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CURRENT INDEX
Opening address by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD at the FG Ard Fheis, 30th March 2012 "Welcome to the 76th Fine Gael Ard Fheis
Speech by Minister Frances Fitzgerald at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis 2012
Minister Condemns "shambolic legacy" as 1500 Children Suffer Abuse Each Year
The public sector in Ireland has a proud record of service to the Irish
We need a European economic model that allows society to flourish - Creighton
Ireland’s Place in Europe
The Government has brought stability
Speech by Minister Richard Bruton
Speech by Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan TD
Agri-food is a key cornerstone in Ireland's economic recovery - Coveney
People with disabilities want reform not just social welfare cheques
Speech by Minister Jimmy Deenihan
Speech by Minister Alan Shatter
Speech by Minister Jimmy Deenihan
Speech by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD

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Fine Gael Ard Fheis 2012

Welcome to the 76th Fine Gael Ard Fheis
Opening address by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD at the FG Ard Fheis, 30th March 2012
Welcome to our elected representatives - Dáil deputies, Ministers and Ministers of State, Senators, MEPs and Councillors.

To those who will contest the various elections to the party executive and other officerships, I wish you well.

I welcome in particular our party members from every city town and parish in Ireland.

I thank you for you support and for your work which has been so essential to the party's progress.

Since we last gathered for a national conference in Killarney two years ago, we have achieved our goal of becoming the largest party in the Dáil.

But with that progress comes a great responsibility, and a greater goal.

In a time of national crisis, the Irish people turned to us and to our partners in the Labour Party to provide the country with strong and stable government.

We remember how things were then: An economy in freefall; unstable government, lurching from one crisis to the next, the public finances out of control, banks on the brink of collapse, deposits streaming out of the country, penal interest rates on our borrowings.

Jobs.....lives..... hopes...... decimated.

We told the people then that we had a plan to get Ireland working again.

In the past year, we have worked hard to stabilise the economy and to deliver our plan.

I am glad to report to you that our partnership government is working very well with a shared commitment to delivering our Programme for Government.

We have made a solid start but we have a long way to go.

The public finances are coming under control.

The banks have been downsized and recapitalised.

We have made some progress on improving the terms of the EU/IMF programme. The interest rates have been reduced.

The promissory note payment due this weekend has been deferred pending the wider negotiations we are pursuing to reduce the burden on the Irish people of the previous government's bank bailout.

We have also worked hard to rebuild Ireland's international reputation which had been so undermined by our predecessors.

We have made a start on jobs but there is much more to be done.

In our first Budget, we didn't increase income tax because that would damage jobs.

To make work pay, we reversed the cut in the minimum wage and took 330,000 low paid and part time workers out of the Universal Social Charge net.

To close the gap in our public finances, we must instead broaden the tax base to include a property based charge because this is less harmful than taxes on work and investment.

I know that new taxes are never popular. The Household Charge is no exception. But it is needed to fund essential local services.

I thank those who have registered and paid for the charge to date and I welcome the significant increase in the numbers registering in recent days.

I urge others to make their contribution to the restoration of sound public finances in this country by registering between now and the deadline at midnight tomorrow.

Our economic progress in the last year has been constrained by the crisis in the Eurozone.

I have consistently argued that Europe needed to take resolute action in three areas: Firstly, to focus on the potential of the single European market for the creation of growth and jobs for our people.

I am pleased to say that, following pressure from several heads of government including myself, growth and jobs have now become central to the agenda of the European Council.

Secondly, Europe needs to create credible firewalls that will convince the financial markets that we are serious about the protection of our common currency.

I welcome the decision made today by the Eurozone finance ministers to increase the European rescue fund to over €700 billion, an increase of 40%. This decision will both help to prevent contagion and ease Ireland's exit from the EU/IMF programme.

Thirdly, Europe needs clear and enforceable rules to ensure responsible budgeting. This has been achieved in the European Stability Treaty.

On the 31st May when the Irish people vote on this Treaty, we can take another important step towards economic recovery.

Throughout my recent visits to the United States, and to China this week, the consistent message from both political and business leaders is that they see Ireland's place as fully committed member of the Eurozone as a crucial element of Ireland's attractiveness as a location for investment.

The issue at stake in this referendum is straightforward: will we do what is needed to keep getting jobs back and get Ireland working? We will have a serious national discussion about this. And I am confident our people will reject the idea that we can stand outside of Europe; put our recovery funds at risk; undermine the European economy that helps lift our own; and alarm the international companies and investors we rely on for new jobs. I am confident they will instead approve this treaty, which will ensure other EU members follow the same sound budget rules we ourselves have now adopted, build confidence in both Europe and Ireland, and ensure that investment and jobs keep flowing into our country. This referendum offers this country a vital and unique opportunity to send out a powerful signal around the globe that Ireland believes in the future of Europe, and of the Euro currency.

In committing to these good housekeeping rules, we will also ensure that no future government will behave recklessly with the people's money and the people's futures.

In recent months, numerous multi- national companies have voted confidence in Ireland by committing to new investments to create new jobs.

I want this strong flow of inward investment to continue and grow in the future.

I want Ireland to have the same access as other countries to the insurance policy of the European Stability Mechanism - a crucial reassurance for investors.

The best way we can ensure this is a resounding Yes to jobs, Yes to Ireland and Yes to Europe on 31st May.

As we have always done, both in government and in opposition, Fine Gael will put the national interest first by campaigning strongly in every city, town and parish in the country for a Yes vote.

To coordinate that campaign, I have appointed the Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Simon Coveney as Fine Gael's National Director for this crucial referendum.

I ask all members of Fine Gael, at all levels, to work with Simon and his team to ensuring a positive outcome for Ireland.

Finally, I again welcome you and wish you a successful and enjoyable weekend.

Throughout the discussions and debates here this weekend, let us always be conscious of the huge responsibility that has been given to us and our government partners.

The responsibility to restore economic health and economic independence to our great country.”

 

Speech by Minister Frances Fitzgerald at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis 2012
In the past two decades alone, we've had 16 major statutory reports on child protection. We have seen horrors beyond imagining and we have reached a point where there is national consensus that we have to change. Almost everybody now, except for the really recalcitrant few, believe that we have to turn over a new leaf, we have to do things differently.

This was reflected in the Taoiseach's decision to create a new Department of Children and Youth Affairs at senior cabinet level. It has been reflected by taking child protection away from the HSE, wherein it was lost, and by setting up a new agency; the Child and Family Support Agency.

Child Protection The problem that I see is that such action may make people believe that those steps have 'solved' the issue of child protection. They have not.

Not only is the issue not solved, in some cases we as a society are repeating the same mistake that Cloyne, Murphy and Ferns revealed us to have made before.

It's time that, as a country, we open our eyes to what is happening every day in cities, towns, communities and families around the country.

Every year there are 30,000 child protection and welfare concerns reported to the services. Over 16,000 of these are child welfare concerns; nearly 13,000 are child protection concerns; 1,500 of these are confirmed cases of sexual, physical or emotional abuse. One thousand five hundred.

That means that in recent years, thousands of children have been neglected, assaulted, raped and humiliated. In modern Ireland.

In too many instances, people knew but did nothing. Family members. Local community members. Friends. Acquaintances. Some chose to turn a blind eye, either through fear, or embarrassment or ignorance or lack of care. Whatever the reason, people decided they could not speak up. They did not act. Many stood idly by.

That is the cycle of silence we are now breaking in this country. It requires a totally new approach to child protection. An approach that only this Government has had the courage to adopt.

Already we are seeing a cultural shift in community and personal responsibility.

We in Fine Gael, working closely with our partners in the Labour party, are fostering a culture where every individual in this state feels themselves personally responsible for creating and maintaining a society where children are protected.

But I believe that breaking our national cycle of silence needs more than words and encouragement.

First and foremost it needs an utterly reformed system of state care and intervention.

Legacy Everyone knows the economic shambles this government inherited from our predecessors. Everyone knows about the awful planning decisions, ill-judged taxes and pro-cyclical, election-focused economic policies that Fiannail used to drive this country onto the rocks.

People are not as aware of the shambles they left us in child protection.

No national framework for service delivery. No proper data collection. No standard methodology for assessing and referring cases. No needs-assessment for NGO funding. No linking up of HSE, community and voluntary agencies.

What we have found, in one word, is a disgrace.

Fixing this is going to take a long time. Luckily, we have the great advantage of working with dedicated, hard-working and committed people across every aspect of the sector. Rarely do you find a sector with such a mismatch between the dedication of its people and the incoherence of the system in which they operate.

Fixing this will require us to draw all of those people together in a system which puts children first.

Which I am doing.

Fixing this will require a national framework for child services.

Which we are developing And Fixing this needs law.

Which we are bringing in.

Children First I now have the Children's First legislation to the point where I have today written to our own Deputy, Jerry Buttimer, Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, asking that his committee now examine the Heads of Bill. This is legislation that has been promised for years on end. In fact it was first promised fourteen years ago, by Fianna Fáil, by a former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach, now a former member of that Party.

Yet another example of the previous Government's shoddy, incoherent and frankly careless approach to children.

Promised more than a decade ago. Never delivered.

Fine Gael will deliver it.

By the end of the year it will be law.

Child Protection Referendum But the most momentous change we can make for our children will be to change our constitution.

When you mention constitutional change, many people glaze over.

But in this instance, constitutional change is about changing children's lives.

My department is in possession of a report, undertaken by Norah Gibbons and Geoffrey Shannon, into deaths of children in State care.

It is harrowing. It is upsetting.

I am awaiting the advice of the Attorney General before publishing it.

But I want people to see this report.

And I want them to read it.

Because it shows what happens when society fails our children.

It shows how abuse and neglect in the early years of a child's life can be the beginning of a journey which is bleak, troubled, and short. It shows how crucial interventions missed can lead to childhoods destroyed and in some instances lives lost.

We must change the Constitution to underpin and to ensure the very best decisions are made for our most vulnerable children.

But the Children's Referendum will also help resolve other problems.

As we now stand, when a decision has to be made in the court about a child, the Constitution does not require the Judge to consider the voice of that child or consider their best interests.

Indeed in other instances the constitution results in scenarios that are patently absurd.

Do you know that children are treated differently by the Constitution depending on whether or not their parents are married or when they were born? Take the situation which - unfortunately, shamefully - happens every year. A husband and wife have a baby girl. And they abuse her. Beat her. Neglect her. To the point that the baby has to be saved from her own parents.

That little child is then, if she's lucky, put with foster parents.

And as the years pass, that little girl grows to know her foster parents as mum and dad. She comes to know their genetic children as her brothers and sisters. She comes to love them and they her.

And one day the foster parents decide they would like to adopt the little girl and make her formally and officially part of their family.

Our law prevents them. They cannot do it.

We have sixteen hundred children in exactly this situation in long-term foster care. One thousand six hundred children.

And for each of them, if their biological parents had not been married they would have been eligible for adoption. We apply different rules to the children of married men and women than unmarried men and women. The children may be in the exact same situation. They may have suffered the exact same abuse. They may have the same chance at a better life with adoptive parents. But they will be treated differently because one set of parents wear wedding rings and the others don't.

We must give those children whose parents aren't able to care for them a second chance to be adopted, to be with a permanent family.

We have to move to a place where children have rights, where their voices are heard, where their needs are met.

Where fundamentally we as a society no longer stand idly by.

Where we make sure that children's needs are met and their voices are listened to.

If children's voices had been heard, if they had really been respected, if they had been listened to, we would not have had a Ryan report.

If the State had thought about the consequences of putting children into those homes… If there had been some sense that the child is a real person… If, for one moment, the system had thought of the child and not of itself, then much of what was inflicted on generations of children would not have happened.

This referendum is necessary so we can get to a place we should already be: A place where decisions about every child will be taken in the child's best interest; A place where the views of the child will be taken into account; A place where each child will be regarded as a citizen.

That, combined with the legislation I am passing and combined with Minister Alan Shatter's legislation on vetting and with-holding information, will finally create a situation where there is: No ambiguity.

No ambiguity that children should be protected.

No ambiguity, no ambivalence.

No "the abuse isn't happening" No "I won't bother reporting it" No doubt about neglect No more 'Ah maybe they'll be ok.

No more standing idly by.

We must remember that it is not long ago that a Fianna Fail Minister would not allow the Stay Safe Programme to go into schools.

A programme designed with only one objective; keep children safe.

And he blocked it.

Imagine, not putting a curriculum into school that will tell children how to stay safe. That's where we've come from.

Stay safe was kept out of schools because of an idea that you were undermining the family by telling the child how to protect himself.

I say, 'when children are safe, families are strong'.

But we've a long road yet to travel.

We've a long way to go before we can say we care for our children properly.

And getting there will require action from everyone.

It's easy to listen to extreme situations and decide that they are someone else's problem. It's easy to believe that social workers, or child support agencies or the Department of Children must deal with those kind of 'major problems.' Child Poverty Let me talk to you about another problem, something that happens every day in every corner of this country.

Every day, in this country children are born into poverty.

The parents of that child may be the most caring, dedicated, loving and committed parents in the world. But no matter how great their love and commitment, their baby will be at a disadvantage from the moment he or she leaves the hospital.

Because the family is poor.

And all the economic evidence is unequivocal - allowing children to be poor is bad for the children and bad for the country.

Any OECD economist will tell you that if you give children the right level of high quality childhood care and if you keep them above the poverty line, the economic benefits for the country are incredible.

And yet, child poverty remains a gut-wrenching reality in 21st century Ireland. The economic turmoil of recent years has made things much worse; and it is the children who suffer the most.

So, when this Government sets it sights on lifting people out of chronic poverty, it is clear that the heaviest lifting will be required when it comes to children.

But this government has started.

Our number one priority is getting Ireland back to work. We should not underestimate the vital importance of this task.

Children in jobless households are three times more likely to experience consistent poverty than children generally.

This affirms everything this Government has been doing over the past year; and will continue to do to restore our economy and create jobs.

But it's not just about jobs. For my part as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs it's about much more. It's about intervening early to support families.

Conclusion This is a challenge, given the economic disaster we inherited. But there is one characteristic no-one can deny about this party and this Government; we do not shirk challenges.

