Leader's speech (edited)
Earlier today, here in Tralee, the Labour Party took an important decision. After robust debate amongst the members of this party up and down the country and after open televised debate from this conference, Labour has taken a decisive step towards offering the people a choice of government at the next general election.
But it is only a first step. The challenge now, as history rushes towards us, is to present the people with a different and a better government - a credible and real alternative to the selfish, self-serving and self-regarding two parties now in office.
The Labour Party must now take control of this challenge. We must move on. Electoral strategy alone never elected a Labour TD. And we need to elect new Labour TDs. Because without Labour we may get a different government, but without Labour the difference will be cosmetic. It is up to us to demonstrate the leadership and to finesse the policies that will drive the next government.
Our society at this time of great opportunity so badly needs a change of government. Our people know that we have a strong economy and a poor society under strain. The harder we work, the faster we live, the greater the frustration that so much of the wealth we create is wasted rather than being used to improve our society. Getting to work can be an ordeal; getting childcare is hugely expensive or non-existent; getting a garda is a matter of chance; getting a hospital bed is a lottery; and getting a home of your own is like winning the lottery.
I know that for some people they have never had it so good. I know that those with the inside track have become unimaginably wealthy. Labour's purpose is to deliver real improvements for hard-working families. I believe that you can have a strong economy and a strong society.
Therefore, tonight I want to talk about a simple question. A question that I will come back to time and time again between now and the next general election. Why vote Labour? And every time I am asked the question, my answer will be the same. My aim is to put Labour at the heart of government. Nowhere else. I am not interested in making up the numbers for any other party. I am not interested in offering anyone an each way bet. I am not interested in making the easy choice merely to get into office.
Tonight I want to deal with some of Labour's priorities - childcare, health, education, workers' rights, antisocial behaviour and Garda reform.
But first I want to say a word about taxation. I know that amongst commentators there are still a few Matt Talbots out there who argue for personal tax increases as the only true measure of a political party's commitment to social justice. Let me be clear: Labour in government will not increase tax rates for hard-working families. We will not do so because there is no need to do so. As a matter of fact, economic growth of 5 per cent per annum, on the back of our accumulated prosperity, would, by the end of the decade, generate an additional €12 billion in today's terms for the Exchequer, without any increase in the burden of taxation.
What we will do is insist on a fairer tax system. The era of the designer tax break for millionaires must end. Joan Burton has called for high-rollers to pay a basic minimum amount of tax to the common good and I believe that most tax compliant citizens consider that a reasonable position.
From Ray MacSharry to Charlie McCreevy, Fianna Fáil tried to persuade hard-pressed taxpayers that tax evasion in Ireland was negligible. Remember the refrain - there is no crock of gold out there. We know now there were several crocks of gold out there - wholesale widespread endemic tax evasion.
A third reason why increases in personal tax rates are unnecessary is that this PD/FF Government has turned waste of public money into an art form.
Electronic voting - €52 million down the drain - ask Jan O'Sullivan what €52 million would do for the repair of dilapidated schools or to connect them up to broadband.
Punchestown - imagine what €16 million would do for the home-help service, where hours have been cut, depriving vulnerable people of the benefits of such an essential service.
Abbotstown - ask Liz McManus what a fraction of that €157 million would have done for the campaign she has been leading to extend BreastCheck throughout the country. What even a little of that money could do to end the shameful waiting lists for essential services for people with disabilities.
What about the bypass that doubled in cost; the flood relief scheme that quadrupled in cost; the nursing homes debacle that went unchecked and the indoor Aquatic Centre that became an outdoor swimming pool when the roof blew off. I suppose we are lucky they didn't decide to build the second terminal on the Hill of Tara.
Yet the more voluble members of this Government have the brass neck to attempt to attach the label "Tax and Spend" to this party. We can be clear about one thing: we don't have a tax and spend Government, we have a Tax and Waste Government. They tax by stealth and they waste without shame. For example, Fianna Fáil and the PDs concluded a private deal for an indemnity with certain religious orders that exposes the taxpayer to a liability just short of €1 billion. They did no audit of ability to pay and they subverted normal Cabinet procedures.
The announcement on budget day 2003 of a half-baked half-thought-out decentralisation plan is set to cost the taxpayer €932 million according to Minister Parlon - almost another billion. According to the Tánaiste of this Tax and Waste Government the nursing homes payout will cost the taxpayer at least another billion.
