Speech of An Tánaiste Micheál Martin Bodenstown

98 years ago, a new party was founded by a generation of men and women who had led the fight for Irish independence. Many had taken the Republican side in the tragic civil war which had ended three years before, but they remained committed to the idea that much more needed to be done to give voice to the ideals of the Irish Revolution.

They sought a new way forward. And the fundamental spirit which motivated them were the ideals of the United Irishmen and in particular the vision of Theobald Wolfe Tone, that republicanism was the means through which Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter could share a common identity, common values and common interests.

And that is why, from our earliest days, we in Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party, have come to this hallowed place each year, to pay our respects and honour the life and legacy of one of the greatest ever Irishmen.

Tone was a son of privilege, whose religion and background gave him entry to the elite of this country. From very early, he chose to devote himself to working to subvert an ascendancy which thrived on division and promoting fear between different religious and political traditions.

He became a highly effective secretary of a national committee of Catholics which was devoted to securing the repeal of penal laws. And when he saw the determination of the powerful to hold their exclusive control over this country, he chose a radical and new departure.

For him, the republican ideal which had been developed during the European enlightenment was an inspiration and offered Ireland a way forward. It not only rejected traditional power structures, but it also demanded that the primary interest of the state must be about the interests of the people.

Tone and that glorious generation of patriots were unable to overthrow the control of the most powerful empire in the world – but they gave us a more powerful ideal. An ideal which has continued to inspire and to challenge every generation which has followed.

Tone’s was a profoundly European vision for Ireland. It was an inclusive vision. And it was a demand that all who call themselves republican must embrace the idea of change – of rejecting inflexible positions and responding to the needs of today and the future.

For the founders of our party, he gave a challenge to find new solutions. To address the social as well as the political aspirations of their country. To lead Ireland proudly amongst the nations of the world, and to a place where it could have its voice in shaping the future of all Europeans.

For me, the great legacy of Tone is this demand to focus on the hard work of serving the people. To offer leadership through action not words. To reject the rhetoric of easy answers and exploiting problems.

It is a positive legacy which will never lose its relevance.

And this is particularly relevant because in the coming days we will enter into a general election campaign about shaping the future of our country.

During the week we will complete the passage of critical legislation for implementing the budget for next year as well as ensuring the complete funding of public services.

The three leaders of the coalition parties have agreed that the President will then be asked to formally dissolve the Dáil and then the Minister for Housing and Local Government will sign an order to fix the polling day.

What is wonderful about the democratic republican tradition of our country is that this process is clear and uncontested. Since 1937 every election has been called and held in a manner where no one could question its integrity – and this year the tradition will again be honoured.

But what matters is not the formality of political procedures, what matters is that we will then, have three weeks to set out our programmes before the Irish people, to debate our rivals and to seek a mandate for the next five years.

Fianna Fáil has rewarded the trust placed in it four and a half years ago by focusing on the hard work of serving the people. We have been willing to take on the hardest challenges and overcome them. We have shown respect for the mandates of others and for those we have shared government with.

Today we can look back at leading our country through genuinely historic challenges. A once in a century pandemic, a rapidly moving recession, war in Europe and a dramatic period of inflation throughout the world.

Today, there are over 500,000 more people at work than on the day we took up office. There are over 125,000 more homes occupied.

Hospital waiting times are falling. Ireland has shown a clear voice for democracy and human rights in the world.

In these and many other areas, this is a record of real leadership.

But this is not what the election should be fought on. The election must be about our future. It must be about offering an ambitious and credible approach to protecting our country’s many strengths and overcoming the very real challenges it faces.

We will publish a manifesto addressing every major area of policy and we will show how we will deliver sustained action for the Irish people.

But we will of course have very definite priorities which we will insist on should we be in a position to negotiate a programme for government.

The rising cost of living has had a real impact on people in recent years. We’ve taken action to help people, but we want to go much further.

We are committed to helping families and pensioners in every budget in a progressive and sustainable way.

But we also want action to address structural issues which cause high prices – so we will set out an agenda of investment and reform to tackle high prices through reducing costs and bringing energy prices down towards the European average.

Housing remains one of the defining issues of this generation. A rising population and other factors mean that demand for housing is and will remain high – so we have to deliver a permanent acceleration of homebuilding. This is what we will do.

Ireland missed years because of past failures.

As the former Fine Gael Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy bravely said, in the previous government, radical reforms were blocked in favour of a narrow focus on smaller actions.

Well, we changed when we took over responsibility for housing. Over the past four and a half years we have implemented a relentless programme of reforms and developing new actions. In the face of a destructive opposition which tried to block everything, we persisted.

The final element in unlocking the potential to build more homes has been enacted, with the most radical planning reform of our time. Fast and fair decisions, to prevent abuses of the system and focus on good faith objections. The real benefit of this will become clear in the months and years ahead.