There is no better example than what my colleague Minister Michael Noonan achieved this week. He carefully, doggedly and relentlessly pursued a re-structuring of the promissory notes. And after months of work he achieved what some said was unachievable. That is what we in Fine Gael do.

And we are not doing it alone. Our Labour party colleagues are also clearly unafraid of the task ahead of us. Recently I have been working closely with Minister Howlin to find ways to solve some of the vast funding problems my Department has inherited. That experience has been one of clear partnership; he has been robust, clear, unequivocal in the financial issues facing the state. But he has also been absolutely dedicated to finding solutions, where possible, in a way that gives me great optimism about what Fine Gael and Labour can achieve together.

It has to be said though, that some of the biggest issues that face us are not the ones in the constant glare of publicity. Some of the biggest issues are not sensational enough to be in the headlines every day.

My great fear is that - in the absence of those daily headlines - we will allow ourselves to believe that the only problem Irish children have had was abuse and that, in the post-Ryan post-Cloyne world, the problems facing our children are solved.

They are not solved.

Our children have a spectrum of problems, from abuse and neglect, to poverty, to relegation to second-class citizenship.

They do have one significant advantage though. For the first time they have a Government which is dedicated to making a difference across that spectrum of issues.

We in Fine Gael have made a significant difference to child protection in this country.

We will do more.

We in Fine Gael have made a unique commitment to Irish children.

We will deliver on that.

We in Fine Gael have become the first party to dedicate ourselves to making Irish children real Irish citizens.

With your support, with your hard work, We will - in the referendum - create the foundation for that momentous change.

 

Minister Condemns "shambolic legacy" as 1500 Children Suffer Abuse Each Year
Speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis today, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald TD, said that Irish society needs to be aware of what is happening in cities, towns, communities and within families around the country.

The Minister said: 'Every year 1500 children in this country are the victims of sexual, physical or emotional abuse. This means that in recent years thousands more children have been neglected, assaulted, raped and humiliated'. Calling for increased awareness of the harm done to children by abuse and neglect, the Minister said: 'In many past instances of abuse, people knew but did nothing. This is a cycle of silence that we must break in this country and it will require a totally new approach to child protection'.

"We have now reached a national consensus that we have to change. Almost everybody now accepts that we have to turn over a new leaf, we have to do things differently.”

The Minister also commented that the country had been left a shambolic child protection system by the previous Government, 'Everyone knows about the economic shambles this government inherited from our predecessors. People are not as aware of the shambles they left us in the area of child protection. There was no national framework; no proper data collection and no standard methodology for assessing and referring cases'.

"Fixing this is going to take a long time. Luckily we have the great advantage of working with dedicated, hard-working and committed people across every aspect of the sector. Rarely do you find a sector with such a mismatch between the dedication of its people and the incoherence of the system in which they had to operate.”

The Minister commented that she would publish the report into the deaths of children in care when she had received the advice of the Attorney General. She said the report was 'harrowing and upsetting' and 'would show how abuse and neglect in the early years of a child's life can be the beginning of a journey which is bleak and troubled and short. It shows how crucial intervention missed can lead to childhoods destroyed and in some instances lives lost.' The Minister said that breaking the 'national cycle of silence' required the enactment of impending legislation of child protection, a reformed system of state care and intervention and the amendment of the constitution to strengthen child protection. She said she had written to the Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children asking that he make time in the Committee's schedule immediately after Easter for the consideration of the Heads of the Children First Bill. This Bill was first promised in 1998 by Fianna Fáil. The Minister said that this Fine Gael/Labour government will now deliver on its Programme for Government commitment to put Children First on a statutory basis.

 

The public sector in Ireland has a proud record of service to the Irish
Speech by FG Minister of State Brian Hayes TD
Those who work in the public sector of this country are not the enemy - Hayes state and to the Irish people. Out of the violence, destruction and chaos of the War of Independence and the Civil War, a viable State was established in the 1920s. The politicians and the public sector of those early years of independence showed character and firmness of purpose in establishing the young State on sure foundations.

They didn’t lack ambition. Just one reminder of that period — when the power station at Ardnacrusha on the river Shannon was built it was the largest hydro generating plant in Europe. When World War Two engulfed Europe the public sector was critical in maintaining basic services in this country. It was the public sector that delivered electricity, the key to modern living, to every house in the country. In later years it was Ken Whittaker and other senior public servants who showed the way out of the economic and social doldrums of the 1950s.

This country is now facing challenges of a scale we have not faced since the early years of the State’s existence. Tribunals of enquiry have exposed major flaws and corrupt practices in our political system, also affecting parts of the public sector. The economic crisis which overwhelmed our country was caused by profound failures in our private sector.

The economic crisis has also highlighted extreme weaknesses in how we govern and in how we manage and supervise our affairs. We must be clear headed in our analysis of our difficulties and honest in telling people what needs to be done. And when tough decisions have to be taken we must be guided by principles of justice and fairness.

So let us be frank with each other. There is no going back to the way things were. Carrying on as before is no longer an option. And while we continue to deal with the fallout from the economic crisis we must also be fully aware that the world we live in is changing at an accelerating rate.

Change and very rapid change is the new normal. The choice facing Ireland is simple. We can change or we can stay in the long term care of the troika.

In February 2011, the Government was given a clear mandate for change. If Ireland is to prosper it is essential that the public sector work in tandem with the Government to embrace reform. The Government can provide the leadership, the commitment and the political support for change. But it will be up to the public sector to deliver the change agenda.

As a clear indication of its intent the Government established a new Department of Expenditure and Public Sector Reform. Within that we have set out the most radical reform of the public sector ever. It's a plan that is backed by real timelines and political responsibility.

I want to be very clear. This government wants the Croke Park agreement to succeed. We are ambitious for change in redesigning a new public service.

Those who want to replace Croke Park need to set out what they would put in its place. This party rejects the false debate which pits public and private sector worker against each other. Those who work in the public sector of this country are not the enemy. It's a complex organisation but must deliver the changes we need. Without the agreement of the public sector we cannot set our targets for reform.

Bashing the public sector has become something of a popular blood sport in some sections of the media. The Government will not play that game. We do not see the public sector as our opponent. On the contrary the Government is asking the public sector to be its partner in the reform agenda.

We have delivered. We said we would reduce public sector numbers and we have. The Irish public service is now under 300,000 and over 6 years will reduce by about 40,000 or 12% of the total. We have to do more with less and that's what is happening.

Reform is not just about reducing the size of the public service but it’s also important that we radically reform the way we organise ourselves to deliver services so as to ensure value for money and improve performance.

This requires us to look at new operating models. Using the shared services model we will use the flexibilities under Croke Park to ensure reform is driven forward and public services are delivered in a more efficient, cost effective way. The Government has now given the Department of Public Sector Reform the strategic mandate to proceed with the shared services agenda on a sectoral basis. We have set up a National Shared Services Office as a platform to strengthen programme managers and suppliers. The independent focus of the Shared Services Office facilitates better resource management, control of expenditure, better service and performance delivery and monitoring.

As well as structural and organisational reforms, I believe that we need to focus on cultural change. Culture is perhaps the most difficult element to manage in any system, but it is also the most important factor. Changing attitudes to embrace a more open, flexible and service-centred public sector is central to the success of the reform programme. But this will not happen by accident. We must win hearts and minds by putting in place the processes and structures to empower public servants to assume ownership of the change process.

The Taoiseach has set himself a target of making Ireland the best small country in the world to do business in by 2016. The Government and the public sector working together as a team can achieve that. But we can also do much more. We can make Ireland one of the best countries of the world to live in - for all our people. Hard work, persistence and determination will get us there.


We need a European economic model that allows society to flourish - Creighton
Minister for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton TD, today (Saturday) outlined how Ireland can play a central role in the renewal of the European Union.

Speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in at the Convention Centre Dublin, Minister Creighton spoke about the vital importance of maintaining and improving the European society.

“The European Union is not just an economic construct; there are other successful economic models out there. What we want is an economic model which allows the society we want to flourish. And let’s not forget society is important. We operate on a number of basic social principles; rule of law, democracy, freedom of expression and so on.

We need to find the economic and constitutional model which will preserve these principles.” The Minister spoke of the need for the European Institutions to be more democratic, efficient and flexible: “I would argue that we need institutions which are much more accessible to the citizen and more responsive. I mean institutions with which the citizen can identify such as a directly elected President. I mean an institutional arrangement so that it is possible to know who does what.

“In 2013, on the 40th anniversary of our membership of the EEC, as it was then, Ireland will assume the Presidency of the European Union. I am confident it will be a presidency where Ireland will, once again, show the way forward for the whole of the European Union. It will be a presidency that focuses on jobs and growth and on enterprise and innovation. It will be a presidency of renewal for the whole European Union.”


Ireland’s Place in Europe
Speech by Minister for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton TD
I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak at this session and I commend those branches who have devised such intelligent and relevant motions.

Delegates, this Ard Fheis is about setting out the priorities of Fine Gael in Government — stability, the restoration of Ireland’s reputation and getting our people back to work. These priorities can only be achieved by a strong Government at the heart of Europe.

I am proud to be a member of the most pro-European political party in this country. Fine Gael was the party that conceived Ireland’s entry into Europe and we are the party that, as a member of Government, will drive the change needed to renew, and indeed re-launch, the European Union.

Over the last few years of the Euro crisis, we have not always been well served by the institutions which were set up to manage the Eurozone - it should never have come to this. Not only should the institutions have worked better, but it should have been much easier for the citizens to understand what was going on, and not to feel that all the decisions were being taken behind closed doors.

I agree that — even apart from the governance of the Euro — the institutions of the European Union are not adequate for the representation and administration of a community of what will soon be 28 members. There is nothing new in what I am saying. One of the best descriptions of the issues facing the Union and its citizens is in the Declaration of Laeken which was adopted by the European Council in 2001. It identified what we needed:
* A better division and definition of competence in the European Union
* Simplification of the Union's instruments
* More democracy, transparency and efficiency in the European Union In the intervening years there were a number of incremental changes which were valuable in getting business done, but Europe really lost its nerve when it came to fundamental change.

When we add to this the issues surrounding the governance of the Euro, I think it is very clear that we need a much more coherent set of institutions. We need to be very courageous in moving forward on that.

We must be clear about what we want. The European Union is not just an economic construct; there are other successful economic models out there. What we want is an economic model which allows the society we want to flourish.

And let’s not forget — society is important. We operate on a number of basic social principles; rule of law, democracy, freedom of expression and so on. We need to find the economic and constitutional model which will preserve these principles.

At the same time the institutions need to be more efficient, have democratic legitimacy and be more flexible. Given the depth of the crisis which has hit the European economy and, in particular, the speed at which it arrived, there can be some allowance for the length of time it took the institutions and the member states to react. But we cannot allow thissnail’s pace of decision making to continue, nor can we accept that decisions are taken outside the institutions of the Union.

I would argue that we need institutions which are much more accessible to the citizen and more responsive. I mean institutions with which the citizen can identify such as a directly elected President. I mean an institutional arrangement so that it is possible to know who does what.

We need to have a more robust method of governance which will require more commitment on our part to the European Union. We need to review how the European Parliament works and the way in which it interacts with its elector ate. Afterall, we all have a shared purpose.

The European Commission already has greater powers, under the new financial mechanisms, to monitor the economic policies of Member States. The Commission needs to be courageous in its work and the Member Statesinvolved need to see the Commission as a colleague not a school master correcting home work.

But the Commission also needs to be courageous in its political work. It is an autonomous and essential part of the European institutional architecture and needs to act like that.

We need a Eurozone area where there is a lender of last resort, which means that we have to Europeanise the banking system; we have to cede power to a European oversight regime. We need to find a way of dealing with members of the Eurozone which have lost control of their finances — and the Stability Treaty is the first step down that road. When we have that commitment to budgetary responsibility in place, then we can move to Europeanise debt through some form of Eurobonds. We need greater fiscal union and deeper financial integration. Anyone who suggests that we can federalise debt without first putting in place binding rules and commitments is either a fool or simply telling untruths to win a popularity context.

An essential, if small, building block as part of a more coherent set of arrangements for governing the Eurozone is the Stability Treaty. It has the advantages of bringing certainty with regard to each country’s place within the Eurozone. From Ireland’s point of view we need that certainty and stability as the essential platform to allow increased investment in Ireland. And if we have that investment and the resultant exports we will have the increased employment and the restoration of fiscal balance.

I have already made the point that the EU is about more than economics, it is about the shared, compassionate societies we enjoy. In recent months the horrific actions of the Assad Regime in Syria have highlighted the contrast between our societies and the barbaric repression suffered by the population there. Delegates, I absolutely condemn the actions of the Assad regime and unequivocally conclude that the actions of that same regime can only be described as crimes against humanity.

The events in Syria remind us of how Europe once was just over 60 years ago. Last month the renowned *Sunday Times *correspondent Marie Colvin was killed while reporting in Homs. In her last dispatch she wrote: *”They call it the widows’ basement. Crammed amid makeshift beds and scattered belongings are frightened women and children trapped in the horror of Homs, the Syrian city shaken by two weeks of relentless bombardment.”* Colvin’s idol was the legendary American war correspondent Martha Gellhorn.

Driving through Italy in 1944, Gellhorn recalled: *”This field grew huge dead cattle. We could not tell what killed them because we were driving too fast through a long tunnel of dust which was the road. The Major drove as usual like mad. We were going to look at the front before lunch.”* I recall these words from these two women because they demonstrate that we must never take peace and prosperity for granted. The Syrians know that and we in Europe once knew that. The European Union has been the greatest engine for peace and prosperity the world has ever known and Ireland has been, and remains, part of that progress.

Ireland cannot simply sit back and expect other countries to lead the way.

We have the capacity, the drive and the tenacity to lead this charge ourselves. We can be a country which leads the field in seeing our national interest and our neighbours’ interests, best served by advancing the common European interest. Ireland’s interest, France’s interest, Poland’s interest, Spain’s interest and every other Member State’s interest can only be served by defending and advancing the overall European interest.

This is something we understood very well in Ireland in the past. It is time we reignite that understanding. We must reignite it amongst our citizens and amongst our politicians. We must do so for the sake of our future — for Ireland’s future, for Europe’s future, because our fortunes are so entirely interconnected and so necessarily interdependent.

