merrion street

A Ceann Comhairle,

Ireland is facing an economic and social crisis with few parallels in our history.

There are currently over 430,000 people on the Live Register - over 160,000 of whom have been unemployed for more than a year.

We are again facing the prospect of forced emigration - an estimated 2,000 people are set to leave every week over the next two years.

Unsustainable tax and expenditure decisions have undermined the public finances, leaving an expected Exchequer deficit of over 17½ billion euro in 2011.

A failure of regulation, and irresponsible behaviour in financial institutions, has brought about the effective collapse of our banking system.

International and domestic confidence in the credibility of the State, and its capacity to manage the financial crisis, has been undermined.

The Irish State’s own credit worthiness has been lost as a result of the decision to bail out the creditors of private institutions. We are no longer able to borrow at reasonable rates of interest on the open market.

Ireland’s reputation - in the European Union and across the World – has been badly damaged.

Faced with this national emergency, which is the direct result of bad policy decisions and poor leadership, the Irish people voted for change.

Not just a change of faces around the Cabinet table, but a new approach to politics in this country.

In overwhelming numbers, the Irish people voted for Fine Gael and the Labour Party to implement that change.

Based on this strong mandate, the Fine Gael and Labour parties have agreed a Programme for National Recovery.

The Programme is based on a realistic and honest assessment of the crisis facing the country.

The Programme for Government aims to restore confidence in the country, at home and abroad. We will rebuild Ireland’s international reputation.

Starting with the St. Patrick’s Day visits this week, the Government will lead a sustained campaign to restore confidence in the country – as a place to invest, locate a business or visit as a tourist.

The Programme offers hope, particularly to young people who fear for their futures in Ireland. It aims to persuade our best and brightest to stay with us, and help lead the process of change and renewal.

In particular, it places an immediate focus on the jobs crisis.

Within 100 days, we will introduce a Jobs Budget that will help keep our young people at home building the future of their own country.

We will cut the lower rate of VAT

We will halve the lower rate of employers’ PRSI

We’ll create 15,000 new places in training, work-experience and education, for people out of work.

Through NewERA we will revitalise our national-infrastructure networks – water, energy and broadband - to create thousands of new jobs and increase our competitiveness.

We will set up a Strategic Investment Bank and new mechanisms to deliver credit to small businesses.

We will prioritise building relationships with emerging markets – which hold huge potential for investment and trade in the future.

We will reduce costs for business and support local SMEs to build and grow their businesses, and compete on world markets.

We will put a new focus on venture capital and commercialising research – ensuring innovative ideas translate into new companies and jobs.

We will implement ambitious job creation strategies in each sector – in agri-food, tourism, the IFSC, digital industries, green enterprise, international education and many others.

The Programme for Government re-commits Ireland to solving the fiscal crisis and honouring our sovereign debts.

Closing the gap between tax revenue and expenditure requires painful but necessary decisions over the years ahead.

Its important to emphasise that this gap exists independent of the banking sector – and must be closed if we are to return to the markets at the end of the EU\IMF programme.

We will reduce the gap in a planned way, minimising the impact on the most vulnerable, while retaining incentives for enterprise and work.

We will also establish an independent Fiscal Advisory Council to ensure that the budgetary mistakes of the past decade are never repeated.

We also need to limit additional taxpayer commitments to the banking sector to levels consistent with Ireland returning to the bond markets at the end of the current EU\IMF programme of support.

The Programme for Government sets out the strategies which we will pursue to secure a solution which is perceived as affordable by both the international markets and the Irish public.

We need to restructure and restore confidence in our banking system, without further damaging the credibility of the Exchequer.

As part of this process, we need to restore Ireland’s standing as a respected and influential member of the European Union.

The work has already begun.

Last Friday, I attended a meeting of the European Council and of the Heads of State or Government of the euro zone.

On Thursday evening, I met with the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

We will continue to work with our partners to improve Ireland’s situation, including in bettering the terms on which it receives loans from the European Financial Stability Facility, and in securing support to bring the crisis in our banking to a close.

Negotiations are continuing to that end, and it would not be appropriate for me to enter into detail here.

However, I can reassure the House that I will not compromise on our 12.5% corporation tax. As the Programme for Government makes clear, this is a core element of our fiscal strategy.

The Government has a strong mandate from the Irish people for the negotiation strategy we are now pursuing, and I am confident it will deliver an outcome which works for Ireland and for our EU partners.

We also need to bring to an end a situation where the European Union is presented as being over there, and not here in Ireland.

European law is Irish law and, as the elected representatives of the people, it is important that the Oireachtas plays its full part in overseeing its enactment.

That is why the Programme for Government contains an extensive set of measures to overhaul how European business is handled.

All Committees must play a role in scrutinising EU law as an integral part of their business.

All Ministers will be obliged to appear before their respective Committees, or before the Committee on European Affairs, prior to travelling to Council meetings where decisions are made.

And I will brief the Oireachtas prior to attending meetings of the European Council.

Our system of Government must modernise, adapt to new financial circumstances and start to deliver better services with scarce resources.

We will introduce the most-ambitious programme of reform since the foundation of our State.

We will make the system smaller and more efficient by substantially reducing employee numbers and by changing the way in which work is done.

Frontline staff will be given more power to make decisions and we will bring in new personnel with new ideas to strengthen the Public Service.

We will bring in new skills and rigour into policy-making across all Departments.

There will be increased delegation of budgets and accountability for results at every level of the Public Service with clear consequences for success and failure.

Resources will be put into the hands of citizens to acquire services tailored to better suit their needs and less expensive for the taxpayer.

We will conduct a Comprehensive Spending Review to examine all areas of public spending, and to develop multi-annual budget plans.

We want a more effective, leaner, and high performing Public Service – this is in the interests of citizens and public servants alike.

