Speech of
An Tánaiste and Uachtaráin Fhianna Fáil Micheál Martin
Launch of Fianna Fáil
General Election Manifesto ‘Moving Forward. Together’
During the past four and a half years I’ve had the great honour to of serving as Taoiseach and Tánaiste. I and the Fianna Fáil party as a whole worked every day to help overcome some of the biggest challenges in our country’s history.
We worked to lead our country through a terrible pandemic.
To protect the foundations of our economy in a rapidly moving recession.
To address the impact of Brexit.
To steer us through the international turmoil and inflation caused by the return of war to Europe.
Through all this, we worked to strengthen our country.
Let me be very clear, we absolutely do not claim to have got everything right and we deeply understand that there are major issues which still have to be overcome.
But the fact is that there are now half a million more people at work than there were four and a half years ago. There are more than 125,000 more homes. Public finances are strong, public services have expanded and major investments are underway.
And in order to make sure that our services and investments are protected, we have created major new reserve funds.
But we are determined to go much further. To move our country forward by tackling both long term and new problems. To protect our country’s strengths and overcome its biggest challenges.
That is why we are today launching an ambitious and comprehensive plan for our country’s future.
Baineann plean Fhianna Fáil go soiléir le dul chun cinn na hÉireann a chosaint agus beidh céimeanna móra chun tosaigh againn i réimsí fíorthábhachtacha.
Cuirfear infheistíochtaí ar fáil a chabhróidh le gach pobal, le gach gnó agus le gach teaghlach.
Beidh gníomh ar chostais mar chuid lárnach den phlean.
Léiríonn sé conas a thógfaimid níos mó tithe.
Déanfar dul chun cinn soiléir leanúnach i gcúrsaí sláinte.
Tabharfar cosaint dár ngeilleagar ag am thar a bheith dúshlánach i stair an domhain.
Cuirfear tacaíocht láidir ar fáil do phobail ar fud na tíre, beimid ag dul i ngleic le coiriúlacht agus ag forbairt seirbhísí.
Déanfar infheistiú san oideachas le ranganna níos lú agus tacaíocht do na scoileanna.
Is plean cuimsitheach, uaillmhianach, éifeachtach é chun ár dtír a bhogadh chun cinn le chéile.
With over 900 specific proposals which address nearly every area of public activity, it is a manifesto rooted in practical action to both help people today and to secure our future.
Within this we have six areas which we are particularly highlighting;
Our economic plan shows exactly how we will fund these actions while also reducing debt and building critical reserves to protect public services and investment in the event of an international recession.
Cost of Living
The impact of rising prices has been felt by every family and business in our country. While we have succeeded in getting inflation well below the European average, past increases continue to have real impact.
We believe that the next government needs to take a range of actions to help people with the cost of living. This means reforms and investment which can get prices down permanently – and it means directly aiding people through budget changes.
Ireland’s energy prices are amongst the highest in Europe. This is driven by structural problems which we believe must be tackled. In addition to major investments already provided for, we are proposing accelerating investment in lower-cost and more secure renewables as well as modernising the electricity grid. An investment of over €2.5 billion in this will be in addition to current plans.
We will reduce the charges on households and businesses for directly funding renewables and network changes. We will reform the regulation of the sector, setting the reduction of prices towards the European average as a core objective.
And we will fund a reduced 9% VAT on energy bills guaranteed for at a minimum the next five years.
We will not support any policy which proposes to raise taxes on home and business energy costs.
Throughout this government I acted to support sustained action on energy and the environment. Our funding and new programmes for sustainable energy and protecting the environment shows that we are committed to a further acceleration of action on tackling climate change.
In further action to get prices down, we will invest in infrastructure which can reduce the costs of getting goods into shops and to customers.
And in helping people with the cost of living we will use budgets progressively and in a balanced way to help all families.
Our tax reductions and increases in social protection payments, we will ensure that incomes are protected against rising prices.
We will increase the state pension to at least €350 per week.
And we will build on the enormous progress on childcare in recent years – we will invest in expanding places, supporting childcare workers and reducing fees to €200 per month.
Health
We believe that Ireland can have a world-class healthcare system and that is why we sought responsibility for an area which many thought would never progress.
We helped lead our country through the pandemic and in partnership with thousands of professionals throughout the country, we showed how Ireland could deliver one of the most successful vaccine programmes in the world.
And we went much further. Today waiting times are down, services have been expanded and charges have been reduced or removed.
We want to build on this and deliver a sustained programme of investment and reform in the next five years.
We want to provide a significant expansion in patients being treated, with more beds and more health professionals in every part of the country.
We want to expand access to primary care, with an extra 1,500 GPs, while also extending free GP cards to all under-12s.
We want to establish Rapid Access Outpatient Clinics and expand vital diagnostics to treat patients faster.
We want to implement reforms which ensure that the level and quality of care in all parts of the health system are transparent and available to the public.
And building on the remarkable progress in developing new services in recent years, we want to invest further in new specialist care services in particular for cancer care and women’s health.
Housing
I deeply understand the impact on people of not being able to find a home they can afford to buy or rent. It is one of the defining challenges of this time, and it is one where we are determined to further step-change action.
In government we overcame hurdles which prevented action before, and in the face of relentless opposition, we have implemented new supports, established delivery and oversight agencies and reformed legislation. This work has already begun to step-change housing delivery. With over 125,000 more homes completed.
Building on the foundation we’ve put in place, we want to go much further, reaching 60,000 new homes per year by 2030.
We will do this through immediate implementation of the new planning legislation which the opposition tried so hard to block.
An additional €10.3 billion in investment funding will create the core water, roads and other infrastructure to support homebuilding in our cities, towns and villages.
