Speech of An Tánaiste Micheál Martin at Cairde Fáil

 

 

Good evening,

 

I would like to first take a moment for us to remember our late colleague, Mary O’Rourke.

 

Over the last few days, we’ve heard from people in all walks of life about how much they admired her achievements, her candour, her sense of humour, and her commitment to making Ireland a better place.

 

On Monday next many of us here will pay our last respects to her in the place which she was so proud to have raised her family, represented the people and taught generations of students. That will be the place to go into her contribution in much greater depth.

 

For tonight I would just like to remember the spirit of innovation and positivity which she brought to the role of Minister for Education. During a time of many deep challenges, she constructed a record of lasting reform, particularly in our schools. She was central to constructing the foundations for a more inclusive, diverse and successful education system.

 

And for that, along with so many other things, she deserves our thanks and respect. Ar dheis De go raibh si.

 

As Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister Defence it is important to discuss the very grave situation across the Middle East and in Lebanon in particular. Our concern is for all who are affected by the conflict, but at this moment we are particularly concerned for the welfare of our troops on the ground.

 

Hezbollah and Israel need to pull back from the precipice. The cycle of provocation, escalation and destruction is helping no one while delivering misery and death to more communities.

 

I have maintained constant contact with our military leaders and have held discussions with the United Nations and others. I have stressed the absolute need to protect our troops. I want to pay tribute to the bravery, professionalism and resilience of our soldiers.

 

Peacekeeping is the most noble act that any person can perform, and our troops are honouring the best traditions of peacekeeping. In that context there is an obligation on Israel and Hezbollah to respect the role of UN peacekeepers, their mandate and do nothing that would put peacekeepers and our troops in particular in harm’s way.

 

I am particularly conscious of the understandable concern and anxieties of loved ones at home and want to thank them for their forbearance in what is a worrying time.

  

I want to welcome everyone here tonight. It is a chance to catch up with old friends and retell heroic and often true stories of the past.

 

This year we have something extra to recall, that is how we defied four years of polls and commentary predicting that Fianna Fáil was training in a distant third place.

 

In June, our candidates brought a positive message to every community in the country. Together with our members and supporters they talked about our work and our plans for the future. And at the end of the campaign Fianna Fáil once again emerged as the largest party in Irish local government.

 

From the moment that Seán Lemass put Ireland on the path to membership of the now European Union, support for a strong, effective Europe has been central to the DNA of our party. In June we decided to campaign on our record and on an unequivocally positive, Pro-EU agenda.

 

And we doubled our seats in the European Parliament.

 

This stronger voice for Fianna Fáil in Europe has already led to a stronger voice for Ireland.

 

Billy Kelleher has been elected as first Vice-President of our RENEW group, carrying with it, the ability to directly influence key decisions. And Barry Andrews has been elected as Chairperson of a full committee of the Parliament, the only Irish MEP to hold such a prestigious role.

 

Together with Barry Cowen and Cynthia Ni Mhurchu, we have the strongest, and most effective group of MEPs for many years.

 

I want to thank everyone here for the great work that they did for June’s election. It was a real team effort from everyone, and it showed once again how much we can achieve when we work together and actively promote the vision of Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party.

 

An enormous amount of speculation has been around in recent weeks about the timing of the next general election.

 

That timing was agreed four and half years ago when the three parties agreed to join together in a coalition government. It was reaffirmed by each party leader when the leadership of the other parties changed.

 

The entire strategy of this government has been based on putting aside politics and focusing on our agreed agenda.

 

That is why we have succeeded in the face of the most negative and cynical opposition in our history. An opposition focused on trying to create a permanent campaign – looking for short-term wins and encouraging a focus on politics rather than substance.

 

Even during the pandemic, they couldn’t help themselves, always exaggerating difficulties, looking for ways to attack and for claiming quick wins.

 

Of course, as we have seen this week, they run away from the media as soon as the questions get difficult.

 

I don’t believe that any other party on this island would behave in the same way that Sinn Fein has in the face of profoundly serious questions about a former employee charged with terrible crimes.

 

A man who was given a reference and then allowed to work with children even at events with the most senior Sinn Fein leaders. A man whose security clearance for Stormont was only revoked in the past few days – two years after he was charged.

 

In the Dáil the leader of Sinn Fein was active shouting “Bring it on” and calling for an election next month – but then she disappeared from the airwaves in order to avoid basic questions about her party’s behaviour.

 

Our agenda will not be set by an opposition desperate to avoid real questions, serious debate and doing the hard work of finishing the mandate of this Dáil.

 

I believe today more than ever that the best way to defeat the politics of cynicism and media management is to remain focused on delivering for the people. And that is what we will do.

 

In accordance with our agreements, we will finish our important work, complete our term and then seek support for our individual programmes.

 

And when we go before the people, we will have an important story to tell. We will be able to show how we helped our country get through some historic challenges, and how we took on some of the biggest issues facing our country, delivering new momentum for change.

