Delegates and Friends
Welcome to City Hall, Cork, the nation's real capital or its second city, depending on where you come from.
It's been a traumatic and terrifying couple of weeks.
Nobody will ever forget where they were, and what they were doing, when they learned of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
That people are capable of such barbarity is unfortunately not new to us. The bomb at Omagh, the massacre at Srebenica are testament to that.
The hate evident on the streets of the Ardoyne in recent weeks shows that this is not solely a Muslim issue. The attacks on the twin towers are no more about Islam than the concentration camps were about Christianity.
To miss this point would be a fundamental mistake. Any solution that pits the Western tradition against the Islamic tradition would be catastrophic. That is what the attackers wanted and we should deny them that victory.
The lives of 6,000 families have been changed for all time by an act of evil. Our hearts go out to them. To honour their loved ones' memories I would like you to stand with me for a few moments as an expression of sympathy.
Friends, I want to congratulate the American government for its response, so far, to this crisis.
Many expected them to lash out in grief. They have not.
I do not know what will follow. But those responsible for these atrocities must not escape punishment nor should they be allowed to repeat their evil deeds.
But, Osama Bin Laden is not the Afghan people. Nor are blank cheques appropriate either.
A friend of mine recently received an e-mail from an Afghan man exiled in the United States. In it he said: "It's not that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. There were the first victims of the perpetrators."
The Taliban, he said, were a "cult of ignorant psychotics". He is right.
But they are part of a changing world. And Ireland should change with it. New problems and new threats are emerging. The simple rights and wrongs of the Cold War era are gone.
In that sense the term neutrality is causing us some difficulties. Who could be neutral about what happened in New York and Washington? Or even Bosnia?
As a people we need to open our minds to new and more complex global arrangements. Neutrality was never meant to be a shield behind which we would hide from the world and our responsibilities to it.
Engagement and co-operation, be it with our European partners or others, does not mean the loss of our neutrality. In fact, it gives us the opportunity to influence the actions of others.
No superstates, no super armies. Peacekeeping, peace making and security must be compatible with our neutrality. And that means not signing up to mutual defence arrangements that would take decisions out of our hands. And if we need to put that definition of neutrality into our Constitution to enable us to debate the issues in a clearer fashion, we should do so.
Socialists are internationalists. We cannot turn our back on the rest of the world and pretend it doesn't matter. We simply cannot do that.
We also have our own security issues to deal with at home.
As the harrowing search for survivors comes to a close in Manhattan we need to face some hard questions about the Irish peace process. The truth is that we have our own terrorists on this island.
And while they're supposed to be on ceasefire, the extent of intimidation, the high level of punishment beatings continues. The murder of Martin O'Hagan last night is the latest tragedy in what has been a sad summer. In the case of one of these organisations, the UDA, surely it's time to recognise that not even a pretence at ceasefire is being maintained.
And what of Sinn FΘin - they've gained most from the peace process. But for the best part of a decade we have put up with doublespeak and falsehoods - like Sinn FΘin talking to the IRA - the two sides of the one coin.
We've all been party to this doublespeak and for some good reasons too. We've come a long way since 1994. But we're in danger of losing it all. We must all work together to implement the Good Friday agreement.
If we do not succeed, then sectarianism, the hatred of one tribe for the other will grow - fuelled and controlled by political forces who use this hatred for political ends.
Now Sinn FΘin want to stir up the same base instincts here. Republican murals, that marker of territory, are appearing in Dublin. The hunger strikers, not sufficiently manipulated by Republicans in 1981, are being used again - their pictures festooned on lamp-posts before a confused public.
I never believed that the republican movement would sign up to the new policing arrangements in Northern Ireland - they don't support the Garda S∅ochβna down here either.
To be a Republican is to believe in the sovereignty of the people. But these people are not true republicans. For three years, they've refused to comply with the mandate explicitly voted for by the people of the whole island, north and south. That mandate was to put arms beyond use.
And it's time for their fellow-travellers to stop peddling the lie, that the putting of arms beyond use is some kind of British or unionist diktat. It is a direct order from the Irish people, no more and no less.
And we're entitled, in the aftermath of Colombia and in the aftermath of the World Trade Centre to ask for an end to the weasel words and to ask a few simple questions. Is the war over? And if it is why hasn't the process of decommissioning begun?