The cost of the roads programme has shot up from €5.6 billion to €15.8 billion. Every €100 million overrun on the roads programme means a badly needed piece of road elsewhere won't be built.
Never in the history of democratic governments has so much taxpayers' money been wasted by so few for so little return.
Meanwhile, Michael McDowell commits another €6 million for Garda overtime to combat gangland murders in what he calls Operation Anvil. And €30 million to buy a farm worth €5 million in north Dublin in what I call Operation Amadán.
And what did Government do in the midst of this Niagara of waste? They shaved 58 million off the social welfare budget.
Why vote Labour? Because only a government with Labour at its heart will have the vision and the drive to build a Fair Society.
Why vote Labour? Because only a government with Labour at its heart will channel the resources of a prosperous and sustainable economy into building a fair society based on social justice and on a decent chance for everyone.
Why vote Labour? Because only a Government with Labour at its heart will begin to heal the divisions and undo the damage of recent years. The damage done to freedom of information. The damage done to disability rights. The damage done to overseas development aid. The damage done to parliamentary accountability. And I could go on.
For instance, we employ 21 labour inspectors to enforce the law in the workplace, including tackling the abuse of immigrant labour but we employ 54 dog wardens - a strange sense of priority.
I referred earlier to a strong economy. A society under strain. And nowhere is that strain felt more acutely than among young families. Only a government with Labour at its heart will build the child-centred learning- based national system of childcare that Irish families need and Irish children deserve.
Senator Kathleen O'Meara is chairing a group that will shortly publish Labour's comprehensive case for childcare and it will include
more time for parents and kids through paid parental leave
better financial support through a refundable tax credit
one year's free pre-school education
more places including direct community provision
investment in quality
A strong economy. A society under strain. This is nowhere as evident as in our health services.
Only a government with Labour at its heart will tackle the two-tier health service. As Mary Harney is already finding out, simplistic mantras will not deliver a better health service.
Only a government with labour at its heart will put the cause of education at the heart of government. Only a government with Labour at its heart will guarantee that no child in Ireland will be taught in a class bigger than 25. Only a government with Labour at its heart will set out a clear and transparent building programme that assures every child in Ireland a decent school environment, with opportunities for play and physical exercise as well as study.
Only a government with Labour at its heart will make the necessary commitment to guarantee access to lifelong learning for every adult who wants it.
Labour is a party dedicated to the rights of the individual, particularly the rights of children, and to civil liberties. But a party of the left must also stand for the common good. We cannot be indifferent in the face of the degradation of the common good and common spaces. And we cannot, as I do every week, sit across the table from the victims of antisocial behaviour - without having regard to their rights also. Only a government with Labour at its heart will tackle antisocial behaviour and its root causes.
We want to see full implementation of the Children's Act and, in that context, as a last resort we do not rule out antisocial behaviour orders. However, the central question is enforcement and the need to properly structure and resource community policing. Confidence in effective, efficient and accountable policing is a critical component of any normal democratic society where the rule of law prevails. The current Garda Bill changes little. In the interests of society, and indeed in the interests of the gardaí themselves, it is time we established an independent commission on policing to set out a road map for turning the Garda Síochána into a 21st century police service.
To the question why vote Labour there is another answer and it is this. To finally get rid of an incompetent, wasteful, self-serving and arrogant Government. Fianna Fáil, with the enthusiastic support of the PDs, has established hegemony over every aspect of public life in Ireland. The golden circle is bigger now than when Mary Harney came to prominence railing against it.
There are more people on the inside track, more people in the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway races, more lucrative contracts being handed out, more cronies being contracted in, more partisan appointments to State boards, more mileage for prison visiting committees, more patronage, more stroking than ever before. There's not a squeak out of the PDs so long as they get their share of the spoils. After so many years of the same crowd in Government we find it harder to distinguish between serving the State and serving the party.
Before the last general election Fianna Fáil increased the thresholds for political donations by 50 per cent and, true to form, the new Environment Minister has promised more of the same before the next general election. The only answer is a reforming government that will replace them and the practices that sustain them.
So, go back to your constituencies and begin the task of making Labour the driving force in the next government, a better government, an alternative government.
Go back and get stuck into the work of electing more Labour TDs, to put your party in the position of being at the heart of that government.
Why vote Labour? Why work for Labour? In one sentence. When Labour is at the heart of government, the fair society is at the heart of government. And nothing could be more worthwhile than that.