We will reduce the cost and accelerate the delivery of homebuilding through investing in new construction methods.
We will continue the largest modern programme of social house building, and expand our major new programmes to support affordable housing.
We increase direct support for renters.
And in what is one of the biggest divisions in this election, we believe that direct state aid to help people with the cost of buying their first home must be a priority for government. We will protect and expand support for first-time buyers.
Communities
A major theme of our plans is helping communities. Helping them to tackle anti-social behaviour and crimes. Helping them to renew and to overcome long-term problems. And we will do this through a range of ambitious new programmes.
We will expand an Garda Siochána by 5,000 members, with additional funding also provided for training, equipment and safety. They will dramatically increase policing presence and address the anti-social behaviour and street crime which is causing such distress in many communities.
A new Transport Police unit will address the rising and urgent problem of safety on our transport networks.
We will implement a radical reform of government departments, with a new Department of Domestic Affairs to take the lead in national security, migration and other key issues. Initially under one minister with the Department of Justice to ensure a smooth transition, this will reflect common practice in other countries and the reality that new challenges need new approaches.
Throughout our plans you will see proposals to begin a new era of community development.
We believe in empowering communities and working with them in partnership to develop a strong and sustainable future.
A new Urban Communities Initiative will be focused on city centres and the areas of highest disadvantage. It will bring together all state agencies to implement community development planning, improve policy, expand education programmes and develop new social and economic infrastructure.
A new Rural Communities Initiative will bring together all state agencies and local organisations to support town rejuvenation programmes. It will help local businesses and support community life.
It will mark the first ever national initiative to support provincial towns and villages which often find it hard to be heard in contrast to larger areas.
Farm families and the agrifood sector are a vital social and economic pillar of Irish community life. They are also central to food security for Ireland and countries we supply. Our plans outline a range of action to support them with secure incomes, direct assistance with implementing essential investments and support on critical issues like succession planning.
Education
Support for educational participation and achievement is a fundamental value for Fianna Fáil. Our actions in government have helped ensure that today we have the lowest class sizes in our history, the lowest rate of early-school leaving and the highest ever scores in international tests.
Education is fundamental to all our social, economic, environmental and cultural goals.
We are proposing a further reduction in class sizes, and reforms to help schools meet modern challenges.
A new model of provision which I have pushed the development of, will deliver essential therapies for children with special needs in schools.
Our support for inclusion and breaking cycles of disadvantage will see a new DEIS Plus scheme implemented to target additional supports to schools in the areas of highest disadvantage.
A national Small Schools Initiative will support 1,300 small schools, expanding educational opportunities for their pupils.
And our commitment to promoting safe and supportive schools remains absolute.
We will push forward with action to tackle bullying and smartphone use in schools.
And we are committed to expanding opportunities at the level of further and higher education – with action on student accommodation, expanding places and increasing supports.
Fianna Fáil’s commitment to research provided the foundation for hundreds of thousands of jobs in our country. We believe that this investment is more important than ever, so we are proposing to expand research funding throughout the term of the next government.
The economy & Ireland’s Voice in the World
We can all see that these are turbulent times internationally. Ireland must do everything possible to protect its economic model and be clear in its values.
Our manifesto outlines our plans to protect and grow our economy – and to secure Ireland’s voice in international affairs.
We are proposing a range of supports directly for businesses and particularly for small and medium sized businesses.
The plans we have outlined are ambitious and extensive.
They will benefit every family and every community.
And they are also sustainable.
We believe that Ireland must be ready to overcome any major disruption, and therefore we are providing very significant contingency reserves as well as formal reserves to protect services and investments.
Overall, our plans see an increase in medium-term spending, with much of this concentrated in strategic capital investments.
We propose to run a budget surplus, to reduce the level of the national debt and to have in place a national reserve to protect services, pensions and investments of just over €50 billion by 2030.
This is money which is essential to not just expand services and build more homes, but make sure that this can be guaranteed.
We have also provided a budgetary reserve of €20 billion, which is what we believe is necessary to guarantee existing levels of public services and for public service pay deals.
These provisions give a greater confidence that we can proceed with the new proposals that we have outlined in the manifesto.
But there are critical other elements required to protect Ireland’s economy and its proven economic model.
We will protect our pro-enterprise taxation system, and support it further.
We are absolutely clear that we will work to protect international trade, on which hundreds of thousands of Irish jobs rely.
We will insist on a resolutely positive approach to strengthening the work of the European Union, and leading it through Ireland’s Presidency of the Council in a year and a half’s time.
This is no small matter. I believe we have shown our ability to have influence and lead in Europe.
The main opposition party has a history of unremitting anti-EU sentiment. Opposing membership and every treaty since. It would do great damage to Ireland to join with the Eurosceptic nations who seek to undermine it.
And we believe that at this testing time, Ireland must stand with other democratic countries – supporting basic principles of democracy and human rights. We must continue to be one of the strongest advocates for peace and rights for the Palestinian people. We must stand up for the rule of law and cooperation in international affairs.
And of course, the work of building lasting peace and reconciliation on this island must move forward with urgency. The Shared Island Initiative which Fianna Fáil created is the first time we have ever had a major programme of building understanding and links between communities and across the Border.
We are determined to push forward this work, and are proposing to double its funding with an extra €1 billion.
This manifesto is a detailed, ambitious and progressive plan for Ireland.
It will deliver sustained improvements in public services. It will further step-change home building. It will tackle the high cost of living. It will cut waiting times and improve health outcomes for all. It will target crime and help communities. It will invest in education. And it will protect and grow our economy.
It is a plan for moving our country forward, together.
ENDS