A Cháirde,
Welcome to the opening session of the 82nd Árd Fheis of Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party.
I want to start, as I do at every Árd Fheis, by saying thank you to you all our members for again electing me to serve as Úachtaráin Fhianna Fáil.
It is a very great honour to hold this position and I never take it lightly.
In less than two months the Local and European Elections will be held. The priority for us all, is to get out and support the great team of candidates who are putting themselves forward.
Tonight, and tomorrow there will be a wide range of sessions covering many topics. Just as is the case at every Árd Fheis, I have no doubt that these discussions will be constructive and focused on the thing that matters most – how our party can best serve the interests of this democratic republic.
When we decided by overwhelming numbers to join this coalition government, we understood that sharing government means you have to compromise.
You have to be willing to respect the mandate of others and accept that you can’t get everything you want. We will never try to claim that everything good is down to us alone.
We respect our partners in government, their mandates, and that we continue to be three separate parties each of whom is committed to serving the national interest.
But have no doubt, we are proud of our impact in government. We are proud of the record of investment and reform which we are delivering.
In these and in many other areas, Fianna Fáil in government is delivering for people.
But however much we can point to these achievements, the most important thing for us is to set out a future direction.
To show a programme of practical action which secures prosperity and progress in our country.
That’s what the focus of this Árd Fheis will be.
We are a progressive republican party. We remain committed to the vision our founders set out for an Ireland which develops both economically and socially.
An Ireland where we reward enterprise, and we also support weaker members of our society.
And when you look at the reality of politics today, there couldn’t be a bigger difference between our positive programme of sustained and practical action – and the negative politics of opposition parties.
In the case of Sinn Fein, we have the most cynical and destructive opposition in our history.
Time and again they put politics first in everything.
We’ve seen recently how scared Sinn Fein is of ever having to make a tough decision – constantly moving back and forth on issues, always looking for a way to exploit problems rather than help solve them.
And even though they spend 90% of their time attacking government parties in aggressive and often personal terms, if you dare to answer back, they start claiming that you are obsessed.
However, let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that Sinn Fein doesn’t actually have a serious programme.
Their destructive approach to politics actually covers up the reality of what they want to do in government.
Remember, Sinn Fein claims that Ireland has achieved nothing in a hundred years, and it has TDs who won’t even use the name of the state they want to govern.
Look at the record. Every single pillar upon which we have built progress in modern Ireland has been condemned by Sinn Fein.
They opposed us joining the European Union and have campaigned against every treaty and every development since then.
When they tell us that they want to completely change our relationship with Europe we should believe them.
They oppose our pro-enterprise policies including low corporation tax and bringing in multinational investment.
They aggressively campaigned against every trade agreement we’ve ever signed. So, let’s take them at their word that they will take a radically different approach.
And they say they are proud of their record in the Northern Executive and want to bring this experience to Dublin.
So, let’s look at what that means: complete inaction on housing, rising hospital waiting lists and high levels of early school leaving.
In the three elections which will be held over the next year they are hoping to bulldoze their way to power.
They hope they can avoid scrutiny, avoid the hard questions everyone else has to answer – but we’ll make sure that they have to answer for the reality of their policies and the terrible impact they would have on Ireland.
For a start, during the campaign for the European Parliament, they won’t escape their record of anti-EU behaviour and their failure to achieve anything positive for the Irish people.
In contrast, our MEP’s, Billy Kelleher and Barry Andrews have built a reputation of being amongst the most effective in the Parliament. They do the hard work of promoting Ireland’s interests, negotiating with others, and getting things done for the people they represent.
We have hundreds of thousands of workers who depend on Ireland’s access to Europe and our ability to influence legislation.
As a country, we can’t afford to keep wasting opportunities in Brussels on politicians who spend five years attacking Europe, defending terrible regimes, and refusing to do essential work for Ireland.
In all three constituencies we are putting forward candidates who are ready to hit the ground running on behalf of their regions.
They have proven expertise in critical areas like law, local development, helping industry and the full range of economic and social policies.
We’ll do everything we can to win seats and make a real difference for the Irish people in the European Parliament.
And our message as we campaign in the local elections will also be a positive one – based on delivering credible plans to benefit local communities.
Darragh O’Brien has been working hard to develop a range of supports to help councils respond to local needs. Every city and town should be clean, safe and offer good local services.
We will revamp and refocus the Town Centres First Fund together with other schemes for renewal, and this will push Councils to be more systematic in making sure that town centres are maintained and are decent places to live in , to work in, and to socialise in .
Crime and anti-social behaviour can be a particular problem on public transport, and we believe a targeted approach is needed.
We will recruit more Gardai and we are also committed to bring forward proposals for a dedicated transport police for public transport services.