And we will go further. We will speed up homebuilding, we will reduce construction costs through investment in critical infrastructure and will directly help people who want a home to buy or rent.

There is a deep division on housing in this election – between our programme of supporting people who want to buy a home and an opposition which wants to slash aid for homebuyers because of their ideological opposition to aiding home buyers.

Central to our republicanism is our belief in building strong public services – with an accessible and quality public health system being the most important of these.

We were eager to take responsibility for health because we reject the idea that nothing can be done, or that you should run away from responsibility for health.

In the pandemic, we showed how much could be achieved – and a world-leading vaccination programme was only one element of this.

But in spite of the huge disruption of the pandemic we also worked to expand services, reduce patient costs and begin a new era in critical areas like women’s health services.

But we want to go much further. We will set out our plans for further expanding services, reducing costs and delivering a step-change in public access to GPs.

Fianna Fáil believe in communities which are strong and safe. Community development has always been a priority for us, and if we are in the next government we want to implement a radical new programme to benefit communities in all parts of our country.

We want to hire more Gardai and focus their work on tackling anti-social behaviour.

We want to implement major new programmes for helping rural and urban communities of all types – providing essential investment and support in tackling problems and securing their future.

Fianna Fáil has always been and will always remain the party which puts education first. Every major expansion in educational participation and achievement was begun by Fianna Fáil in government.

In the past four years we have delivered the lowest class sizes ever recorded in Irish schools. The lowest level of early school leaving. And the highest recorded levels of literacy and numeracy.

But a lot more must be done. So, we will outline our plans for investing in education. For further reducing class sizes. For supporting children with special needs with a radical new approach to providing key therapies. And for tackling bullying so that every child can go to school feeling safe and welcome.

One of the huge differences between us and the opposition parties is that we understand that you have to have a strong economy if you want to fund public services.

We will set out our plan for protecting Ireland’s vital economic model. Supporting enterprise and rewarding those who create good jobs.

And critically within this is our determination to protect Ireland’s ability to trade with the world and to have its voice heard, particularly within the European Union.

We brought Ireland into membership of the now European Union. We have ensured that, while we don’t win on every issue, we have been able to shape our future within the largest, most prosperous and most democratic international community the world has ever known.

Theobald Wolfe Tone understood that it was only through a secure place in the European community of nations, that Ireland could be sovereign and secure.

This is a lesson which others who call themselves republican have never understood. Their knee-jerk Euroscepticism must be confronted, and it must be stopped from diverting Ireland away from its European path.

Tone’s republican vision of unity between traditions is a relevant today as it has ever been.

Seeking unity and reconciliation on our island remains a driving motivation for Fianna Fáil.

Where we differ from others is that we are willing to undertake the long, hard work of building reconciliation and understanding.

The Shared Island Initiative which I built as Taoiseach is the first ever serious effort to develop real understanding of different communities on this island and to invest in building the links and the knowledge without which we cannot escape the cycle of distrust which has caused so much damage for so many years.

We are determined to push forward, to build on the momentum which is finally developing. We will add at least another €1 billion to the Shared Island Initiative and take its work to a completely new level, building lasting links and helping communities to overcome the disastrous legacies of sectarianism and violence.

The strength of Ireland’s economy is not something which can be taken for granted.

A Dhaoine Uaisle uilig, is léir go bhfuil traidisiún an phoblachtachais a bhfuil comóradh á dhéanamh againn air inniu bunaithe ar obair dhearfach a chuidíonn le leas agus le maitheas an phobail.

Tá an poblachtachas seo bunaithe go huile is go hiomlán ar thodhchaí ár dtíre.

Baineann an traidisiún ársa uasal seo le cinnteacht agus creidiúint láidir gur féidir le hÉirinn seasamh agus go gcaithfidh sí seasamh go bródúil mar náisiún Eorpach.

Is poblachtachas dearfach é seo agus is é seo a bheidh i gcroílár an fheachtais ag Fianna Fáil san olltoghchán atá ag teacht.

Cuirfimid fís dhearfach don tír chun cinn os comhair an phobail in Éirinn.

Beimid ag léiriú conas gur féidir linn dul chun cinn na hÉireann a chosaint agus dul i bhfad níos faide i gcúrsaí tithíochta, sláinte, costais,an geilleagar, an choiriúlacht agus san oideachas.

This election will almost certainly start with people wasting large amounts of time talking about polls.

As we saw in June, for years pundits said that Fianna Fáil was a distant third. Yet we came first.

Irish elections are not and should not be foregone conclusions. There have been major swings in support during elections in every election for the past twenty years – and governments are regularly changed.

Fianna Fáil is facing into this election with a positive programme of action.

A programme to protect our country’s strengths and to overcome a series of urgent challenges.

We will campaign in every community. We will bring our message of positive change to every group in our country.

We will show what our leadership on different issues has delivered, but our focus will be absolutely on the future.

Moving Ireland forward, together. This is the commitment of Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party.

Ends