In 2013, on the 40th anniversary of our membership of the EEC, as it was then, Ireland will assume the Presidency of the European Union. I am confident it will be a presidency where Ireland will, once again, show the way forward for the whole of the European Union. It will be a presidency that focuses on jobs and growth and on enterprise and innovation. It will be a presidency of renewal — for the whole European Union.

Speaking in the Dáil in March 1972 the then Taoiseach and one of my political heroes, Liam Cosgrave, reflected on the events of the preceding years: “Today we stand at a most important crossroads in our history. The road we take will determine not only the future of our country for generations to come, but also the contribution we make to the creation of a Europe that will measure up to the high ideals of the founders of the community.

I am confident that the decision we take will reflect our people's faith in their capacity to help fashion for themselves and for future generations of Irish men and women a better Ireland in a better Europe.” James Joyce recognised that fact in 1918 when he wrote: “If Ireland is to become a new Ireland she must first become European.”

Delegates, we have fashioned a better future for ourselves in Europe, through Europe. It is our responsibility to continue to strive for peace and prosperity on this island and on the continent of Europe for the generations that will follow. Delegates, Ireland’s place is in Europe.


The Government has brought stability
Speech by Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD
This Ard Fheis is a timely opportunity to reflect on our first year in Government. Before last year’s General Election the country was in crisis.

There was no leadership or direction from the previous Government. There was constant uncertainty as to whether important legislation would be passed by Dáil Eireann. No one knew who was the responsible minister for key departments, such as health, education, jobs and enterprise. The Irish people demanded a stable Government.

Fine Gael and our partners in Government, the Labour Party, have managed to bring about a return of stable Government to this country.

* Manifesto/Programme for Government commitments delivered
* The two parties agreed a Programme for Government that clearly set out our commitments as to the Irish people.

Already in our first year in office, we have achieved many of the objectives set out in our Programme for Government. By delivering on these commitments, we are reinforcing the stability that the Irish people demanded. These commitments have had positive effects for people throughout this country: - We have kept income taxes fixed. We have avoided further increases, which negatively impact on employment.

- We have taken those earning the least out of the Universal Social Charge — 330,000 people.

- We negotiated a reduction in the interest rates on the State borrowings from the EU-IMF, which will save the Irish people €10 billion over the lifetime of the Programme.

- We assisted those who bought at the height of the property bubble by increasing mortgage interest relief.

- We restored the minimum wage, which protects those who earn the least.

These, amongst many other measures, illustrate the progress that has been made and the direct impact on citizens. We are continuing our work to restore our reputation abroad and we are also working to restore the self confidence of the Irish people. I think there is a better view of Ireland aboard now than there is at home. That difference is perfectly understandable given the losses and sacrifices that so many citizens have endured and made.

The Next Challenge — Reducing Unemployment
The Government is fully aware that there remains much work to be done to create the growth and jobs that so many are seeking. All of us know that the single biggest challenge that this Government faces is the creation of jobs.

We must create jobs in order to reduce the demoralising effect that unemployment is having on families throughout this country. My first Budget last year placed jobs and economic growth at its core.

Next Steps — Economic Growth - Motions
The motions that we have just been discussing illustrate Fine Gael’s economic approach and the Government’s role in supporting the creation of jobs.

Government measures must support the creation of jobs. That is why we reduced the VAT rate for the tourism sector to 9%, lowered the rate of PRSI and avoided increases in income tax. We can all see the importance of these measures in attracting the additional tourists that are spending in our local communities.

Government measures should be targeted at sectors of the economy that are strongly positioned for growth and job creation. We have seen the positive effect of the Jobs Initiative. The Budget introduced measures to assist sectors with high growth potential; indigenous exporting companies, agriculture and the food Industry and the tourism sector. These took the form of traditional supply side measures.

Demand side measures — NewERA
We need the economy growing again in order to create jobs. To this end, we will investigate and pursue every single job opportunity. In supporting the creation of jobs we are pursuing a range of approaches. These approaches include traditional economic supply and demand side measures, right through to much more innovative measures, such as the Gathering, as explained by Leo Varadker earlier.

NewERA has been a central element of Fine Gael’s approach to returning our economy to growth. NewERA is now set up. It is already performing detailed analyses of the semi-states and coordinating their investment plans so as to yield the maximum return to the Irish taxpayer from the assets we all own. NewERA can provide stimulus effects on both the demand and supply side of our economy.

I am determined that NewERA will invest in projects that yield a commercial return. These projects will have a supply side effect of improving the competitiveness of our economy. They will also have a demand side effect in terms of creating economic activity and jobs through supporting local demand at this time of reduced government spending. It is vital that we generate activity in the construction sector, which has been blighted by such a sizeable fall in activity right across the country.

Apart from NewERA, there are other forms of financing also available to fund capital projects and we are actively working to leverage these. The National Pension Reserve Fund has [€5] billion of funds that could be made available to fund projects. It could also be leveraged up if there are private investors who seek to provide capital in order to earn some of the commercial return.

Other funding sources include the European Investment Bank and possible pension fund investment. The European Investment Bank is already financing road projects, schools and it is providing funds to AIB and Bank of Ireland for lending to SMEs. We are investigating the possibility of pension funds participating in large scale infrastructure investment. Such projects can represent an attractive proposition for pension funds as they yield a consistent return over a long time period.

By utilizing these funding sources and identifying projects, we can put demand back into this economy. This is to all our benefits as it will create activity throughout the country.

Renegotiation of the Programme of Assistance
When Fine Gael campaigned in last year’s General Election we set out that we would improve the Programme of Assistance. We saw the Programme agreed by the previous Government as a bad deal for Ireland. The Government has continuously worked to improve this deal.

1. The first phase was changing the conditions of the Programme of Assistance. These changes allowed the restoration of the minimum wage and the introduction of the Jobs Initiative, which reduced the VAT rate on tourism activities to 9%. The positive effect of this measure can be seen from the recent employment figures, which showed jobs growth in the hospitality and tourism sector.

2. The second phase of improving the programme was last July’s reduction in the interest rate on the assistance funds. This reduction is worth almost €10 billion to the Irish taxpayer.

3. Last month, my colleague Brendan Howlin, led negotiations on the sale of State assets, and succeeded in reaching agreement that one third of the proceeds may be used for investment in the economy.

In more recent months, we have been involved in discussions on reducing the burden of debt associated with the recapitalization of the banks. This week saw a very positive interim outcome reached in terms of the promissory note payment of €3.1 billion technically due today. The use of a long term Government bond will free up €3.1 billion from the Programme funds to aid our return to normal market funding. It also has a real positive impact on the State’s debt sustainability.

This interim solution will allow the more important discussions on the overall banking related debt to continue. Fine Gael has always set out that improvements could be made to the banking debt that this country was saddled with through the actions of previous Governments. We are making progress and it is in both Ireland’s and the EU’s interests to see a Programme country exit from a Programme of Assistance.

Fiscal Programme
This Government is committed to putting our public finances on a sustainable basis for the future. We do not want the State to act as a drag on job creation and economic growth. We must live within our means and at the end of the day, tax receipts must, in general terms, meet our expenditure.

We will continue with our fiscal programme. It is in every Irish person’s interests that the State can continue to pay for services to the public. We are seeking to balance the books through reductions in expenditure and increases in taxation of a ratio of 2:1. We are conscious that economic growth will be a key contributor to the restoration of balance.

Fiscal Compact Treaty
There is a very important decision for the Irish people at the end of May. We will vote on the Stability Treaty. This Treaty is about ensuring long-term stability, recovery, growth and jobs. It’s a continuation of the confidence building in Ireland. We only need look at the TaoiseachE28099s successful visit to China earlier this week to see that other countries want to invest in Ireland and are opening doors for Ireland. If we were not so fully involved in the Eurozone, they would not be interested.

Being at the centre of the Eurozone means that we have real influence. It was using that influence which allowed the Government to make the proposals for a reduction to the interest rates on our EU assistance. We successfully built a coalition of support behind this policy that culminated in a €10 billion saving for Ireland and savings for the other countries in assistance programmes.

For job-creating investors from whom so many announcements have come in recent months, their decisions have been thanks principally to our position in Europe, to our renewed political and economic stability and above all the determination of the Irish people - despite great sacrifices - to restore Ireland’s economic health.

Challenge the False Claims
As happens during all European referenda, there will be many false claims made by opponents of the Treaty. For once, this EU Treaty will be easily readable. It is only 10 pages long and I would urge all to read it so they can challenge the false claims of its opponents.

When reading this Treaty, people will see that it is basic common sense. The Treaty has the provision of public services at its heart. It says that electorates should decide the level of public service that they want and then Government must, quite obviously, ensure that there is sufficient revenue to fund these services.

The Treaty is about managing our public finances in such a way that over time, taxpayers’ money goes, not into servicing debts, but more and more into public services and targeted growth initiatives to create jobs.

Fine Gael and Labour in Government have returned stability to our economy.

Let’s build on this stability. Let’s place Ireland at the centre of Europe.

We want to return to growth and to create jobs in our economy with a strong Yes vote on May 31st.

Our future is in Europe; our future is in the Euro; the new Treaty will guarantee our future and the future of our children and our grandchildren; in your own interest and in their interest, I ask you to vote Yes.


Speech by Minister Richard Bruton
Just over one year ago when the new Government took office, Ireland was an unstable place.

However as a party and as a Government we have always said that our top priority cannot be the banks and cannot be the public finances. While they are crucial parts of the overall picture, our top priority, and our ultimate aim, is to bring about a major reduction in the shocking level of unemployment that blights our country. The unemployment rate has stabilised and is showing signs of improvement. However there are still 300,000 people unemployed in Ireland today. This Government’s top priority, and the focus of everything we do, is reducing this terrible number.

The Taoiseach has set the ambition of making Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business by 2016. The Government has set the ambition of creating jobs for 100,000 more people by 2016, and achieving 2 million at work again by 2020. These are ambitious targets but realistic targets. And our determination to achieve them underlies everything we do.

Over the year we have been in office we have laid a series of foundations for rebuilding the economy — we have an awful lot of work to do if we are to follow through and create a sustainable economy which supports the levels of employment we need.

The Jobs Initiative which we introduced within 100 days of taking office was made up of a series of targeted measures aimed at making a short-term impact on the jobs crisis. We targeted sectors where people could be taken on quickly. It has worked. There are now 8,500 more people working in accommodation and food services than when we came into office. There are over 3,000 more people working in retail.

We then moved on to a medium and long-term plan to rebuild the economy, realise the Taoiseach’s ambition of making Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business, and address the unemployment crisis.

This plan is built on the vision of a sustainable economy that is built on enterprise not property, on exports not consumer debt, on innovation not speculation. It is built on the realisation that after an earthquake you do not build on the faultlines of the past — you must create new structures and systems that will sustain the future. And the plan is built on a vision of Government that best plays its part in the economy not by publishing grandiose plans which gather dust on shelves but by implementing practical measures to facilitate job-creation.

The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 on its own will not solve the unemployment crisis. It will take several years to rebuild the economy and redirect it to a path of sustainable growth after the mistakes of recent years. But the 270 actions, across all 15 Government Departments and 36 Agencies which we have committed to delivering in 2012 will start the process.

This is a new departure for Government. For the first time we have marshalled the resources of all bodies across Government to do what they can for job-creation. And for the first time we have put in place systems to ensure that, unlike so often in the past, the plan is implemented.

The Taoiseach is lending his authority and ambition to the process, and an implementation group operating out of his Department is cracking the whip to ensure that results are delivered. We will shortly publish the implementation report for the first quarter of 2012, and I expect that it will show that the overwhelming majority of commitments have been delivered.

There are reasons for hope:

We have a very long way to go in addressing the unemployment crisis we face. Over the past year we have laid some of the foundations in the long process of rebuilding the economy. Completing this rebuilding process over the coming years will require very hard work and painstaking implementation across Government. The Taoiseach is leading this process and under his direction we are determined to succeed, to make Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business, and in doing so, to get our people back to work.

I've just returned from a Trade Mission to China where the pace of change and the scale of that economy and market almost defy belief.

One city I visited was Shenzen, close to Hong Kong. Just 30 years ago it was a sleepy fishing village; today it is a city of 13million people, with a skyline more impressive than Manhattan, home to some of the largest companies on the planet, some of which employ hundreds of thousands of people, and lead the world in IT, electronics and telecommunications.

In Ireland we face enormous challenges. We have made a solid start and we have a long way to go. But as we battle the short-term challenges we must not lose sight of what is possible in our economy if we aim high, plan well, and implement effectively.

 

Speech by Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan TD
Everything changed on the 25th of February last. As a country and as a people we passed judgment on the failures and the dishonesty of the past and stated boldly that we were now going to look to the future with a new sense of hope and determination.

On that day the Irish voters chose Fine Gael and Labour to lead a strong new Government that would change the direction of our country for the better and ensure that we never again made the same mistakes that destroyed our economy, our communities and our people.

As Director of Elections for Fine Gael on that day it was a moment, just a moment, to celebrate the historic occasion when, for the first time in our history, Enda Kenny led our Party to become the largest group in the Dail with a record 76 seats and a Parliamentary Party today of over 100 members…..

If the 25th of February was an occasion to celebrate a time for change, the 9th of March was when the real work of mending our broken and fragmented country began. On that day the stark reality was rammed home; our public finances, our banks, our international reputation were all creaking under the weight of the calamitous decisions taken in the previous years.

One year on and, while much work still needs to be done, our banks have been restructured, our public finances are under control again and, thanks in the main to the tireless efforts of our Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, our international reputation has been restored. Another major step in that process will be when, as I believe, the Irish public will vote to ratify the upcoming referendum on the European Stability Treaty.

And I am delighted that as Minister for the Environment that my focus, my priorities, mirror and match those of the Government; far reaching reform of existing structures, providing secure funding for improved services and introducing more accountability across the local government system.

In a Department as wide ranging as mine where we are responsible for everything from filling potholes to emptying septic tanks or from measuring the radiation in our skies to the pollution in our rivers, today I will touch on just a small number of our priorities.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
I know that Local Government does not enjoy universal confidence. This is due in large measure to structural and systemic weaknesses which I aim to tackle.