Our candidates represent a great mix of experienced representatives and new faces. They will be campaigning in every community and with a message of responding to the needs of those communities.
And in Limerick, Dee Ryan is contesting the first directly elected mayoral election.
It’s a new type of a contest and it’s important to be honest with people about what the mayor can achieve. It can’t be about promoting an individual or building up a new layer of bureaucracy.
Instead, it’s about providing leadership – about doing the vital work of building connections and planning for the future.
Dee Ryan is Limerick through and through. She has worked tirelessly over many years helping employers in Limerick.
Dee’s campaign is about helping all of Limerick to develop – to attract investment to create jobs and develop vital community infrastructure.
Dee’s message is one we can all get behind.
In Limerick, and in every part of the country, education will be one of our priority areas.
Every major expansion of access to education in Ireland was begun by Fianna Fáil – and this commitment remains a core value for us.
Creating more teaching posts, reducing class sizes, and expanding subject choice has been a major part of our work during this government.
Today there are over 8,000 more teachers in Irish schools than there were when we entered government. That’s an achievement we have every right to be proud of.
But our focus is on going further – implementing reforms to modernise school curricula so that they help young people prepare for the world of today and the future.
We will always be the party which supports Irish education.
A key priority for us is to secure the future of farming and the agrifood sector as a whole.
As well as being our most important national industry, they represent the social and economic heart of rural and provincial Ireland.
They also ensure food security for Ireland and Europe. In key sectors they produce a remarkable proportion of world supplies of vital food products.
The uncertainty about the future which many feel is something we are determined to tackle.
We’ve already implemented a range of new measures to secure fairer prices for food producers – and we are responding to urgent needs because of the impact of extreme heat and rainfall.
But we want to create a new era of security for farmers and the agrifood sector.
And critically, we are determined to show that we can meet our environmental obligations in a way which still protects this vital sector.
In example of this, Charlie McConalogue and Daragh O’Brien have worked together to develop a ‘Farming For Water’ scheme that will support 15,000 farmers at improving water quality, and reducing pollution while maintaining their output.
This €60m investment will directly help farmers with planning for change, lifting most of the administrative burden and funding on-farm improvements.
The scheme is a real partnership between different state agencies and farmers themselves.
In one region farmers have even come forward to fund extra advisers so that the change can happen faster.
Once this scheme is fully up and running, we should move to extend it nationally and begin a new era of cooperation and support with farmers and the wider rural community.
An agrifood sector that is low-carbon, low-pollution which also securing high incomes and a secure food supply – that’s Fianna Fáil’s vision and one we are determined to deliver.
Fianna Fáil believes that a growing and diverse population is one of the greatest developments in modern Ireland.
We will always oppose those who try to demonise others and who would abandon our historic commitment to humanitarian values.
But we also fully understand that the global migration crisis is causing huge pressures, particularly in the European Union.
Our policy has to be firm and fair. In asylum cases we have to respect humanitarian need, but also join with others in speeding up decisions.
That’s why this week’s vote in the European Parliament on the Asylum and Migration Pact is so important. A pan-European approach is the only way of reducing pressures, speeding up decisions and enforcing migration law.
The Pact is part of helping us to move faster and resolutely to reduce migration pressures here. It’s not perfect but it’s a big achievement and vital for the future.
And we saw the worst of politics in some of the voting. Some Irish MEPs voted against it because they said it was too tough and suggested that there is not really an issue.
Sinn Fein, always the most cynical party, actually claimed to be for and against the Pact at the same time – with their usual dose of abstentionism thrown in on top.
It is essential that asylum processes are much faster, and it is also essential that we are much more active in ensuring that communities get upfront resources in schools, health facilities and community services.
A Cháirde, in government we are building a strong record of delivery. When we negotiated about portfolios we sought the toughest challenges.
We knew that we were taking up huge challenges which go to the heart of social and economic life in our country – but that is what our party was founded to do.
Public life today is divided between those who want to exploit problems and those who want to solve them. Between those who put politics first and those who put people first.
Between those who pretend that every problem has an easy answer and those who understand the need for sustained action.
Now and always, Fianna Fáil is at its best when it takes on the hardest work.
When it puts serving the people ahead of politics.
When it is willing to take hard decisions today in order to deliver sustained progress for Ireland.
When people point to real needs in our society, - to genuine situations of people who need help – we agree.
There is much more to be done.
In four years, we have delivered more homes than in the previous nine years combined. But we must and we are going further.
We’ve developed new health services and hired the staff required to treat hundreds of thousands of extra cases every year. But we must and we are going further.
We’ve cut class sizes and expanded educational opportunity, especially for children with special needs. But we must and are going further.
In these and in every area, we are proud of our achievements, but we understand that we must do much further.
And Fianna Fáil’s is a commitment to the hard work and positive agenda which can deliver for the Irish people. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.