Edited version of Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny's address to the party's national conference in Killarney.
I have a clear message for you tonight. A clear message to the many families around Ireland who are fearful about the future. Who ask if there is any hope that we can recover from this crisis.
I offer you a new hope that says, yes, you can and you will be able to get another job in this country. A new hope that means we are not just rearing and educating our children for emigration again.
That new hope will allow our people to stand up, look the future in the eye and say “we can and we will make our country great once more”. We have been through tough times in the past, we have overcome them, and we will do so again.
Our people are resilient. They are ingenious and they are hardworking. Our task is to lift a proud nation off its knees, to put willing hands to work, to make this country stand – as it should always stand – for the best.
We can do this by working together to harness the unique Irish spirit that I see in every city, town and community everyday.
The true voice of Ireland is the voice of the people who write to me every day, who talk to me every day, and who tell me of their determination to play their part to pull this country through this crisis.
That is the Ireland I know. That is the Ireland I grew up in. And that is the Ireland in which Fionnuala and I are raising our three children.
The Celtic Tiger may be dead, but the Celtic Spirit is alive and well and ready to fight. But fighting spirit is not enough. That’s why, tonight, it’s important that each and every one of you know that my Fine Gael team has a clear plan to get us out of our current crisis of confidence.
That plan starts from five realities.
- That we should never have ended up in this dire situation.
- That Ireland’s downturn is more severe than other countries as a direct result of Fianna Fail’s total failure to plan for the inevitable and for the future.
- That international factors are compounding domestic mismanagement.
- That Fianna Fáil has turned a manageable problem into a serious crisis.
- And that whether it be in banking or politics, the people who got us into this mess will not be, and can not be, the ones to lead us out of it.
If we are going to turn this country around, we need real change. Our plan for that change is based on three pillars:
1. Getting our people back to work;
2. Revolutionising the health service; and
3. Reforming our political system.
Let’s start with that.
Fine Gael’s New Politics plan has been drafted by Phil Hogan. It starts from the premise that if we are to drive the radical changes this country needs, we – we in politics – must prove ourselves willing to change and willing to sacrifice.
Fine Gael is the party that set up the institutions of this State. That is why it is fitting that Fine Gael is the party which will reform these institutions so that they can meet the needs of the Ireland of tomorrow.
I want to create a smaller, more dynamic and more responsive political system. I will reduce the size of the Dáil by 20. I will change the way the Dáil works so that it can truly hold government ministers to account on behalf of the people.
I will seek public approval for the abolition of Seanad Éireann; and I am absolutely determined to bring more women into politics.
Some of our ideas will require constitutional change. Tonight, I commit to putting those proposals to the Irish people within one year of Fine Gael taking office.
Then we can have a New Politics in Ireland, chosen and approved by you, the people.
New Politics will be needed if we are to deal with the issues in our country today.
The biggest problem in Ireland is that we have 434,000 people out of work. Many thousands more are being forced to emigrate in search of jobs.
Fianna Fail believes that we have a budgetary crisis which can be cured by balancing the books. Fine Gael understands that we have a jobs crisis which can only be cured by employment. That is why Fine Gael’s approach to the economy is driven by one central principle. We know that we must get our people off the dole and back to work.
Fine Gael’s plan is to stimulate job creation. It is two fold. Leo Varadkar is proposing steps we can take immediately. Simon Coveney is looking at longer term proposals.
Leo’s plan will take 70,000 people off the dole within 18 months. It will give them new opportunities through a combination of second chance education, a graduate internship programme, changes to the social welfare code and a jobs subsidy scheme.
Simon’s NewERA plan will create over 105,000 jobs. This will happen through an injection of 18 billion euro of new money into the Irish economy.
This money will be raised from private equity, sale of state assets and investment from the European Investment Bank.
These jobs will be in renewable energy, water quality and broadband. They will be delivered within Fine Gael’s first term in government and they will provide real opportunities for all people no matter what their age, and no matter what their trade or qualification.