But I want to strengthen the structures, functions, accountability and operations of local government. I will draw on the work under way in relation to local authority operational efficiency, local government funding and alignment of local development with the local government system.

My ultimate objective is to enhance the well being and quality of life of citizens and local communities, while delivering maximum value for money.

This objective is the core of all I do and all I want to achieve as Minister.

WATER
It doesn't take long to realise how quickly our quality of life deteriorates if we do not have access to something as precious as clean water. What is sometimes not understood is that water is a finite resource and it's expensive to give every Irish household and business what they rightly demand: a plentiful supply of good quality water.

The independent assessment I recently commissioned doesn't just point to problems. It's like an ultimatum. It says, in effect, that if we don't change the way we deliver water services, future generations and future business won't get the water they need.

That's not going to happen.

We will soon have Irish Water, a new public utility. It will take over the delivery of water services from the local authorities.

People consuming water will know how much they use - an example of reconnecting the system with the citizen. That, in turn, will reconnect the citizen with the natural environment and their responsibility to conserve water, one of our most precious assets.

Because it is so precious to everything we do I have brought in legislation to protect the quality of ground water from pollution from septic tanks. We all have a role to play in protecting our countryside. The rewards for doing so will be many; the environment, the economy and public health will all reap the benefits of clean water.

ELECTORAL REFORM
Another asset that we sometimes don't always appreciate or recognise the value of is our electoral system. That system puts the people in charge and gives them the ultimate power to drive change. We saw this power unleashed to its full just over a year ago. But as precious as it is we have to recognise that it is not perfect.

I have introduced the most significant political reform package in decades through theElectoral (Amendment) Act 2011 and the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011. These pieces of legislation will introduce important and transforming measures to reduce the number of TDs to between 153 and 160 and measures to increase participation by women in political parties.

But, here's the problem.

I don't like quotas. I figure most of you here today don't like quotas. If anybody could come up with a better alternative to quotas, that's the way we'd have gone. Quotas have shown themselves to work and deliver the change desired while other softer measures tend to fail. So, for that reason, under my proposals, political parties will face a cut of half their State funding if they do not have at least 30% women candidates at the next general election.

JOBS AND ENTERPRISE
Just as we have to get our political system right, every member of this Government is focused on playing its part in getting our economy back on track again. My Department is no different. The Government's Action Plan for Jobs sets out an intensive "to do" list for every Department and Agency of the State so that everyone is involved and engaged in helping to support growth and jobs. It has to be joined up to be really effective.

That's why fixing our creaking water system is so important as it will deliver the secure supply of water that our incoming multinationals absolutely require for their investment. In the meantime we will create over 2,000 jobs in the real economy while installing water meters in 1.2 million households in the country.

In addition I am delighted that my Department and Minister Bruton's Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation are working jointly on delivering a new one-stop-shop for small business that will be located in each Local Authority office around the country. This development brings an important enterprise service and focus to the heart of the Local Authority system and it represents an exciting opportunity and a challenge that I look forward to the Local Government system embracing.


HOUSEHOLD CHARGE
It wouldn't be a complete speech by the Minister for the Environment on the day that's in it if I didn't make a few remarks about the household charge…..

As so much has been said and written about this necessary new charge to date I intend to keep my remarks short and to the point.

This household charge is a legacy left behind by the last Government that this Government had to deliver as part of our agreement with the Troika - if there was a credible alternative we would have pursued it.

The charge is a forerunner to an equitable valuation based property tax that will be introduced shortly, again as part of our international commitments under the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support.

I have sought to protect the most vulnerable in society and have exempted large numbers of groups that are in greatest need. This type of charge and the voluntary nature of the registration are completely new by Irish standards and mark a complete departure for funding local government and services.

The monies generated by the charge will be ring fenced to support local services for local people - there is no other pot of money available. This is about local communities committing to protect local services. Despite the financial pressures, despite the newness of the concept and despite the time pressure that we have had to work within the Irish people have stepped up and registered in their hundreds of thousands. For that I thank them and acknowledge their genuine patriotism.

CONCLUSION
In every area of Irish life - national and local government, planning, waste management, job creation - this Government found confusion, overlap, lack
of information.

In each and every area under my remit, we are reforming what we found. Some of what we'll have to implement, because of the economic chaos we inherited, won't be popular. We won't get it all right. I know over the last number of months I have learned some important lessons and will take those with me as we face ongoing challenges of reform and recovery.

But what I can guarantee is that what we'll put in place will be:

Based in reality.

Focussed on the future.

And founded upon fairness.

Thank you.

 

Agri-food is a key cornerstone in Ireland's economic recovery - Coveney
 Speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis this weekend (30th -31st March) Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food, Simon Coveney TD, said that Ireland's agri-food industry will be a key driver in our future economic recovery.

"The agri-food business is Ireland's most important indigenous industry and while many other sectors in the economy have struggled for the last 12 months, the agriculture and marine sectors have seen strong growth and new opportunities for expansion.

"This Government has a very ambitious plan to work with farmers and food companies to deliver on the significant potential of the agri-food and fisheries sector. This growth will be driven by increasing the volume and value of our exports into new and existing markets. We are at the start of what can become a prolonged and steady growth phase for the Irish food industry. It's my job to champion these efforts.

"I am looking forward to speaking to members about the industry, listening to their views and hearing their ideas about what we as a Government can be doing to help build on the existing growth in the sector.

"There are two separate sessions on agriculture at the Ard Fheis this weekend, demonstrating the interest from delegates in discussing and debating areas of the industry. The first session will focus on the agri-food opportunities and growth while the second session will be on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

"In relation to the CAP and CFP negotiations to date, I have taken a consistent position on both of these areas and look forward to hearing people's views and responding to their comments."

 

People with disabilities want reform not just social welfare cheques
Speech by FG Simon Harris TD
Chairperson, I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak here at our Ard Fheis in this session entitled ‘Human Rights and Individual Rights’. I really want to congratulate and commend Young Fine Gael for organising this important session and for picking the theme that they did. With all the discussion in the political and media world about banks, government bonds, debt to GDP ratios and so on, at times it almost seems that we are just running an economy rather than a society and that our efforts our placed towards recapitalising institutions rather than rebuilding lives. Whilst there is absolutely no doubt that to improve the lives of individuals we must repair our economy, it is important that we remember that fixing the economy is not an end in itself. We are so concerned about economics because we — as politicians and as citizens — care about the society we live in and the people around us. I really want to emphasise that point and the reason I do so is both simple and personal.

I got involved in politics at a time of great wealth in this nation. We were told we were the wealthiest or at least one of the wealthiest countries in the EU. Government spending rose dramatically. The mantra from official Ireland was ‘party on’. Yet it was in these same boom years that in my home county of Wicklow, I saw first-hand how children with Autism were overlooked; a lack of school places for kids with special needs, an even more severe lack of such places within a child’s community, you put your child’s name on a waiting list for speech and language therapy at one of their birthdays and they may well have remained on the list by the time of their next birthday, parents were often told their son or daughter on the Autistic Spectrum was fine, that the issues they saw in their daily lives were just illusions or paranoia or the sign of an over-protective parent.

This was Ireland. There was no shortage of money. There was no recession.

There was no bank bailout. Yet it was in these years of economic boom that I felt compelled in my own small way to set up a disability advocacy group in Wicklow — to bring people living with Autism and their families together, to share their experiences and to pool their energy and their voices in an effort to seek better services and their basic rights.

I share this experience with you because I want to make very clear that throwing money at the disability sector — as was done in Celtic Tiger Ireland — is not in itself a solution. It does not solve all the challenges faced by those with disabilities — be they physical, intellectual or psychological. Yes, funding and financial assistance is important but nothing is more important than recognising the rights of people with disabilities — rights that are the same as every other citizen in this country — and, importantly, beyond that, putting in place the supports and the structures that they require to reach their potential, to make their contribution to society and to live their life as they wish.

In the Dail at the time of the last Budget and indeed right back through the last number of years there is always a focus on how much money is being given to people with disabilities — will the Disability Allowance go up by a few euro — or will it go down. It is unfortunate that never is there as much attention given to the fact that people with disabilities don’t want to be just handed a social welfare cheque and told ‘there you go’. That might ease the guilt of society but it is insulting, dismissive and misses the point. People with disabilities share the same dreams, ambitions and hopes for their life — just like the rest of us.

The State needs to move beyond looking at the label disability as a line in a social welfare budget and focus its effort on how to enable people with a disability access the work force, go for that job they yearn for, take up a training or education place that interests them. These are the burning issues that our citizens with disabilities talk to me about, and yet these are the issues which successive governments — of all political hues — have f ailed to grapple with to date, and I emphasise to date! A recent ESRI study showed that two thirds of young people with disabilities want to work if the circumstances allow them to. Yet, despite this, unemployment and poverty among people with disabilities is disproportionately high. We need a complete overhaul and an evaluation of the job supports in place. Recently in the Dail I raised this issue and no one could tell me how many people with disabilities are using the various current supports in place to help someone with a disability get into the workforce. The taxpayer is pumping money into a system without even checking if that system is meeting the needs of those it was set up to help.

Even awareness and promotion of existing supports is low. Many people with a disability find themselves caught in a trap — unable to try to enter the workforce for fear they will lose secondary supports — home help, medical cards, free travel. The OECD recently published figures showing that more than 30% of people with a disability in Ireland live in poverty — this is more than two and a half times the figure for the general population and significantly above the European average. So we need to recognise that by the very fact of living with a disability, people have more outgoings, experience more costs and, therefore, we need a safety net in place. We need to say yes take up that job, we will support you and let you retain your secondary supports, which are so crucial to your everyday life.

Government policy is already moving this way in relation to making GP care free for all citizens — this will be a huge benefit to many people with disabilities but we need to look right across the support sectors.

And let’s be frank with each other — even with reforming supports, evaluating systems in place and listening to the wishes of those with disabilities, there will always be some with a disability who will not be in a position to work or to take up education places. These individuals E28093 full Irish citizens — are dependent on us — the general population and those of us in political life — to be their voice, to protect their rights and to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect. Our record as a nation in this area is shameful.

People with disabilities have been locked away in institutions without inspections, without advocates at times and without a voice on so many levels. The legislation determining how they are treated by our State and our Court system is disgustingly named the Lunacy Act and dates back to 1798. This is not historic — to this day, the Lunacy Act remains the law and the inspections of residential facilities have yet to commence.

About 75% of the money spent by the State on that loose and broad term ‘disability’ is given directly to service providers and not service users.

The State does not even empower people with a disability to spend their own money, to make their own decisions, to decide what services to use and when and where to use them. This must change. Whilst good work is done by many great service providers that is not the point. What other State payment would bypass the user and go straight to a service provider — at times, often a for-profit organisation.

I am pleased to inform this Ard Fheis that despite the legacy of this country when it comes to disability, the Programme for Government is ambitious in this area. When implemented it will bring about real, tangible and significant changes. A new Mental Capacity Bill will soon be published which will throw out that appalling Lunacy Act. We will move towards Individualised Budgets — whereby the money will go to the person with a disability to use on the services they wish where possible. We are reviewing National Autism Services and a recent report provides a roadmap forward in the area of Autism and the health service. Lots is happening and lots more is planned but please take this message away from my contribution — the disability sector and the State’s interaction with people with disabilities needs reform — not just funding but real reform.

But let’s not just finger wag at the State, let’s tackle our own ignorance and our individual failures in this area. The National Disability Authority published a survey, only weeks ago, which showed a real hardening of attitudes by society towards the complex issues faced by people with disabilities. It had many worrying statistics but for me the most disturbing was one — again not linked to funding but purely to attitude — two thirds of all respondents felt that people with intellectual disabilities or Autism should be denied a very basic right — the right to have children. Is this the 21st Century Ireland that we live in? Is this the attitude, the prejudice, the ignorance we want to have as a people? I know I don’t and I don’t think you do either.

I will continue my work — in whatever way I can — to pursue these many issues and working with you doing all that we can to bring about positive change — respecting the human rights and individual rights of our very own citizens.

 

Speech by Minister Jimmy Deenihan
When I was appointed by An Taoiseach to this brief, I resolved that I would try to make the arts and culture our national script. In other words, it would be central - an essential part of the narrative about the character of a new, different, changed and better Ireland.

A country like Ireland survives, grows and prospers on foundations built on the talent and ability of its people. Human ability, resilience and creativity are its bedrock. The more they are developed, the better we are. Today's goods and services require high value added input - some of it comes from technology and financial capital. Most of it comes from people - their ability to innovate, to adapt, to think and to be creative.

The whole process of stimulation through music, drama, literature, films, works of art; the delight in design, in architecture, in crafts, enlarges a country's capacity to be reflective, interested, dynamic and bold. Dynamism in the arts and culture, I believe, leads to dynamism too in a nation - a kind of national re-awakening.

So when more children get access to the possibilities of art and creativity, it is not the art alone that they learn; it is the art of living, thinking for themselves and creating. They may never become an artist or a dancer or a designer, but in whatever job and in whichever walk of life they choose, they will carry an idea that is not just about commerce, but about what makes the ordinary special and the extraordinary possible.

That is why I am putting arts in education at the heart of my Ministerial objectives for the arts. I have met the Minister for Education to discuss a range of ideas. These have been further elaborated by a team headed up by the Assistant Secretaries of the two Departments and we are developing a draft Charter for Arts in Education.

When young people can visit museums and see great works of art, they take some of the inspiration with them. A nation that cares about arts and culture and its youth will not be a better nation only - it will be a more successful one. Because arts and culture, more than any other programmes of government, worthy and necessary though those are, can make people think, see things differently, and understand where the other comes from. We need to teach young people to think and create and not just to remember.

I believe that the next 4 years can be an exciting time for the arts and culture sector. The combination with the Irish language and heritage responsibility makes imminent sense and I look forward to seeking out and building on the self evident synergies between the three areas.

Over the course of the next 4 years, I will:

• Work to maintain employment levels in the sector;
• Increase visitor numbers to the cultural institutions to 4.5 million per annum by 2016.