This will mean empowering our Civil Service whereby the legal responsibility between Ministers and their civil servants is spelled out, and there is greater flexibility and mobility across the entire Public Service.

We intend to use the full potential of the Croke Park Agreement to deliver on these reforms.

We will capture the appetite for change within the Public Service, and ensure that improved service delivery, and organisational efficiency and effectiveness is achieved.

Circumstances have now provided us with a unique opportunity to streamline our Public Service, and to strengthen its performance.

This will be done, and done with renewed urgency under the guidance of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, T.D., and Minister of State Brian Hayes, T.D..

The credibility of this reform agenda requires politicians to take the lead.

We need to change forever the way politics works in this country.

Reform is required to restore trust in politics and politicians. That is why reform will start with politics.

The election of this new Government, which is composed of parties which between them obtained 55.5% of the popular vote on the 25th of February, has brought the composition of the Government into line with the recently-expressed wishes of the people. It has also given the Government a powerful mandate to introduce fundamental reform in the institutions of the country and in the way they work.

Such reform is essential, to restore trust in politics and in Government. It is essential for other reasons too - so that the resolution of the fiscal crisis is seen to be carried out as far as possible in a way that protects the most vulnerable people in our society, that maintains and enhances our competitiveness and that puts value for money, efficiency and effectiveness in public spending at the top of the agenda.

Our commitments start with ourselves. We have already reduced our own pay, and we are reforming the system of transport for Ministers.

We will also make sure that political expenses are vouched for and we will axe severance payments for Ministers. No political pensions will be paid to sitting TDs and in future, no retired politician will get a political pension until the national retirement age.

We will further reduce the cost of our political institutions by abolishing the Seanad, if the people approve this in a referendum, and by reducing the number of TDs after the publication of the results of this year’s Census.

We are also committed to making the Dáil more effective. For example, the Abbeylara Supreme Court judgement limited the ability of the Dáil Commiittees to investigate crucial issues of public concern. We intend to bring a referendum before the people to amend the Constitution to give Dáil Committees full powers of investigation.

We will have fewer but stronger Dáil Committees, resourced properly.

We will introduce legislation to apply a radical extension of the parliamentary questions regime to State bodies, and bodies with majority ownership or funding by the State, requiring them to provide answers to written answers within a specified number of Dáil sitting days. We will of course recognise the special position of bodies with a commercial mandate operating at arm’s length from Government.

We will require the CEO of every State-funded body to attend the relevant Committee on a regular basis to answer oral parliamentary questions, on a similar basis to the attendance of Ministers before the full Dáil.

We will legislate to restore the previous position in relation to the Freedom of Information Act, and we will extend the remit of that Act, and of the Ombudsman Act. We will also introduce whistleblowers legislation, and amend the Official Secrets Act.

We will introduce spending limits for all elections, including Presidential elections and constitutional referendums. We will also reduce the limits on political donations to political parties and candidates, and we will require disclosure of all aggregate sums above €1,500 and €600 respectively. And we will bring forward the necessary legal and constitutional provisions to ban corporate donations to political parties.

Last but by no means least, in addition to bringing forward referendums ourselves we will establish a Constitutional Convention to consider comprehensive constitutional reform, including a review of our Dáil electoral system, reducing the Presidential term, providing for same-sex marriage, removing the clause on women and encouraging greater participation of women in public life, and possibly reducing the voting age.

Although we face difficult times, the Programme will bring equality and fairness back to the heart of Government.

We want a fair society where people trust and have faith in the institutions and services of the State and where those services demonstrably work for them.

We will introduce Universal Health Insurance with equal access to care for all.

Nobody will be left behind - we will ensure universal coverage by paying for those on lower incomes and providing subsidies for those on middle incomes.

Within the term of this Government, we will deliver Universal Primary Care, which will remove fees for GP care, and ensure that patients have access to a wider range of health services and professionals in their local communities.

As we rebuild our economy we are determined to look after those who are most vulnerable ensuring all our people live with dignity.

We will bring forward a realistic implementation plan for the National Disability Strategy including sectoral plans with achievable timescales and targets. We will ensure that money spent on disability services is clearly set out and audited.

Any decent society must value, respect and protect older people. We will complete and implement the National Positive Ageing Strategy to this end.

It is time to bring a renewed focus to tackling poverty, educational disadvantage and social protection.

We know that children remain the group most at risk of poverty in Ireland with over 90,000 children living in families that cannot afford basic necessities like food, warm clothing or heating.

We must break the cycle of poverty. This Government will adopt a new area based approach to child poverty, which draws on best international practice and existing services to tackle every aspect of child poverty.

Targeting educational disadvantage is key to increasing opportunities for future generations of young people. The review of the DEIS programme will provide a platform for new initiatives to deliver better outcomes for students in disadvantaged areas.

We will protect families whose homes are at risk through a combination of new reliefs, existing supports and forbearance measures.

These are tremendous challenges. But my Government is absolutely committed to delivering.

The Irish people have spoken, and their verdict is reflected in the Programme for National Recovery before the House.

The Programme has been agreed by the two largest parties in the Oireachtas, ensuring that we now have a Government capable of strong, stable leadership.

We have a Government with a mandate and willingness to face the hard decisions and offer real leadership to the Irish people.

I am under no illusions about the scale of the challenge ahead.

I make no effort to hide the challenges from the Irish people.

As Taoiseach, I will be open and truthful with the Irish people as we tackle these challenges over the next few years.

Because I have great faith in the Irish people – their ingenuity, their passion, their sense of decency, their resilience in the face of difficulty, their pride in their country.

I believe that the Programme meets the high standards that the Irish people rightly demand of their Government.

I commend the Programme for Government to the House

ENDS