 

 

One of the fascinating things about the Budget debate is that the last thing the opposition wanted to talk about was the economy. To them Ireland’s success can be taken for granted, even though they also argue that nothing is right in our country.

 

When the record of this government is written the first thing that historians will note is how we had to work, day and night to help our country through four international economic shocks in a row. It has been one of the most intense and challenges periods we have ever had.

 

Firstly, we have had to manage the impact of the departure of our largest trading partner from the Single Market which we belong to. This required major intervention to aid sectors in transition, investment in new routes to market and near-constant negotiations on future relations.

 

The long-term impact of Brexit remains, but by any measure we have succeeded in limiting its damage here as much as possible.

 

The second major social and economic shock was of course the largest public health crisis in a century.

 

On the day I entered the office of Taoiseach unemployment was spiralling due to the lockdowns and there was sincere fear about the scale of lives and livelihoods which could be lost.

For the first time in our history, the formation of a government took place away from the chamber of Dáil Éireann and it was a moment of gravity and focus.

 

The pandemic had a terrible impact, and elements of this will live on for many years. Yet, we were determined to get our country through the crisis.

 

We implemented a dramatic series of pandemic supports for businesses and workers. We knew that we had to protect as much as we could and then act to protect services, introduce new supports and restart the economy as aggressively as possible but only when it was safe to do so.

 

We delivered one of the world’s most successful vaccination programmes and then we achieved Europe’s fastest economic recovery. A record of saving lives and livelihoods through concerted action will always stand to this government.

 

But soon there was another major shock with an international supply chain and inflation crisis which showed how vulnerable the modern economy is to disruption.

 

Even before Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, trade disruption had begun what was the worst period of high inflation for half a century.

 

High inflation is one of the most economically destructive forces which can be unleashed. It hits living standards. In promotes fear. And it can become entrenched unless you take steady action.

 

We were not immune, but the facts show that Ireland succeeded in avoiding the worst levels of inflation seen elsewhere and thankfully today we are well below average.

 

However, the cost-of-living crisis caused by inflation is and remains a very real thing. In other countries it has been the start of a political radicalisation which is doing immense damage and threatening much worse.

 

That is why generous and ongoing aid for businesses and families is so important. Given the scale of the economy, the aid announced by Jack Chambers this week is proportionate to both the needs of those who are being helped.

 

As we work to manage the societal and the economic impact of a sustained cost of living crisis, we need to deliver greater support than would been needed, if the inflation of past years had not existed.

 

Protecting pensioners, families and small businesses particularly with the impact of higher energy prices is essential and we fully stand over it as the right thing to do for our country.

 

And we have to accelerate actions on a range of structural reforms to permanently address high costs for business and families.

 

The fourth major economic shock of our term in government is linked to high inflation, but I think it has to be treated separately because it raises many fundamental questions about the future.

 

This is of course Russia’s imperialist aggression against Ukraine. This has been ongoing for over a decade but is now two and a half years into a full-scale war attempting to extinguish an independent European state.

 

This has starkly exposed how reliance on fossil fuels from an autocratic regime represents a permanent economic, political and environmental threat to us and the wider democratic world.

 

The people of Ireland have been magnificent in standing with the cause of freedom and democracy in Ukraine. At international meetings at every level I have been resolute in saying that Ireland will never abandon Ukraine.

 

And equally I remain shocked by the fact that some of our politicians and parties continue to equivocate, continue to avoid consistently and strongly calling out the Putin regime.

 

In recent days Sinn Fein’s MEPs refused to support a proposal in the European Parliament which demonstrated clear support for Ukraine.

 

No one should ever forget that Sinn Fein has a long and dishonourable history of siding with dictators.

 

We’ve dealt with a lot of the short-term impacts of high energy prices and there is a new level of determination behind proposals to implement a programme of investment and reform in energy - a programme to secure sustainable, lower prices. We have much further to go, but I believe we can see a clear way forward.

  

During our term in government, we have worked tirelessly to help Ireland though this period of multiple crises. And today there are over half a million more people in work than on the day we went into government. This is a record we have every right to be proud of.

 

For us, to be in government is to have the opportunity to deliver for our country – and that is why we sought out some of the most difficult challenges.

 

Housing is one of the defining issues for this generation and it will be for years ahead. When we took over responsibility for housing, we knew that, of all areas, this was one which would take more than one term to address.

 

We’ve dramatically increased resources but building more homes and helping people to afford to buy and rent them, requires a huge range of actions from training through to major reforms of property and planning laws.

 

Even with the restrictions caused by lockdowns, Darragh O’Brien developed and has been driving forward our Housing for All plan.

 

And we have succeeded in step-changing home building - from 20,000 a year in 2020 to nearly 40,000 new homes this year, but we need to get to 60,000 in the time ahead.