So far this year visitor numbers are up about 4% on last year's record numbers of 3.5 million;

• Enhance engagement with the arts from the community up, with particular reference to young people;
• Continue to support our National Cultural Institutions;
• Build on Ireland's cultural brand through the work of my Department's Culture Ireland - especially in the US and in the BRIC countries, and during our Presidency in Europe;
• Finalise development work on key regional arts and culture infrastructure;
• Complete refurbishment of the National Gallery Historic Wings;
• Ensure that key arts and culture venues in major centres throughout the country remain in business;
• Maximise the return from section 481 Film production relief;
• Leverage the impact of our expertise in the animation business and build on the success of Brown Bag, Cartoon Saloon and Jam, amongst others;
• In the context of our jobs strategy, move forward on implementing the recommendations of the Creative Capital report on the film and television production sector, which I published last summer;
• Maintain our competitive position on film and TV production internationally to drive inward investment opportunities in co-operation with IDA and the industrial development agencies;
• Build on the success of the Regional Festivals programme in 2012 as part of an integrated cultural and regional tourism drive;
• Maximize the impact of the 1901 and 1911 Census digitization project in conjunction with the tourism agencies, and advance the proposal to publish the 1926 Census on line;
• Build on the business links established through Culture Ireland's promotion programme in China, the US and UK;
• Address economic reputational damage through cultural promotional work and maintain our prominent position internationally, particularly in theatre, music, dance and traditional music;
• Reorganise and achieve economies of scale across the sectors through shared services models;
• Maintain regional venues and touring programmes within available funding;
• Leverage the City of Literature designation for the whole country;
• Work on an exciting commemorative programme for this decade of centenaries.

And we have to achieve all of this in the context of reduced Government expenditure in order to meet the EU/IMF targets.

In doing this, I believe that we're building on our innate strengths in the arts. These are brand recognition and quality; scale; an inherent capacity for renewal; and the fact that arts and culture are now a recognised part of the economic mix.

Our stock is high internationally in the arts, culture and film sector. For instance, the value of column inches generated by our cultural ambassadors in 2011 is estimated at €20m worth of advertising. Because they were all positive column inches!

We need to build on that and leverage the impact of our world class artists. We need to work together with tourism and enterprise agencies. Each opportunity internationally is potentially a marketing opportunity for our country- a moment of truth. We host the EU Presidency in 2013. That's a 550 million audience opportunity!

On the film and audiovisual sector, I believe too that the opportunities are considerable. The Government recognises this as an important economic sector, and an internationally traded one. I published Creative Capital, the 5 year development strategy for the sector in 2011 and I have put the implementation committee in place already. We should build on the successes of recent years and work to maintain hard won competitiveness and craft reputation. Technology opportunities should be exploited. Our web hosting, data centre and high-speed international broadband infrastructure should be leveraged. A closer alignment between writing and film talent might bring even more benefits. Our Film Festivals should become world class. I recently reopened our only Art House cimema in the capital - the Lighthouse.

International partnership and collaboration too is full of possibilities. There has been a tendency to undersell ourselves here. To give a few examples, the National Gallery is in the top 50 most visited art galleries in the world! In the visitors' leagues internationally, it is ahead of the San Francisco MOMA . IMMA lies ahead of the Whitney in New York and of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Collectively, cultural institutions had more visitors in 2009 than the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, placing us (in aggregate visitor terms) in the top eight of the most visited museums and galleries in the world. That is a remarkable statement about what we have. It says clearly that we have something to bring to international partners.

If the number of visitors to the Book of Kells, is included, we would probably be in the top five in the world! That quite an achievement for a small island nation that is geographically on the periphery of Europe. An exciting range of possibilities include further US and EU linkages; the possible development of partnerships with the private sector; further academic developments, including joint research projects, internships, extramural programmes and summer schools; the increased promotion of Dublin as a creative city via initiatives such as Culture Night, and opportunities to engage the public in cultural life with the potential to further promote this city, and Ireland, as a destination for cultural tourists.

Indeed, one of our specific commitments the Programme for the Government is to expand Culture Night concept and I've set the wheels in motion on that already. I have a strong sense that we can achieve this by the designation of St Patricks Day as the International Day of Irish Culture, and build on solid foundations already in place. Culture Night 2012 will be even bigger than in 2011.

Literature is our primary cultural announcer on the world stage. Our writers and dramatists introduce us in the international arena. Thanks to Government funding through my Department, we are now also known internationally in dance, contemporary music, visual arts, and many other art forms. In the digital world your customer is just 0.8 seconds away anywhere on the globe. There are novel partnerships across the technology platforms which are possible here.

With imagination and technological know-how, we can bring our collections and our artists to whole new markets. Look at the success of the online census. If we got even 1% of those 200 million online hits to this country, we would increase annual visitor numbers by 33%! Can you imagine the value of placing the collections of the National Library at the disposal of every school child in the country?

More and more of global business is done on the web. We have to be there in an imaginative and compelling way. And we need to have a centre of literary excellence in Dublin. I'm exploring a number of possibilities on that. I believe that we have the content for this and, with clever use of the existing stock of public buildings, we can accommodate it in a manner appropriate to its importance. My vision for this is very simple. It is a place where all the public and visitors could encounter writers of the past, engage with writers of the present and encourage writers of the future. It is a place in which our rich literary heritage would be brought to life - an embarkation point and launching pad for the literary visitor; a pantheon, if you will, of Irish writers. There is no doubt that we are a world class artistic and creative hub.

In the last two years, Irish artists continued to make a major impact on the global stage. Five Oscar nominations brought international focus and acclaim to the Irish animation sector, with Richard Baneham - a graduate of Ballyfermot College - winning an Academy Award for Special Effects for "Avatar". Joan Bergin won a third Emmy for her costume design on "The Tudors". Outstanding Irish documentary "His and Hers" won the Best Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Michael Fassbender (from Killarney) won best actor at the Venice Film Festival, and Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close, produced in Dublin by Alan Moloney and screenplay written by John Banville, is opening the Los Angeles Film Festival.

The Villagers (Rock Group) made an international breakthrough with their nomination for the prestigious Mercury music prize. Colm Toibín's "Brooklyn" won the Costa Novel Award, and Colm McCann won the IMPAC for "Let the Great World Spin" .

Paul Murray's novel, "Skippy Dies", was selected by Time magazine as one of the top three novels of 2010, and was on the holiday reading this year of President Obama, and Prime Minister David Cameron. "Room" by Emma Donoghue was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Award.

And in their top ten list of theatre productions for 2010, the New York Times included Druid's production of Enda Walsh's,"Penelope". With the same production, Enda Walsh and Druid also won a third Fringe First in a row at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The New York Times selected two Irish books in their top five fiction list for 2010 - Emma Donoghue's "Room" and William Trevor's Selected Stories. This year Pat Kinnevan enthralled the Edinburgh Festival with a great fusion of dance and acting talent.

Arts and Culture spans so many disciplines. There is not a sector of the arts that cannot contribute to our re-growth and redefinition as a nation. We have to develop a particular model of government working with the cultural sector that is both successful and distinctively Irish, and that recognises the constraints on the public purse.

That model is a mixed new economy model. It combines public funding with private enterprise, philanthropy, subsidy and the box office together with new media and technology. It is hallmarked by partnerships between the creative sectors and sponsors in the private and philanthropic sectors. Critically, the Arts Council operates as an arm's-length body so the State is placed in the position of doing what it can do well - creating the right policy conditions and funding - and not what it has no business doing - control of the arts.

The simplicity of this model is that public subsidy permits risk-taking in creativity. A new breed of entrepreneurial leaders in the arts world has shown that art of the highest quality is compatible with sound financial discipline. As a result of my initiative in this space, new Philanthropy initiatives will be rolled out for the arts very shortly.

Indeed, the public subsidy produces a return, and not just in creativity, but in economic activity and social impact. Taking into account economic multipliers, the Value Added dependent on the arts, culture and creative sectors in 2008 was €11.8 billion or 7.6% of total GNP, according to DKM. Cultural tourism is a key element of Ireland's tourism industry. The list of top visitor attractions is dominated by natural and built heritage, and in addition, festivals, musical and other events attract major numbers of attendees.

Some 43% of our 3.53 million overseas visitors engaged in cultural/historical visits while in Ireland in 2008. These visitors spent €2.3 billion which is 56% of the total overseas visitor spend in Ireland. Tourists who engage in cultural pursuits while in Ireland are higher than average spenders. A total of €3.03 billion, or 2% of GNP, is at least partly dependent on overseas cultural tourism. Domestic cultural tourism would add significantly to this. A total of 73,000 jobs are dependent on cultural tourism in 2008 - 3.4% of the total workforce. There is a very significant showcase impact from Irish culture, which raises the profile of the country and has a substantial economic benefit, most directly on tourism.

There is a strong regional aspect to the arts, culture and creative sectors; a cultural activity is strongly rooted in locality. Remoteness from larger metropolitan areas is less of a disadvantage than in some other sectors, and in some cases is an enhancing factor. This is most obvious in the area of events and festivals and in the related cultural tourism. Examination of the most popular visitor attractions and events in Ireland in recent years points to a range of locations around the country, including many along the western seaboard. For instance, the third most popular visitor attraction in Ireland is the Cliffs of Moher.

Total Exchequer expenditure on the arts, culture and creative sectors in 2011 is €135m. The 2008 equivalent was €220m. Against this, direct Exchequer revenue from the arts, culture and creative sectors in 2008 was approximately €1 billion. The growth rate of the creative sector in Ireland has been well above the European average, indicating the importance of creative Industries for overall Irish economic performance. The new enterprise model for the Irish economy recognizes the vital importance of the arts, culture and creative sectors, and places strong emphasis on creativity, the accumulation of knowledge, and the development of ideas and designs as well as the application of technology.

The combined arts, culture and creative sectors is globally one of the fastest growing, representing 7% of global GDP and growing at 10% per annum. Likewise, cultural tourism is expected to experience growth of 15% per annum. Thus the culture-related sectors will be one of the key growth areas, which Ireland must tap into for economic and employment opportunities over the next decade, if it is to recover from the current severe recession.

Furthermore, on a global scale the culture-related sectors are expected to be a significantly greater part of the international economy in the future, and Ireland must make its presence felt in these sectors if the overall economy is to be a competitive leader in the future. I have no doubt that those in this sector have the capacity and creativity to make that impact.

My first year in office has not passed without my tackling long running and contentious issues. I'm referring, of course, to the peat issue. It is clear from Mr. Justice Quirke's Report that communication between the State and affected turf-cutters has not been what it might have been over the past twenty years and trust needs to be re-established. The Peatland Forum, chaired by Mr Justice Quirke, allowed for a frank exchange of views and an examination of the potential solutions for each of the 53 raised bog SACs. I hope that we are now moving to put in place the conditions for the State and turf-cutters to turn over a new page and work together to address this difficult issue.

The IFA, the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association, Bord na Móna, individual representatives of turf-cutting groups and environmental groups have done enormous work over the past months and years in trying to find a resolution to this issue within the legal constraints that we face, and they are to be commended.

In his report Mr Justice Quirke recommended the preparation of National Raised Bog SAC Strategy which could provide some limited flexibility for a few of the most difficult bogs and in full compliance with the EU Habitats Directive.

The bar is set very high in seeking flexibility. Any case made must show that it stands up in terms of being for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, there being no alternatives, and any such proposals must obtain the consent of the European Commission. It is also clear that there will be a requirement for compensatory habitat to meet the requirements of the Directive. Preparation of the plan would require the closest ongoing consultation with the European Commission.

The State has no option but to ensure that the sites are protected and I would appeal again to turf-cutters to refrain from turf-cutting on these 53 SACs while the plan is being produced. I am now in a position to begin to roll out solutions, over the coming months, to many of the communities who came to the Forum."

I also announced that the Government has agreed to an enhanced package of measures to assist those who are affected by the requirement to cease cutting turf on 53 raised bog Special Areas of Compensation.

The enhanced compensation includes the following:

• Qualifying turf-cutters who opt for the annuity scheme will now be offered €1,500 per annum, index linked, for a period of fifteen years. This is an increase of €500 per annum to the previous terms of the scheme.
• All qualifying turf-cutters participating in the scheme will also receive a once-off payment of €500 in the first year of the scheme.
• Turf-cutters who opt to relocate to an undesignated bog will also receive a one off payment of €500 and will be entitled to receive either a payment of €1500 (increased from €1000) or a delivery of 15 tonnes of turf (increased from 10 tonnes) for each year until their relocation bog is ready to commence turf-cutting. The scheme will also allow for flexibility in terms of the provision of more than 15 tonnes of turf for those wishing to relocate where more than one household in the same family has sourced its turf from a single bog plot.

The decision increases the value of the annuity scheme by €8000 per applicant to a total of €23,000. These payments will be exempt from capital gains tax in accordance with a provision in the Finance Bill, 2012.

The Government decided, following discussions I and my officials have had with affected turf-cutting groups and land-owner representative groups such as the IFA and the TCCA, that the enhanced compensation package is justifiable. While these are extremely difficult times for the tax-payer and we must think very carefully about how public funds are used, the individuals affected by the cessation of turf-cutting are being asked to sacrifice their traditional source of fuel for the good of the wider community and for Ireland to meet its EU legal commitments.

The increases in payments will be automatically applied to existing applicants to the annuity scheme or for those who have agreed to relocate but are in receipt of payments under the interim arrangements. Back payments will also be applied automatically. Any person who has entered into a contract with the Department to relocate under the scheme will be given an opportunity to review that decision in light of the adjustments to the annuity scheme.

The innate value of Ireland's unique natural habitat and the necessity to protect it from harm must be recognised. There is no more unique habitat in Europe than our remaining examples of functioning raised bog. We are legally bound to protect the relatively small amount of raised bog habitat remaining in Ireland that we have nominated as Special Areas of Conservation.

In effect, what we are asking is that the communities affected by the designations sacrifice, or change, part of their cultural heritage, so that we maintain a representative sample of this very valuable part of our natural heritage for future generations. Not to do so would be unforgiveable.

This then places an obligation on the State to compensate fairly, or otherwise look after the needs, of those whose traditional rights are being curtailed. This Government is committed to that principle.

Finally, to conclude, we had very specific commitments in the Programme for Government, and I'm glad to say that I have delivered on most of them after a little over a year in office.