The republican movement believes in territory and it believes in ghettos. Its values are abhorrent to the pluralist, tolerant and multi-cultural country that this party has fought to create.
Soon Kevin Barry and other Irish volunteers will be honoured with State funerals. It's right and appropriate that their bodies be moved from Mountjoy Prison and interred with respect. And there are other victims of the War of Independence too, who should be remembered - innocent men and women killed by both sides.
Colleagues, if governments are to be judged by the opportunities at their disposal, then this Government has been a dismal failure.
I say this and I mean it.
This has been a terrible Government. Led by the weakest Taoiseach in the history of the State. The man who brought back Ray Burke and promoted Liam Lawlor. A man who cultivates the image of the ordinary man but having received the reins of power promptly handed them over to the conservative clique of Harney and McCreevy. When they were joined by Michael McDowell, our fate was sealed.
All my life in politics I have yearned for the day when we could afford to build a decent society. I have served in governments which didn't have the money to invest in the health service, that had to trim the budgets needed to repair our schools, that saw a quarter of a million unemployed and had to accept that we could not pay them a decent income.
All the working people in this country accepted sacrifices so that we overcame the underdevelopment and poverty of our past.
But now - what have we to show for our era of unprecedented prosperity?
We certainly don't have the modern infrastructure that will ensure our competitiveness as an economy into the future.
Nor do we have the social supports that could transform the quality of people's lives and help them through difficult times. Public childcare facilities are practically non-existent.
This Government inherited an economy in the best condition ever. Proof that Labour in government could really manage the economy.
We were conscious of the needs of the entire nation. This Government is not.
At its helm is a Taoiseach obsessed with the need to chase every photo opportunity.
A Taoiseach without a vision of this country - except building a sports stadium as a monument to himself.
Don't listen either to any nonsense that the Government is half way through a job of work and that Fianna Fβil, after looking after themselves, will see us all right. There are a lot of Joe Jacobs in this Government.
The party of the Golden Circle has governed for the Golden Circle. Capital taxes are down; the top rate of income tax is down. But homelessness is not and neither are waiting lists, inflation or traffic chaos.
In May of this year the Taoiseach told the country there was no crisis in the health service. Could he really be that busy opening shops and touring pubs, that he doesn't know - like Charles J. Haughey before him - just how bad things are?
Friends, this country can no longer stand over its two-tiered health service.
And yet the Taoiseach can turn around and say there's no crisis in the Health Service.
Isn't it incredible? Is it that he's too busy, or is it that he doesn't understand?
What does it say about the Taoiseach's values?
Is he blind too to the tragedy of homelessness - now a reality for many people who thought it could never happen to them.
We've had economic success over the last 10 years, but we've lost some things too. We work too hard and we sometimes have too little time for the important things in life. I can see some of you agreeing and we've lost a sense of collective spirit.
But not completely. Congratulations are due to all directly involved in the battle against foot-and-mouth disease, including the Government.
And our success proves a point. As a society we can work together cohesively. We can achieve. The community, properly motivated, remains a strong force in Irish society. But in recent years this strength hasn't been called upon or championed half enough. Too often greed and vested interests have replaced co-operation and compassion.
Colleagues, it is time to build a new spirit of community.
Politics is about choices and as a society we have some choices to make. What kind of country do we wish to live in? It's as basic as that.
Let me tell you what I want to do.
I want to see a guaranteed childcare place for every child that needs one. A State actively involved in tackling both the cost and the shortage of childcare places.
I want to see the State provide free pre-schooling so that all our children can enjoy the benefits of early education.
I want to see the State becoming actively involved in providing proper care for the elderly. By 2005, this Government wants to put aside about £1bn a year to pay for pensions in 20 years. A good idea perhaps, but what about today's elderly who put in place the building blocks for the Celtic Tiger.
They need more money now. That's why before the last Budget the Labour Party called for a £24 rise in the pension and stated we would pay in a backdated lump sum the difference between our offer and what the Government delivered.
So as of today, Labour is committed to paying a back payment to pensioners of almost £500.
What about the environment?
I want to see a State committed to guaranteeing our environmental future - in conjunction with local communities. Not a Government that shuts down local democracy when it doesn't agree with it. That's why our policy document "Waste Matters" that sets out a strategy that works and won't have Ireland seen as the dirty country of Europe.