In order to deliver on our jobs policy, we must address what has been the most catastrophic legacy of this government.
And now they want further sacrifices from taxpayers and mortgage borrowers. Unless there is a change of Government, the banks will get what they want.
There is no limit to what Fianna Fáil will do to protect their powerful friends. Did the Taoiseach not say ... that whatever cheque is required will be written? Cheques written by Fianna Fáil come out of your pocket.
Fine Gael has a fundamentally different approach. Firstly, we won’t borrow further billions to bail out Anglo Irish Bank. We will use that money to start a new State National Recovery Bank. It will get credit flowing quickly to protect jobs and support business.
And secondly, there will be no whitewash. The current secrecy will not be tolerated. We will carry out a rigorous and open investigation to find out exactly why the banking scandal happened. We will hold people responsible, even if they are ministers. We will open the books.
There must be a clear message to bankers. They will never be allowed to destroy our economy and our country again. Those who broke the law in pursuit of greed and reckless lending must face the consequences and, if the courts decide, they must be sent to jail.
A responsible society takes care of its people when they are sick.
We have doctors and nurses who do heroic work. But the fact is that they are trying to care for people in a maelstrom of unmanaged misery. I am not prepared to pour more and more taxpayers money into a failed bureaucracy that has lost touch with its core mission.
You don’t have to read headlines about Tallaght hospital. The suffering is all-pervasive. As is the fear. What kind of country are we living in, when people are frightened of having to go to the hospitals that are supposed to care for them?
Fine Gael will not tinker around the edges of this failed bureaucracy.
We will deliver revolutionary change. We have examined the best health systems internationally and we believe that the Dutch system is the best suited to Ireland. The Dutch healthcare service is ranked number one in Europe. It costs less per capita than our health service. Its best elements can be introduced in Ireland within five years.
The Fine Gael Government is going to introduce those elements. We will bring improvements patients will see, patients, will touch, patients will hear, and patients will feel.
Everything in Fine Gael’s plan focuses on fairness, on paying attention to the needs of people, not on protecting the system. We listen to people. We do not play with statistics.
Here is what we can achieve within five years of Fine Gael Government.
We can have an Ireland where people matter more than systems or money. Where individuals and families are our priority. Where society has fairness at its core. That fair society is Fine Gael’s vision.
It is a vision based on principles that Fine Gael has always held dear.
We will invest in education to equip our children for the complexities of life.
To expect disadvantaged and special needs children to pay for Government incompetence is morally reprehensible.
We will meet the challenge of 21st Century crime. Our Gardai will have the resources and the numbers to deal with ruthless criminals and to keep our people safe.
And we will keep our children safe. We will let in the light. Alan Shatter’s child protection plans will ensure that children in the care of the State are nurtured in a safe and supportive environment.
I promised, once, to electrify this party.
Behind me and before me and in every suburb and townland in this country is the result of that promise: a Fine Gael party ready for government. A renewed Fine Gael, and a vibrant Fine Gael.
Fine Gael has the economic talent that this country needs. Fine Gael has a track record of honest public service. Fine Gael has a team with energy, ideas, and commitment.
Indeed, in Richard Bruton I know I have the right man to run the Department of Finance at this critical time for this country.
This is no ordinary time in Irish history. What is demanded of Fine Gael is that they be no ordinary Government.
We have the people. We have the competence. And we have the plan. Very soon, the people of Ireland will challenge us to change this country for the better.
We are ready to meet that challenge. We are ready to make those changes. We are ready to put the pride and the potential back in Irish life.
I make these commitments to you with confidence:
This country is finished with golden circles and the favoured few.
This country is finished with slogans and repeated photo opportunities.
This country is ready for the best and the most hard working government in the history of the State.
In the arts, in education, in business, in food, in the environment, this country can lead the world. And it will.
This is not just a political promise I am making to you here this evening.
This is a commitment – my commitment. It is the culmination of everything I’ve worked for, everything I believe in and everything I hold dear.
I give you my word. I ask for your trust.