Notes
Touring of Arts in Ireland: A further €740k has been allocated by the Arts Council to enable 33 arts organisations & artists tour in venues nationwide in 2012. This is in addition to €750k which had previously been committed. A further €125,000 has been allocated to four artists and organisations to assist with their advance touring plans for 2013.

Building private support of the Arts in Ireland (D/AHGA): Arising from a report produced by an informal consultative /representative group of Arts and philanthropic interests, my Department, at my request, is examining a pilot-scheme which would form an incentive to leverage funding from the private sector along the lines of a successful pre-pilot approach taken in respect of a specific arts organisation/venue at the end of last year. The Arts Council is also engaged in developing a capacity building programme for philanthropy in arts organisations. Last month, after year long negotiations, I secured the AIB corporate art collection for the State.

Culture Night 2011: This event took place on the 23rd of September 2011 in a record 30 towns and cities throughout the island of Ireland, showcasing the best of our artistic and cultural heritage and facilities. It is estimated that upwards of 200,000 visitors participated in the event in 2011, with over 150 cultural venues in Dublin alone welcoming visitors until late in the evening. Arising from discussions, most notably at Global Irish Economic Forum, as to the most appropriate way to build on the success and popularity of Culture Night for 2012 and beyond, I designated St Patrick's Day as the International Day of Irish Culture, thereby building on solid foundations already in place.

Local Authority Arts Officers: Arts Officers are in place in all local authority areas. I met each Arts Officer and a template for local arts plans has been developed and published.

NAMA properties which may be suitable as local facilities for art and culture: Engagement is ongoing with NAMA in relation to assets of interest from a cultural perspective. The re-opening of the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield is a case in point. My Department has recently met with and written to representatives of NAMA in terms of the responsibilities of owners and occupiers of protected structures under Part IV (Architectural Heritage) of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2010. My Department will continue to liaise with NAMA in this regard and on issues of advice/appropriate reuse, where applicable.

An Gaeilge agus an Ghaeltacht

20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language: Progress has been made in implementing the 20-Year Strategy, including approval by Government of the priority drafting of the Gaeltacht Bill. The Government also re-established the Cabinet Committee on the Irish Language and the Gaeltacht to bring a greater strategic focus to Irish language policy development and implementation.

Official Languages Act: A public consultation was completed in January 2012 with over 1,400 survey responses and 240 submissions received.

Peatlands and Turf cutting: As mentioned earlier the Government established a Peatlands Council and a compensation scheme for Turf Cutters. There is ongoing dialogue with stakeholders to ensure cessation of turf-cutting on designated Special Areas of Conservation Raised Bogs.


Speech by Minister Alan Shatter
My ambition is that, at the end of the Government’s term in office, we will be seen as the most radical reformist government in the history of the State. I am determined in my privileged role as Minister in two great Departments – Justice and Equality and the Department of Defence – to fully play my part. Being a member of a Cabinet composed of talented colleagues in the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party and talented colleagues in the Labour Party, committed to public service, to restoring our economic sovereignty and getting our people back to work is truly a privilege. And that is the difference between our Government led by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and the Fianna Fail-led governments of yesteryear. Unlike our immediate predecessors, we are committed to public service, not self service. Being a Member of Government is, for each of us, not focussed on how we can financially benefit ourselves but is totally focussed on what we can do for the benefit of all of our people on this island.

Justice, Equality and Defence are enormous areas of central importance to the State as a functioning accountable democracy in which people can go about their daily lives in peace and safety. It is a tremendous responsibility to have under my wing the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, An Garda Siochana and our Prison Officers as well as the many extraordinary people who work in both Departments and the Agencies attached to them. It is right and fitting that I acknowledge at this Ard Fheis, the extraordinary commitment to and work done on behalf of the State, on behalf of each and every person, both citizen and non-citizen, by the dedicated members of An Garda Siochana and our Defence Forces, as well as our Prison Officers.

Our Defence Forces, under the UN flag, bravely contribute to peace missions across the globe and are always available to provide assistance at home when required. Despite the success of the peace process, there remains on this island recalcitrant, home grown, rogue terrorists dedicated to returning our island to murder and mayhem, who still resort to the bomb and the bullet and cowardly attacks on members of the PSNI in Northern Ireland. We also have the drug gangs engaged in internecine warfare who have no respect for human life. The unsung heroes in our Army, when called upon to assist the Gardai, are still too frequently required to neutralise explosive devices in order to protect the public. All too frequently, members of the Gardai are in harms way when confronting armed hooded hoodlums. It is right that we thank them and acknowledge their bravery.

Our Garda Force is targeting the drug gangs and has been enormously successful in putting many of their members behind bars. For example, 106 members of the eight Limerick gangs are presently in prison including 20 who were in leadership positions. 2011 marked considerable success in crime reduction. Homicides, kidnapping and related offences, weapons and explosives, controlled drug and public order offences all decreased by between 10% and 29%. The Gardai had substantial success in the seizure of illegal goods, drugs, illegal fuel and cigarettes and achieved a homicide detection rate of 80%. We have, in An Garda Siochana, a dedicated professional police force committed to public duty and to maintaining law and order of which we can be proud. As Minister, they have my full support in the crucial work of both crime prevention and crime detection.

I also want to acknowledge the close working relationship between the Gardai and the PSNI, which has greatly enhanced policing on this island. To those locked in the time warp of the troubles, intent on targeting members of the PSNI, I say - we stand by the PSNI as we stand by the Gardai. There will be no safe haven anywhere on this island for those intent on homicide under the false flag of a warped republican patriotism.

The Criminal Assets Bureau has been responsible for the recovery of millions of Euros from the proceeds of crime and, working with the Revenue Commissioners, has assisted them in recovering many millions in taxes. I am engaging with my European Justice Ministerial colleagues and the EU Commission to bring about a European wide Criminal Asset Recovery Framework. It is my objective that members of drug gangs who are leading the easy life in Spanish villas will, in the future, have their properties confiscated and sold. I am also determined that those financially benefiting from human trafficking across Europe have their assets similarly targeted.

As Minister, I am determined that there will be no impunity for those engaged in white collar crime. Within four months of assuming office, I published and enacted the Criminal Justice Act 2011, which conferred crucial new powers on the Gardai to assist in both current and future investigations into alleged white collar crime, including issues relating to our financial institutions. Within days of the Act’s commencement, it was successfully used by the Gardai to access vital information. The Garda Commissioner assures me that the Gardai are leaving no stone unturned in their investigation into various financial dealings inextricably interwoven with banking issues. Important files and papers have been furnished to the DPP and it is my hope, that where there is evidence of alleged criminality, we will see prosecutions initiated sooner rather than later.

There must also be no hiding place for those who abuse children or for those who cover up and fail to expose their knowledge of such abuse. Such failure is a gross betrayal of victims of abuse and gives a free licence to those responsible to continue to target children and destroy their lives. We will very shortly be publishing legislation to make it a criminal offence to withhold such information and comprehensive legislation to ensure the proper vetting of all of those regularly interacting with children on a professional or voluntary basis.

Whilst 2011 saw a substantial fall in the overall crime figures, burglary was the exception. There were just over 2,000 more burglaries than in 2010. It is, of course, no secret that my wife Carol and I will feature in the 2012 crime statistics as victims of this crime. I can tell you that the Garda Commissioner has a strategy in place, which I fully support, to counteract this trend and to ensure that those who burglarise peoples’ homes are brought before the courts and properly sentenced.

2011 marked our enacting of the long promised Criminal Justice Defence of the Dwelling Act under which a householder, who uses reasonable force to protect himself or a family member against an intruder, cannot be successfully prosecuted or sued by an allegedly injured burglar. People are entitled to feel safe and secure in their homes and I am committed to doing everything possible to ensure this is the case.

Too many of our people, through no fault of their own, as a result of the appalling economic legacy we have inherited, unexpected unemployment and the bursting of the property bubble, are in personal financial difficulty. Last January, I published the scheme of a new comprehensive Insolvency Bill to put new mechanisms in place to assist those overwhelmed by debt and this legislation will commence enactment in the Dail before the summer. The reformist and radical provisions contained in this Bill will provide a means for those in difficulty to get their lives back in order whilst ensuring appropriate protection for creditors, where those in debt have behaved fraudulently or dishonestly.

Fine Gael’s 2011 General Election Programme and the Programme for Government contained a roadmap of essential reforms to bring our laws into the 21st century. The Legal Services Bill published last October has resulted in some unnecessary hysteria by the vested interests opposed to it. Some of the opposition comes from financial high rollers, used to pulling the levers of power, who have deliberately confused their self interest with the public interest. The Bill, when enacted, will ensure independent regulation of the legal profession, an end to a variety of restrictive practices, greater transparency and accountability in relation to legal costs and an independent disciplinary tribunal to address allegations of lawyer misconduct. It is not only in the interest of consumers but also in the interest of solicitors and barristers that this legislation is enacted. In providing alternative business structures through which legal services can be delivered, whilst still facilitating those solicitors and barristers, who wish to do so, to continue practising as they do today, the Bill is essentially implementing reforms already in place elsewhere and facilitating Irish lawyers to properly compete in the international market for legal services. It is time to sweep the 18th century cobwebs away and provide modern, competitive and cost effective legal services and I will not be deflected from doing so.

In the Programme for Government, we are committed to a programme of family law reform. There is a need for an independent fully integrated family court system with a jurisdiction to determine all family disputes, adoption disputes and child care cases. We are commencing work on implementing the commitment in the Programme to provide such a court system and it is my objective that we hold the necessary constitutional referendum to establish such courts in 2013. We can, at the same time, also hold the referendum required to establish a Court of Civil Appeal.

Where relationships break down, it is important that we have a modern legal framework to encourage disputing parents to agree parenting issues concerning their children, in a manner which protects the best interests of children, minimises conflict and facilitates future cooperation between estranged parents to the benefit of their children. A new Child Parenting Bill will be introduced during our term of office to reform our law in this area.

It is also essential that we contain the legal costs incurred by estranged spouses when marriages break down. The use of mediation is preferable to court confrontation and I intend to enact a Mediation Bill, the Scheme for which has already been published, before the end of this year. It is in the interests of spouses and their children that issues that must be resolved when marital breakdown occurs, are not unduly drawn out and that people are given an opportunity to restart their lives without further unnecessary conflict or trauma.

I believe the time has come for public discussion on the desirability of amending our constitutional provisions relating to divorce. A simplified legal provision which enabled speedier access to a divorce decree by those whose marriages are truly over and which eliminated the duplication, expense and additional stress of the current system would be, I believe, in the public interest, in the interest of estranged spouses and would provide additional stability to the benefit of their children.

Both of my Departments have a role to play in rebuilding our economy and in the creation of jobs. As Minister for Defence, I am actively encouraging and supporting innovation and the manufacturing in Ireland of product that can be utilised, not only by our Defence Forces, but also by others in peace keeping missions - and in our Defence Forces trialling safe products that can enhance capacity in such operational activities and in the area of maritime surveillance and protection. In the Justice area, we have put in place an already successful Visa Waiver Scheme to increase tourist and business visitors and announced an Entrepreneur and Investments Residence Scheme to encourage both research and development in the State by non-EU nationals and investment in a manner that will both benefit the State and create employment. Two Government Departments, which have traditionally been perceived as spending Departments, are now playing a dynamic role in our economic recovery.

An important part of my brief is that, together with Minister of State Kathleen Lynch, we actively ensure that, as a State, we treat all people equally and with respect; that no individual suffers discrimination because of colour, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation or ethnic background and that we fully respect and protect human rights. This year, we are committed to enacting legislation for an enhanced Human Rights and Equality Commission. Within weeks of being in Government, I created our new Citizenship Ceremonies which have brought a sense of dignity, welcome and celebration to the conferring of Irish citizenship and which, I know, have been widely welcomed. I also took steps to address the huge, unacceptable backlog of applications that built up during the lifetime of the previous Government. Later this year, I hope to publish a new comprehensive Residence, Immigration and Asylum Bill. Fine Gael, together with our Labour partners in Government, is committed to a tolerant and inclusive society in which those of diverse backgrounds feel welcome. There will be no tolerance of any nature shown to the small minority who seek to incite racial or religious hatred and to create division and to foster fear.

As have other colleagues, I urge you all to work with us in the coming weeks to ensure a successful outcome to the forthcoming referendum to make sure that no future Government can again squander the wealth of our country and the hopes of our people as did the morally bankrupt and economically illiterate Fianna Fail-led Governments of the past decade.

The first steps have been taken to put in place the modern legal and administrative architecture required for the Ireland of the 21st Century and to make our country a better place. I look forward to the challenges that our second year in office will bring and greatly value the support we are receiving from members of this great party and from people throughout the country.

 

Speech by Minister Jimmy Deenihan
When I was appointed by An Taoiseach to this brief, I resolved that I would try to make the arts and culture our national script. In other words, it would be central - an essential part of the narrative about the character of a new, different, changed and better Ireland.

A country like Ireland survives, grows and prospers on foundations built on the talent and ability of its people. Human ability, resilience and creativity are its bedrock. The more they are developed, the better we are. Today’s goods and services require high value added input - some of it comes from technology and financial capital. Most of it comes from people - their ability to innovate, to adapt, to think and to be creative.

The whole process of stimulation through music, drama, literature, films, works of art; the delight in design, in architecture, in crafts, enlarges a country's capacity to be reflective, interested, dynamic and bold. Dynamism in the arts and culture, I believe, leads to dynamism too in a nation - a kind of national re-awakening.

So when more children get access to the possibilities of art and creativity, it is not the art alone that they learn; it is the art of living, thinking for themselves and creating. They may never become an artist or a dancer or a designer, but in whatever job and in whichever walk of life they choose, they will carry an idea that is not just about commerce, but about what makes the ordinary special and the extraordinary possible.

That is why I am putting arts in education at the heart of my Ministerial objectives for the arts. I have met the Minister for Education to discuss a range of ideas. These have been further elaborated by a team headed up by the Assistant Secretaries of the two Departments and we are developing a draft Charter for Arts in Education.

When young people can visit museums and see great works of art, they take some of the inspiration with them. A nation that cares about arts and culture and its youth will not be a better nation only - it will be a more successful one. Because arts and culture, more than any other programmes of government, worthy and necessary though those are, can make people think, see things differently, and understand where the other comes from. We need to teach young people to think and create and not just to remember.

