merrion street

A Cheann Comhairle,

I welcome this opportunity to express confidence in Joan Burton as Tánaiste; in the Fine Gael – Labour Party partnership Government; and the plan we have implemented to bring Ireland back from the brink of economic catastrophe.

Fine Gael and Labour put these plans together at a time of deep crisis as we entered office.

Our banks on the brink of collapse
Our public finances in chaos
Our international reputation destroyed
Our people out of hope, out of work

The previous Fianna Fáil government saw Ireland excluded from the international markets, and the humiliating Troika bailout of our country that hit the headlines around the world.

On this day 5 years ago, Ireland was gripped by crisis. The public finances were out of control and jobs were being lost at an alarming rate.
On entering office we set out our plan and working with the Irish people we have worked our way back towards recovery.

Today we see the early results.

Because today Ireland is the fastest-growing economy in Europe.

Government borrowing has fallen from 11% of GDP in 2010 to less than 2% last year.

Since the low-point of 2012, 135,000 jobshave been added to the economy.

Unemployment is down from a peak of over 15% to 8.8% today and continues to fall.

Welfare Reform
But there would be little point in creating new jobs if those on the dole queue could not fill them.

The reform of our welfare system remains an essential part of our long term economic plan to reach full employment and to keep the recovery going.

Tánaiste Joan Burton has driven this reform agenda over the last five years as Minister for Social Protection.

The reforms were absolutely necessary considering the massive unemployment challenge we inherited from the previous Fianna Fáil Government.

What was worse than the 15% unemployment was the fact that many people, and whole families, were abandoned on the dole queues by a passive welfare system.

Fianna Fáil’s disastrous ‘hands off’ approach to social welfare policy... that avoided taking any decisions or implementing any difficult reforms led directly to families being trapped in cycles of joblessness, poverty and welfare dependency.

Instead of investing in job support services and helping get the long term unemployed back into work Fianna Fáil just hiked welfare payments without reform which ensured that even during the boom years Ireland suffered from one of the highest rates of jobless households in Europe.

My commitment to everyone is that we are never going back to that style of Government.

I want to see people independent in work, not dependent on welfare.

We believe that a job is the best route out of poverty, that work should pay, and that people shouldn’t be abandoned on the dole queues.

This Government of Fine Gael and Labour will break the endless cycle of poverty by getting people off welfare and into jobs.

The first Pathways to Work strategy was successful in reducing by almost 40% the numbers of people unemployed since 2012.

The establishment of Intreo Offices throughout the country, and new activation programmes and supports such as JobBridge, JobsPlus, Springboard courses, Momentum courses, the new Housing Assistance Payment, the Youth Guarantee, are engaging with unemployed people every day to help them back into work.

These developments have also contributed to decreases in Long-Term Unemployment which decreased from 9.5% to 5%, and Youth Unemployment which decreased from 33% to 19.2%.
While we have made progress, this is still too high. We are determined that nobody will be left behind by our economic recovery.

The Government is not yet finished the job.

We are determined to keep this recovery going with our long term plan.

It is a plan based on three steps:
1.
More jobs, spread right across the country;
2.
Making work pay; and
3.
Sensible investment in public services.

More people in work creates the resources to cut taxes for working people and to invest in better services, creating a virtuous circle of rising employment and improving living standards.

Our aim is to add another 200,000 jobs to the economy by 2020.

By making work pay through tax and welfare reform we can boost the economy, create more jobs and secure the recovery.

We are tackling the marginal tax rates on middle income earners in Ireland, andhave reduced the marginal rate of tax to below 50% for all earners under €70,000.

It is my intention that we will continue to phase out the USC in future budgets, while also reforming the income tax system to cap the benefits for the highest earners and to keep the income tax system broad.

While making these necessary changes to the tax system we are also going to protect the progress made in restoring the public finances while investing sensibly in public services for nurses, gardai, teachers, prison officers and so on.

In the future we will cap public spending increases to below the underlying growth rate of the economy to ensure we never go back to the period of boom and bust. We are aiming to fully eliminate the budget deficit entirely in 2017.

A Cheann Comhairle,

We have a clear plan to keep the economy going. To build on the progress we have made as a nation.

Since her appointment as Tánaiste, Joan Burton and I have worked very closely in managing the delivery of the Government’s work.

The Tánaiste and I have a shared determination to continue to secure the economic recovery for the country and to ensure that the benefits of a strong economy are used to improve the daily lives of all the Irish people.

We are both fully committed to asking the people to re-elect this Fine Gael – Labour Party Government so that we can finish the job we started in 2011.

When I look across at the benches opposite I see no vision, no plan, only opportunism and gamesmanship.

We will not take any lectures from Deputy Ross on judgement of character.

This is the same person who acted as a cheerleader for Anglo Irish Bank. Who used his position as a journalist to put pressure on the other banks to appoint “dynamic” bankers with stellar performances from Anglo Irish Bank into senior positions.

Deputy Ross’s record is there for everyone to read in black and white.

This Government stands by its record of jobs, stability, growth and recovery.

I commend this motion to the House.