 

We’ve finally got momentum going, and today there are over 115,000 more homes in our country than on the day we took up office.

 

And delivering affordable, accessible and effective health services is another area where we were glad to take on a deep challenge.

 

We not only helped our health system through the pandemic, but we also ensured that we saved lives and delivered one of the world’s most effective vaccine programmes.

 

And we’ve also been delivering a lasting programme of investment and reform in health.

 

Over 1,100 new hospital beds are available for patients, with thousands of extra medical professionals in place and helping to improve patient outcomes and deliver an accelerating decline in waiting times.

 

Reducing the costs of accessing healthcare has been central to our programme, with over ½ million people getting free access to GP care, hospital in patient charges abolished and a wide range of other measures to reduce the cost of healthcare.

 

One of the most significant impacts which Stephen Donnelly is having is the sustained investment in creating and expanding women’s health services. From free access to IVF and HRT, through to new services for endometriosis – a new era in women’s healthcare is underway.

 

And just as it was when Mary O’Rourke served as minister, education remains a fundamental priority for Fianna Fáil.

 

Today, with Norma Foley as our minister, class sizes have been reduced to the lowest ever level, with over 7,000 more teachers in our schools. The biggest programme of school building and refurbishment in our history is underway. And special classes and new special schools have been established.

 

According to international bodies, our programme of investment and reform in education is working.

 

The latest OECD and EU figures show that we have just achieved record levels of school completion, our highest level of literacy and numeracy achievement and the highest ever level of third-level qualifications.

 

And let me say this about the media controversy on smartphone pouches. The deep adverse effects of smartphones on the school environment have been measured throughout the world. It is a core part of what has been called the great public health challenge of our time.

 

The introduction of a schooltime ban is urgent and essential. To make sure that schools can implement the ban completely, and to avoid it becoming a constant disciplinary issue, there are proven ways to help.

 

This once-off measure of €9m is not only reasonable, but also justified given the educational and mental health benefits it can bring.

 

In the Budget we have allocated over €12 billion to education for next year. Nearly all of that is permanent funding, with major increases in school funding included.

 

If you want to see just how cynical Sinn Fein is, they’ve spent the past few days claiming that this initiative is wasteful – while their own Party said absolutely nothing when the Northern Ireland Executive allocated funding for a similar initiative.

 

Once again, Sinn Fein has shown that it is by far Ireland’s most partitionist and hypocritical party.

 

For Fianna Fáil, rural communities have always been both a bedrock of our organisation and central to our work in government. And during the past four years we have promoted the interests of rural Ireland in government and internationally.

 

Charlie McConalogue secured CAP funding which went well beyond anything which was expected.  He’s worked to open new markets for our most important indigenous industry. He’s introduced new aid schemes and, most importantly ramped-up investment in the type of research which will help secure future incomes.

 

And throughout government we are committed to helping rural and provincial towns. That’s why we’ve put in place a range of funding for town renewal, for developing local sports facilities and supporting local schools.

 

We believe that rural communities represent the essential foundation for building a sustainable future for our country. And we are absolutely committed to the principle of directly supporting farmers to help our country transition.

 

As I said earlier, I believe that helping our country through a series of major economic and social shocks stands at the core of our work over the past four and a half years. And a lasting part of this is that we have created different mechanisms to protect our economy and our public services in the years ahead.

 

The major reserve funds which we created are about being able to respond to a downturn, protecting pensions, schools and all public services, but also about putting in place secure funding to make sure we can fully deliver on our ambitious investment plans.

 

And as Jack Chambers outlined last week, our commitment to building a secure future for our economy can be seen in unprecedented provision for renewing the core infrastructure of our country.

 

The funding we’ve put in place means that we can plan, deliver and expand essential programmes:

 

 

And of course, above all we have provided funding for a further step-change in homebuilding. Extra funding for the Land Development Agency. Security for social and affordable housing schemes – and certainty for people who want to buy a home of their own that we will be there to help.

 

These and other developments will be the lasting legacy of the secure funding we have put in place.

 

Over our time in government, we have worked every day to implement and respect the spirit of the agreement which we reached with Fine Gael and the Green Party.

 

When that agreement was ratified by our members in the largest internal vote ever held by an Irish political party, it was a moment of trust, of optimism and of determination to get to work on behalf of the Irish people.

 

Our commitment to service, to putting the people before politics, is as strong today as it was when we took our decision to join this government.

 

At a moment when Ireland and the world were struggling with an historic pandemic, and when we asked for some of the most difficult challenges in government, we knew it would be tough.

 

We’ve step-changed homebuilding, expanded health services while reducing their cost to patients, reduced both class sizes and early-school leaving, invested in rural communities, and we’ve put in place the essential foundation for protecting our economy and tackling our country’s most serious challenges.

 

We have not completed our mandate yet. We have very important work to finish which cannot be rushed.

 

And when that is done, we will present our programme for the future – our plan for moving our country forward.