I believe that the next 4 years can be an exciting time for the arts and culture sector. The combination with the Irish language and heritage responsibility makes imminent sense and I look forward to seeking out and building on the self evident synergies between the three areas.

Over the course of the next 4 years, I will:
• Work to maintain employment levels in the sector;
• Increase visitor numbers to the cultural institutions to 4.5 million per annum by 2016.
So far this year visitor numbers are up about 4% on last year’s record numbers
of 3.5 million;
• Enhance engagement with the arts from the community up, with particular reference to
young people;
• Continue to support our National Cultural Institutions;
• Build on Ireland's cultural brand through the work of my Department’s Culture Ireland –
especially in the US and in the BRIC countries, and during our Presidency in Europe;
• Finalise development work on key regional arts and culture infrastructure;
• Complete refurbishment of the National Gallery Historic Wings;
• Ensure that key arts and culture venues in major centres throughout the country
remain in business;
• Maximise the return from section 481 Film production relief;
• Leverage the impact of our expertise in the animation business and build on the
success of Brown Bag, Cartoon Saloon and Jam, amongst others;
• In the context of our jobs strategy, move forward on implementing the
recommendations of the Creative Capital report on the film and television production
sector, which I published last summer;
• Maintain our competitive position on film and TV production internationally to drive
inward investment opportunities in co-operation with IDA and the industrial
development agencies;
• Build on the success of the Regional Festivals programme in 2012 as part of an
integrated cultural and regional tourism drive;
• Maximize the impact of the 1901 and 1911 Census digitization project in conjunction
with the tourism agencies, and advance the proposal to publish the 1926 Census on
line;
• Build on the business links established through Culture Ireland's promotion programme
in China, the US and UK;
• Address economic reputational damage through cultural promotional work and
maintain our prominent position internationally, particularly in theatre, music, dance
and traditional music;
• Reorganise and achieve economies of scale across the sectors through shared
services models;
• Maintain regional venues and touring programmes within available funding;
• Leverage the City of Literature designation for the whole country;
• Work on an exciting commemorative programme for this decade of centenaries.

And we have to achieve all of this in the context of reduced Government expenditure in order to meet the EU/IMF targets.

In doing this, I believe that we’re building on our innate strengths in the arts. These are brand recognition and quality; scale; an inherent capacity for renewal; and the fact that arts and culture are now a recognised part of the economic mix.

Our stock is high internationally in the arts, culture and film sector. For instance, the value of column inches generated by our cultural ambassadors in 2011 is estimated at €20m worth of advertising. Because they were all positive column inches!

We need to build on that and leverage the impact of our world class artists. We need to work together with tourism and enterprise agencies. Each opportunity internationally is potentially a marketing opportunity for our country- a moment of truth. We host the EU Presidency in 2013. That’s a 550 million audience opportunity!

On the film and audiovisual sector, I believe too that the opportunities are considerable. The Government recognises this as an important economic sector, and an internationally traded one. I published Creative Capital, the 5 year development strategy for the sector in 2011 and I have put the implementation committee in place already. We should build on the successes of recent years and work to maintain hard won competitiveness and craft reputation. Technology opportunities should be exploited. Our web hosting, data centre and high-speed international broadband infrastructure should be leveraged. A closer alignment between writing and film talent might bring even more benefits. Our Film Festivals should become world class. I recently reopened our only Art House cimema in the capital – the Lighthouse.

International partnership and collaboration too is full of possibilities. There has been a tendency to undersell ourselves here. To give a few examples, the National Gallery is in the top 50 most visited art galleries in the world! In the visitors’ leagues internationally, it is ahead of the San Francisco MOMA . IMMA lies ahead of the Whitney in New York and of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Collectively, cultural institutions had more visitors in 2009 than the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, placing us (in aggregate visitor terms) in the top eight of the most visited museums and galleries in the world. That is a remarkable statement about what we have. It says clearly that we have something to bring to international partners.

If the number of visitors to the Book of Kells, is included, we would probably be in the top five in the world! That quite an achievement for a small island nation that is geographically on the periphery of Europe. An exciting range of possibilities include further US and EU linkages; the possible development of partnerships with the private sector; further academic developments, including joint research projects, internships, extramural programmes and summer schools; the increased promotion of Dublin as a creative city via initiatives such as Culture Night, and opportunities to engage the public in cultural life with the potential to further promote this city, and Ireland, as a destination for cultural tourists.

Indeed, one of our specific commitments the Programme for the Government is to expand Culture Night concept and I’ve set the wheels in motion on that already. I have a strong sense that we can achieve this by the designation of St Patricks Day as the International Day of Irish Culture, and build on solid foundations already in place. Culture Night 2012 will be even bigger than in 2011.

Literature is our primary cultural announcer on the world stage. Our writers and dramatists introduce us in the international arena. Thanks to Government funding through my Department, we are now also known internationally in dance, contemporary music, visual arts, and many other art forms. In the digital world your customer is just 0.8 seconds away anywhere on the globe. There are novel partnerships across the technology platforms which are possible here.

With imagination and technological know-how, we can bring our collections and our artists to whole new markets. Look at the success of the online census. If we got even 1% of those 200 million online hits to this country, we would increase annual visitor numbers by 33%! Can you imagine the value of placing the collections of the National Library at the disposal of every school child in the country?

More and more of global business is done on the web. We have to be there in an imaginative and compelling way. And we need to have a centre of literary excellence in Dublin. I’m exploring a number of possibilities on that. I believe that we have the content for this and, with clever use of the existing stock of public buildings, we can accommodate it in a manner appropriate to its importance. My vision for this is very simple. It is a place where all the public and visitors could encounter writers of the past, engage with writers of the present and encourage writers of the future. It is a place in which our rich literary heritage would be brought to life – an embarkation point and launching pad for the literary visitor; a pantheon, if you will, of Irish writers. There is no doubt that we are a world class artistic and creative hub.

In the last two years, Irish artists continued to make a major impact on the global stage. Five Oscar nominations brought international focus and acclaim to the Irish animation sector, with Richard Baneham – a graduate of Ballyfermot College - winning an Academy Award for Special Effects for "Avatar". Joan Bergin won a third Emmy for her costume design on "The Tudors". Outstanding Irish documentary "His and Hers" won the Best Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Michael Fassbender (from Killarney) won best actor at the Venice Film Festival, and Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close, produced in Dublin by Alan Moloney and screenplay written by John Banville, is opening the Los Angeles Film Festival.

The Villagers (Rock Group) made an international breakthrough with their nomination for the prestigious Mercury music prize. Colm Toibín's "Brooklyn" won the Costa Novel Award, and Colm McCann won the IMPAC for “Let the Great World Spin” .

Paul Murray's novel, "Skippy Dies", was selected by Time magazine as one of the top three novels of 2010, and was on the holiday reading this year of President Obama, and Prime Minister David Cameron. "Room" by Emma Donoghue was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Award.

And in their top ten list of theatre productions for 2010, the New York Times included Druid's production of Enda Walsh's, "Penelope". With the same production, Enda Walsh and Druid also won a third Fringe First in a row at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The New York Times selected two Irish books in their top five fiction list for 2010 – Emma Donoghue's "Room" and William Trevor's Selected Stories. This year Pat Kinnevan enthralled the Edinburgh Festival with a great fusion of dance and acting talent.

Arts and Culture spans so many disciplines. There is not a sector of the arts that cannot contribute to our re-growth and redefinition as a nation. We have to develop a particular model of government working with the cultural sector that is both successful and distinctively Irish, and that recognises the constraints on the public purse.

That model is a mixed new economy model. It combines public funding with private enterprise, philanthropy, subsidy and the box office together with new media and technology. It is hallmarked by partnerships between the creative sectors and sponsors in the private and philanthropic sectors. Critically, the Arts Council operates as an arm's-length body so the State is placed in the position of doing what it can do well – creating the right policy conditions and funding - and not what it has no business doing - control of the arts.

The simplicity of this model is that public subsidy permits risk-taking in creativity. A new breed of entrepreneurial leaders in the arts world has shown that art of the highest quality is compatible with sound financial discipline. As a result of my initiative in this space, new Philanthropy initiatives will be rolled out for the arts very shortly.

Indeed, the public subsidy produces a return, and not just in creativity, but in economic activity and social impact. Taking into account economic multipliers, the Value Added dependent on the arts, culture and creative sectors in 2008 was €11.8 billion or 7.6% of total GNP, according to DKM. Cultural tourism is a key element of Ireland’s tourism industry. The list of top visitor attractions is dominated by natural and built heritage, and in addition, festivals, musical and other events attract major numbers of attendees.

Some 43% of our 3.53 million overseas visitors engaged in cultural/historical visits while in Ireland in 2008. These visitors spent €2.3 billion which is 56% of the total overseas visitor spend in Ireland. Tourists who engage in cultural pursuits while in Ireland are higher than average spenders. A total of €3.03 billion, or 2% of GNP, is at least partly dependent on overseas cultural tourism. Domestic cultural tourism would add significantly to this. A total of 73,000 jobs are dependent on cultural tourism in 2008 - 3.4% of the total workforce. There is a very significant showcase impact from Irish culture, which raises the profile of the country and has a substantial economic benefit, most directly on tourism.

There is a strong regional aspect to the arts, culture and creative sectors; a cultural activity is strongly rooted in locality. Remoteness from larger metropolitan areas is less of a disadvantage than in some other sectors, and in some cases is an enhancing factor. This is most obvious in the area of events and festivals and in the related cultural tourism. Examination of the most popular visitor attractions and events in Ireland in recent years points to a range of locations around the country, including many along the western seaboard. For instance, the third most popular visitor attraction in Ireland is the Cliffs of Moher.

Total Exchequer expenditure on the arts, culture and creative sectors in 2011 is €135m. The 2008 equivalent was €220m. Against this, direct Exchequer revenue from the arts, culture and creative sectors in 2008 was approximately €1 billion. The growth rate of the creative sector in Ireland has been well above the European average, indicating the importance of creative Industries for overall Irish economic performance. The new enterprise model for the Irish economy recognizes the vital importance of the arts, culture and creative sectors, and places strong emphasis on creativity, the accumulation of knowledge, and the development of ideas and designs as well as the application of technology.

The combined arts, culture and creative sectors is globally one of the fastest growing, representing 7% of global GDP and growing at 10% per annum. Likewise, cultural tourism is expected to experience growth of 15% per annum. Thus the culture-related sectors will be one of the key growth areas, which Ireland must tap into for economic and employment opportunities over the next decade, if it is to recover from the current severe recession.

Furthermore, on a global scale the culture-related sectors are expected to be a significantly greater part of the international economy in the future, and Ireland must make its presence felt in these sectors if the overall economy is to be a competitive leader in the future. I have no doubt that those in this sector have the capacity and creativity to make that impact.

My first year in office has not passed without my tackling long running and contentious issues. I’m referring, of course, to the peat issue. It is clear from Mr. Justice Quirke’s Report that communication between the State and affected turf-cutters has not been what it might have been over the past twenty years and trust needs to be re-established. The Peatland Forum, chaired by Mr Justice Quirke, allowed for a frank exchange of views and an examination of the potential solutions for each of the 53 raised bog SACs. I hope that we are now moving to put in place the conditions for the State and turf-cutters to turn over a new page and work together to address this difficult issue.

The IFA, the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association, Bord na Móna, individual representatives of turf-cutting groups and environmental groups have done enormous work over the past months and years in trying to find a resolution to this issue within the legal constraints that we face, and they are to be commended.

In his report Mr Justice Quirke recommended the preparation of National Raised Bog SAC Strategy which could provide some limited flexibility for a few of the most difficult bogs and in full compliance with the EU Habitats Directive.

The bar is set very high in seeking flexibility. Any case made must show that it stands up in terms of being for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, there being no alternatives, and any such proposals must obtain the consent of the European Commission. It is also clear that there will be a requirement for compensatory habitat to meet the requirements of the Directive. Preparation of the plan would require the closest ongoing consultation with the European Commission.

The State has no option but to ensure that the sites are protected and I would appeal again to turf-cutters to refrain from turf-cutting on these 53 SACs while the plan is being produced. I am now in a position to begin to roll out solutions, over the coming months, to many of the communities who came to the Forum.”

I also announced that the Government has agreed to an enhanced package of measures to assist those who are affected by the requirement to cease cutting turf on 53 raised bog Special Areas of Compensation.

The enhanced compensation includes the following:

• Qualifying turf-cutters who opt for the annuity scheme will now be offered €1,500 per annum, index linked, for a period of fifteen years. This is an increase of €500 per annum to the previous terms of the scheme.
• All qualifying turf-cutters participating in the scheme will also receive a once-off payment of €500 in the first year of the scheme.
• Turf-cutters who opt to relocate to an undesignated bog will also receive a one off payment of €500 and will be entitled to receive either a payment of €1500 (increased from €1000) or a delivery of 15 tonnes of turf (increased from 10 tonnes) for each year until their relocation bog is ready to commence turf-cutting. The scheme will also allow for flexibility in terms of the provision of more than 15 tonnes of turf for those wishing to relocate where more than one household in the same family has sourced its turf from a single bog plot.

The decision increases the value of the annuity scheme by €8000 per applicant to a total of €23,000. These payments will be exempt from capital gains tax in accordance with a provision in the Finance Bill, 2012.

The Government decided, following discussions I and my officials have had with affected turf-cutting groups and land-owner representative groups such as the IFA and the TCCA, that the enhanced compensation package is justifiable. While these are extremely difficult times for the tax-payer and we must think very carefully about how public funds are used, the individuals affected by the cessation of turf-cutting are being asked to sacrifice their traditional source of fuel for the good of the wider community and for Ireland to meet its EU legal commitments.

The increases in payments will be automatically applied to existing applicants to the annuity scheme or for those who have agreed to relocate but are in receipt of payments under the interim arrangements. Back payments will also be applied automatically. Any person who has entered into a contract with the Department to relocate under the scheme will be given an opportunity to review that decision in light of the adjustments to the annuity scheme.

The innate value of Ireland’s unique natural habitat and the necessity to protect it from harm must be recognised. There is no more unique habitat in Europe than our remaining examples of functioning raised bog. We are legally bound to protect the relatively small amount of raised bog habitat remaining in Ireland that we have nominated as Special Areas of Conservation.