I want to see a State that supports, not penalises, individual effort. Like carers, for example, who save the State millions of pounds a year through their work.
Let me say this to them: Labour in Government will abolish the means test for carers and provide financial support for all people genuinely looking after members of their families with special needs.
I want to see a State interested in the safety of its citizens. Too many of our citizens live in fear. Some crime levels have fallen in recent years. Not because of John O'Donoghue's tough talk or his obsession with prison places, but because employment has increased and because Labour improved treatment facilities for drug addicts.
The secret in combating crime is to tackle its causes - drug and alcohol abuse and a lack of facilities for our young people.
It's also time to look again at our Constitution - three times in recent years the Supreme Court has decided the Constitution denies basic rights to people with disabilities.
We must now radically reform the rights provisions of our Constitution to equip us for a new era. In Government, Labour will hold a referendum so that the rights of people with disabilities are safeguarded in our Constitution.
I want to see the State retain a role in the economy too.
Does anybody, except perhaps Mary Harney, really believe any more that privatisation and slavish adherence to free market ideology is the answer to all our problems?
This Government has destroyed the commercial semi-states.
For the last four years they've operated under a cloud. They know the Government wants rid of them - Aer Lingus, RT╔, the ESB and An Post.
They're being told to go out and compete internationally but when they do, like the ESB, they're being shackled. Mary O'Rourke's tenure in the Department of Public Enterprise has simply been a nightmare.
Lack of direction marks everything this Government does. Does anybody seriously think this Government has an economic strategy?
Other than a determination to reduce the top rate of tax even further, they believe in the laws of the economic jungle. There is no plan. There is no strategy. Just a simplistic and naive belief that low business taxes and a free market are the solution for everything.
Well I've got news for Fianna Fβil and the Progressive Democrats - and for Fine Gael's Jim Mitchell too: they are not. I just hope the people of this country don't have to learn that lesson the hard way.
Colleagues, as I've already said, we live in a global world and Labour has a global agenda.
Through the Socialist International, Labour has sister parties across the globe. And in the Party of European Socialists we have member parties throughout the European Union and in all the applicant states. Social justice, sustainable growth and human rights are not issues limited by borders.
James Connolly, one of our founding fathers, was not just a nationalist, he was an internationalist. And so am I.
Part of the crisis that affects politics today is the issue of globalisation.
It seems to render not just citizens but nations powerless and irrelevant.
We're not powerless in the global age. Sometimes politics can seem remote and divorced from some of the problems we experience. But it has to be viewed as only one part of the picture. There are things we can do. We must make a difference.
I support our young people who use the Internet to make informed decisions about which company's products should be boycotted. I support, too, the right of people to peacefully protest against the inequalities that globalisation creates.
They may not be right all the time. But protesters force big companies to think again. Companies are now under pressure to conduct their business ethically. But more pressure is needed.
Colleagues, if we are to truly change this country's direction, if we are to revitalise public life and public purpose in this country, the next general election will be critical. The next government, the first of the 21st century, will determine the direction of this society for a generation.
We are already on a slippery slope. The champions of greed have been in Government for over four years now. Four wasted years.
At their helm is a Taoiseach who doesn't know whether he's a politician or a pop star. More image than substance.
I think when Bertie Ahern stops to look back at his time as Taoiseach he'll wonder what he was doing. The rest of us certainly are.
And the Government's afraid. That's why they are preparing to buy the election.
Two years ago I committed this party to banning corporate funding. If that pledge is not part of the next Programme for Government then Labour will not be party to it. For two years we have harried the Government on this issue. It has ducked and weaved, but it is on the retreat. For years the Taoiseach hid behind legal advice that he was afraid to publish. The same Attorney General who opposed electoral change while in the Dβil was given a secret veto over this urgent political reform.
Fine Gael jumped on board the Labour campaign after it had banked along with Fianna Fβil and the PDs a £50,000 donation from Denis O'Brien. What did Labour do? We gave it back!
The Government buckled. The Electoral Bill concedes the principle that all donations should be capped - at £5,000 - far higher than is allowed for in Labour's proposed legislation. But still they cling onto corporate donations.
We've won the argument on this issue and we'll soon deliver the victory.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - Labour in Government will ban ALL corporate donations.
