every last morsel of corruption from Irish political life.
We are entering more uncertain times. At several points during our country's history we have faced major challenges and found the vision to change. In the past 10 months we have shown that we are a party of discipline, of competence, of innovation, a party that has the necessary skill to deal with the most pressing issues that humanity now faces.
There are times when we may fall short and we ask for your understanding. But I believe that so far our tenure has been a success story.
We have a list of achievements to our name and that list will continue to grow as long as we are in government. We have a very good story to tell. Be ready to tell our story. Be ready to put our ideas - our vision - into action.