In effect, what we are asking is that the communities affected by the designations sacrifice, or change, part of their cultural heritage, so that we maintain a representative sample of this very valuable part of our natural heritage for future generations. Not to do so would be unforgiveable.

This then places an obligation on the State to compensate fairly, or otherwise look after the needs, of those whose traditional rights are being curtailed. This Government is committed to that principle.

Finally, to conclude, we had very specific commitments in the Programme for Government, and I’m glad to say that I have delivered on most of them after a little over a year in office.

Notes
Touring of Arts in Ireland: A further €740k has been allocated by the Arts Council to enable 33 arts organisations & artists tour in venues nationwide in 2012. This is in addition to €750k which had previously been committed. A further €125,000 has been allocated to four artists and organisations to assist with their advance touring plans for 2013.

Building private support of the Arts in Ireland (D/AHGA): Arising from a report produced by an informal consultative /representative group of Arts and philanthropic interests, my Department, at my request, is examining a pilot-scheme which would form an incentive to leverage funding from the private sector along the lines of a successful pre-pilot approach taken in respect of a specific arts organisation/venue at the end of last year. The Arts Council is also engaged in developing a capacity building programme for philanthropy in arts organisations. Last month, after year long negotiations, I secured the AIB corporate art collection for the State.

Culture Night 2011: This event took place on the 23rd of September 2011 in a record 30 towns and cities throughout the island of Ireland, showcasing the best of our artistic and cultural heritage and facilities. It is estimated that upwards of 200,000 visitors participated in the event in 2011, with over 150 cultural venues in Dublin alone welcoming visitors until late in the evening. Arising from discussions, most notably at Global Irish Economic Forum, as to the most appropriate way to build on the success and popularity of Culture Night for 2012 and beyond, I designated St Patrick's Day as the International Day of Irish Culture, thereby building on solid foundations already in place.

Local Authority Arts Officers: Arts Officers are in place in all local authority areas. I met each Arts Officer and a template for local arts plans has been developed and published.

NAMA properties which may be suitable as local facilities for art and culture: Engagement is ongoing with NAMA in relation to assets of interest from a cultural perspective. The re-opening of the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield is a case in point. My Department has recently met with and written to representatives of NAMA in terms of the responsibilities of owners and occupiers of protected structures under Part IV (Architectural Heritage) of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2010. My Department will continue to liaise with NAMA in this regard and on issues of advice/appropriate reuse, where applicable.

An Gaeilge agus an Ghaeltacht
20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language: Progress has been made in implementing the 20-Year Strategy, including approval by Government of the priority drafting of the Gaeltacht Bill. The Government also re-established the Cabinet Committee on the Irish Language and the Gaeltacht to bring a greater strategic focus to Irish language policy development and implementation.

Official Languages Act: A public consultation was completed in January 2012 with over 1,400 survey responses and 240 submissions received.

Peatlands and Turf cutting: As mentioned earlier the Government established a Peatlands Council and a compensation scheme for Turf Cutters. There is ongoing dialogue with stakeholders to ensure cessation of turf-cutting on designated Special Areas of Conservation Raised Bogs.

 

Speech by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD
Just over a year ago, the Irish people turned to Fine Gael and the Labour Party at a time of national crisis.

We told the people then that it was time to get Ireland working again and that our plan was designed to make that happen.

The Irish people gave us their support and their trust in historic numbers.

I thank you for your trust.

Thank you for your belief, and for your patience, and for your sacrifice.

You gave us a mandate and a responsibility to clear away the air of fear and uncertainty.

To get our country moving in the right direction again.

Therefore, as we gather at this Ard Fheis, our purpose cannot be one of celebration.

We will not celebrate until Ireland has reason to celebrate. Tonight, unemployment remains too high. Too many families are struggling to make ends meet. Too many worry about losing their homes. Too many of our children are still moving away.

Our purpose now must be to redouble our efforts, to work even harder to deliver our plan.

To get Ireland Working.

To retrieve our economic independence and take back our country.

These tough times require straight talk.

So we will continue to be straight and honest with the people.

To tell them what we have done to meet our pledges, and how much work remains to be done.

To explain to people the scale of the challenge that remains.

This government has made a solid start, but we have a long way to go. Fine Gael and Labour are providing Ireland with a strong and stable government.

Our first priority was to stabilise the economy. That meant a tough Budget in which we had to make very difficult choices.I know that for many people, the measures we have had to take have been painful.But we are doing the best we can to protect the most vulnerable by reversing the cut in the minimum wage; by protecting basic welfare payments; and by exempting 330,000 low paid and part-time workers from the Universal Social Charge.

The public finances are coming under control, and the budget deficit will be down to 3% of GDP by 2015. We have downsized and recapitalized the banking system. Investor confidence is starting to return. Deposits are flowing back into our banks and several multi-national companies have announced investments to create further jobs, and others intend to follow.

Exports are performing strongly due to our improved competitiveness. Ireland’s international standing is being restored.

Over the past year, the Tanaiste and I, along with the other members of the Government, have worked hard to convince international political and business leaders that Ireland now has a serious government with a serious plan.

A government that can be trusted.

Crucial to that mission has been proving our determination to tackle the economic problems we inherited.

Our commitments under the EU/IMF agreement are being delivered in full and on time. The interest rates on these loans have been reduced, saving us €10 billion. The interest rates on Irish government bonds have fallen steadily. We have made a start on jobs.

Our first Budget saw no increase in income tax. Because taxing work damages jobs.

Our first jobs initiative helped create 6,000 jobs in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Already, 20,000 men and women have taken up training places on schemes including JobBridge and Springboard. We have made it much easier for foreign investors to visit and create jobs in Ireland.

Yes – this is a start.

But there is so much further to go, with so much more effort and imagination required.

We have also made a start on reforming the political system itself.

We cut ministerial pay and transport costs. The entitlements of former Taoisigh have been withdrawn. Work is continuing on legislation to reduce the size of the Dáil, and to prepare for a referendum for the abolition of the Seanad. I believe that more women should become involved in Irish politics.

To encourage more women into politics we are linking State funding of political parties to the level of female participation in elections. Parties, including our own, will be penalised if they do not fulfil these conditions.

We are continuing to reform the wider public sector. We are reducing the size and cost of the public service, and radically cutting the number of state agencies.

We need to reform the way we deliver our essential public services like health, education and justice. We must provide people with the quality services they deserve at a lower cost. To achieve this, we need the continued support and co-operation of those who work in our public service and the unions that represent them.

The shameful and corrupt practices revealed in the Moriarty and Mahon Tribunal Reports must never be allowed to happen again. That’s why this Government is taking firm action to break the link between business and political funding. That interaction should be based solely on achieving economic recovery through creating jobs.

Our new laws on political funding will ban corporate donations over €200 to a political party unless they are registered and declared.

We will create a register of lobbyists and enact new laws to give protection to those who discover and report unethical behaviour. These long overdue reforms, along with other measures being considered by Government, will help to put integrity, transparency and honesty back at the heart of public life.

While the steps we have taken in the first year have brought stability, we recognise that some of the pledges we made have not been delivered.

We had intended to legislate to end upward only rent reviews, but this has proven to be impossible because of constitutional difficulties.

We kept our promise to increase mortgage interest relief for people who bought their homes at the height of the property boom, but mortgage arrears remain a serious problem for far too many families.

We have made some progress in reducing the penal burden on the Irish people of the previous Government’s bailout of the banks.

Through a combination of burden sharing on junior bondholders, private investment and avoiding asset fire sales, we have more than halved the cost to tax payers envisaged in the original plan.

But despite these improvements, this burden remains too heavy.

Let me be clear. I will not throw away the progress we have made in the last year by reneging on our international commitments.

Ireland will NOT default.
But we are determined to ease this burden on our people.

That’s why we are negotiating with our Troika partners to find a cheaper way of financing the cost of bank recapitalisation.

That’s why the €3.1 billion promissory note payment due to be paid to Anglo Irish Bank on Monday is not being paid.But is being replaced by a long-term government bond and the wider negotiations will continue.

The year ahead is a crucial one for rebuilding and recovery.

An essential first step – and the Government’s immediate priority – will come at the end of May when the Irish people vote on the European Stability Treaty.

Throughout my recent visits to the United States, and to China this week, the consistent message from both political and business leaders is that they see Ireland’s place as a fully committed member of the Eurozone as a crucial element of Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for investment.

I cannot over-state it.

In this referendum, we have a brilliant opportunity to say to the world that Ireland believes in the future of the Euro, that Ireland is central to the future of the Eurozone, that Ireland is four-square with Europe, as together we build a system that will bring responsible budgeting to Euro governments and Euro nations across the entire Eurozone.

This commitment is an investment in our children’s future, and in our country’s future.

Never again will a government be able to behave recklessly and arrogantly with the people’s money.

In recent months alone numerous multi-national companies have shown their confidence in Ireland by committing to new investments here.

I want to continue and grow this strong flow of inward investment in the future...for our future.

I want Ireland to have the same access as other countries to the insurance policy of the ESM – a critical reassurance for investors.

We can do this, we can achieve this....by voting YES.
Yes to Europe.
Yes to Jobs.
Yes to Ireland.
YES on May 31st.

As you know, my message while abroad recently has been strong and clear – Ireland is open for business.

Now is the time to invest in our recovery.

I recently signed economic co-operation agreements with China and the United Kingdom, both of which offer significant potential for the future.

We must translate that rising international confidence into more jobs all across this country.

We are a nation of doers and entrepreneurs. But there are still too many obstacles to job creation – too much red tape, too many high costs and too many archaic regulations.

The measures taken in the Jobs' Initiative last May have helped. But this is not nearly enough.
I always said that this was only a first step towards my commitment to make jobs the top priority of this Government.

Jobs are about more than work. Jobs are about dignity, incentive, pride.

More jobs mean better lives, stronger communities, more resources for public services, and less debt.That‘s why last month, this Government published our Action Plan for Jobs.

We aim to create 100,000 extra jobs by 2016. The plan contains 270 separate actions to remove the barriers to job creation. Actions to cut the cost of red-tape by a quarter. Actions to cut the different employments-rights bodies from five to two.

Banks must become part of the solution to the jobs crisis by meeting their agreed lending targets.

The Partial-Loan Guarantee Scheme will give existing companies more and better access to bank credit. We will stimulate investment in infrastructure by using some of the proceeds from the disposal of State assets to pay for extra investment in areas like water and energy that can boost jobs and growth.

We will make it easier to expand into overseas markets, for example with tax reliefs for companies sending sales-people to the rapidly-expanding economies of China, Brazil and India.

We will also support traditional sectors of the economy, such as the plan to double food exports by 2020.

Action will be taken to ignite new sectors of the economy – such as cloud computing, digital gaming and data content storage.

I believe that in the next five years, Ireland can become a global hub for cloud computing.
The key to the success of this jobs plan is in the title – ACTION.

All Government Ministers and State Agencies are committed to the delivery of this plan. My Department of the Taoiseach will drive its implementation throughout the public service.

In fact, the idea of ‘drive’ is behind every aspect of what this government is undertaking.
And this drive makes sure that economic recovery does not by-pass those who have lost their jobs, their wealth and even their self-confidence in this recession.

People on the live register must be put at the top of the queue to fill newjobs as they arise.

Ireland hasn’t been good enough to, or strong enough for its jobseekers. The supports have been too passive and too scattered. The vast majority of people who are out of work want a hand up, not a hand out. These men and women know the dignity of work, and feel its absence in their lives. Our Pathways to Work Plan will help those people.

From now on, the day a person loses their job is the day the State starts helping them to find another job, or to train for another job.

In place of FAS there will be a one-stop-shop for job-seekers where welfare claims will be processed thoroughly and quickly.

This new person-centred system will identify and help those most at risk of being unemployed long-term. With all the difficult consequences of that. Because of our duty to help people find work and to use their talents for their own good and for the good of the country, we will give employers additional incentives to hire people who are currently out of work.

That means extending the employer PRSI exemption scheme from 12 to 18 months.

This Government wants work to pay. It has to be seen to be a more attractive option than staying on the dole.

That is why in the last Budget we delivered on our commitment not to increase taxes on income and work.

Now we will ensure that the social protection system incentivises, rather than discourages, people from returning to work.

Reforms to the jobseekers’ schemes are being introduced to ensure that people in part-time employment are encouraged to take up full-time employment whenever possible.

We also need to show the debt-distressed in our communities that there is light at the end of tunnel.
For too many people, the only escape from unsustainable debts is long-term bankruptcy, economic inactivity or emigration.

I know this.

I’m frustrated that we haven’t been able to move as fast as we wanted to, to tackle the mortgage crisis.

So, I’ve appointed a temporary Cabinet Committee, which I chair, to drive action in four vital areas:

Firstly, we will work with the Financial Regulator to encourage banks to offer “negative equity mortgages”, whereby families can, depending on their circumstances, trade up or down.

Secondly, we will finalise and enact a Personal Insolvency Bill designed to rebalance the rights of the borrower and lender, in a fairer way.

Thirdly, we will expand the use of “mortgage to rent” for families who can no longer afford their mortgages, to allow them to sell their houses and rent them back at affordable rents.

Fourthly, to free up the housing market, we are giving additional mortgage interest relief to first time buyers who buy their homes before the end of 2012.

These steps are to protect our families and to keep our children in the most powerful and precious place they will ever have in their lives: HOME.

This is a great country with unlimited potential. We are now regarded the world over as being a country on the way back. We have the best young generation on the planet. Our challenge is to harness all these qualities together and nothing will stop us.

We’ve overcome hardship and adversity in the past. We’ve overcome poverty and deprivation in the past. We’ve beaten all these difficulties.

I don’t have all the answers but I do know this: a government that works hard, that brings honesty, clarity and decisiveness in its service of the people will not fail.

It is my privilege to lead such a Government and I am proud to do so.

And I look forward to achieving my ambition that by 2016 we will prove to be the best small country in the world to do business, the best country in which to raise a family, and the best country in which to grow old with dignity and respect.
My Government will work with you to fulfil these ambitions in the interest of our future, our country and our children.

 

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