No doubt some of you will have read in some newspapers that Ruair∅ Quinn looks frustrated in Opposition. Fianna Fβil call me "Mr Angry". For once, they are right on both scores.
Isn't it time that more people in this country became angry that the most prosperous four year period in this State's history is being squandered.
They've had four wasted years - the country cannot afford four more.
You may read in the papers too that Ruair∅ Quinn is determined to get back into Government at all costs. Some people may say to you that Ruair∅ Quinn is determined to get into Government with Fianna Fβil.
Let me say this to you: I've been in this party all my adult life. That I lead it now is the fulfilment of a lifetime's dream.
I believe this party represents something unique in Irish life. There is no other social democratic party in this State.
Yes, I would love to lead a Labour government that would truly transform this society.
But, I am equally indifferent to the aspirations of both Fianna Fβil and Fine Gael. Social democratic rhetoric comes cheaply to both of them.
Fianna Fβil and Fine Gael would prefer to coalesce with the less demanding Progressive Democrats than with the Labour Party.
And, let there be no mistake, both Fianna Fβil and Fine Gael would adjust their policy positions to suit the occasion. So let's not be taken in by talk about Fianna Fβil's "Action Programmes" or Fine Gael's "New Deals". These are not parties of conviction.
And let me be crystal clear. I will not mortgage this party to either of them in advance of a General Election. I will not put us in a position where we are taken for granted by the media. I will not put us in a position where we are there to make up the numbers.
We will fight this election on our own policies and our own platform. And if those policies get a better hearing because of speculation about what Labour and Ruair∅ Quinn will or will not do, all the better.
There is a big difference between being in office and being in power. I know - I've been in both positions. If this party cannot write the agenda of the next government, it shouldn't be in it. It is as simple as that.
I said two years ago that the next election would be about choices. It is even more true today.
For too long Fianna Fβil and Fine Gael have sought to be all things to all people. Tax cuts - yes. Increased public spending too. No problem. And all the signs are that both are preparing another outing of this familiar old story. Their story is that there are no hard choices to be made.
I challenge both of them this evening to do their own economic homework before the next election. Let them tell us honestly how much money is available to fund public services and their tax cuts.
It was Labour that was honest enough to point out last year that the time would come when we wouldn't be able to afford to have tax cuts and public spending increases at the same time.
When we said first that we mightn't be able to put a billion pounds a year into a long-term pension fund - money that won't be invested in Ireland and Irish jobs - while still building a 21st century infrastructure in this country.
When we said we might have to run small exchequer deficits given the massive increases in capital spending on roads and railways.
We were right.
Fianna Fβil - the party of economic incompetence - sneered and ridiculed, - but we were right. Their problem now is, that we are even more right this year - than we were last year.
Comrades, the election campaign has already started.
We are ready when Bertie Ahern is ready. He can only run away for a few more months. And when he stops running the electorate will still be waiting for him.
Labour has a goal and that goal is to transform this country.
It would be a different type of society - a society where paying tax is regarded as a good thing - a civic duty - a contribution to our collective welfare from which we all benefit in a real way. A society where tax dodgers are prosecuted and not secretly admired.
A Labour-led government will seek as a matter of priority to do the five following things:
1 - Introduce a system of universal health coverage, including free GP care for all, to end forever the two-tier apartheid health system and finally provide our people with the highest quality of care.
2 - Properly fund our education system so that our children can be taught in well-resourced and comfortable schools, by teachers who can teach free from the distraction of money shortages, and permanent fund-raising.
3 - Introduce a national childcare scheme and extend the benefits of early education to all our children.
4 - We will ensure that those earning the minimum wage are taken out of the tax net and reduce relative poverty by linking social welfare payments to 30 per cent of earnings.
5 - Support employment and prosperity in all our regions by driving the development of our national infrastructure and particularly public transport.
Our goals haven't changed. Our ambitions remain high. James Connolly once defined our ultimate but modest political goal as simply being "the earth". Colleagues, that goal is more achievable today than at any time in our history.
This is the platform we will place before the people of Ireland whenever the Taoiseach is ready. It is one we can be proud of. It is one worth fighting for. Let's get out there and fight for it.
The full text of Ruairi Quinn's speech is available on ireland.com