Good afternoon Ambassador O’Malley, ladies and gentlemen.
Mark - thank you for the warm welcome.
And to Eamonn and the Board of the American Chamber thank you for inviting me. I’m delighted to be here.
Today is the day you – we - as your adopted family, your home from home give thanks.
Thanks for family, friends, health, opportunity.
The longer I live the more I see that gratitude can be underestimated in its power, in its capacity to both give life and to transform life.
But on this day gratitude is practised across families, continents, times zones, as America and Americans gather to give thanks.
Thanksgiving is a day of celebration. But it can also be a time to reflect on the past and resolve for the future.
President John F. Kennedy, in his final thanksgiving proclamation in 1963, said that “as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.”
The word we have lived by in Ireland for the past number of years was ‘recovery’.
Recovery for our economy, our businesses, not as an international headline, but crucially as something felt and experienced in the lives of our people day to day.
I’m glad to say it’s starting to happen.
After dark and difficult years the people of Ireland are finally starting to see in their lives the early signs of recovery - jobs for them and their children, a bit more money in their pocket.
At last there’s a fragile but palpable sense of security for the future.
And minding and guaranteeing that security is now the government’s number one priority.
It defines all that we do. It is in every decision we make.
In a few weeks we’ll be celebrating the New Year – 2016 - the centenary of our Rising.
It is the year too in which we want to bring our young emigrants home.
Home, at last, to good jobs, to bright futures, to their families who miss them.
With more jobs, better business, greater investment there will be the opportunity to set down roots again and start families of their own.
Next year, for the first time since the crisis began, we expect to welcome home more people than will leave.
By 2020 we expect 70,000 Irish emigrants to have come home to take up new jobs and build their future - and Ireland’s along with it.
What they carry home with them, their experience and knowledge and confidence will be a huge boost to Irish business and the Irish economy.
And it is for their sake, too, that we are working day and night to mind our recovery and to strengthen it.
Yes, we’ve added 135,000 new jobs to the economy since we launched the Action Plan for Jobs in 2012.
But since coming to office we have lived by the idea that good enough is never enough for Ireland and the Irish people.
Our aim then is to create a further 266,000 jobs by 2020.
Last month, we made crucial progress with unemployment dropping below 9% for the first time in nearly seven years.
It is clear now that employment is growing in nearly every sector across the economy.
While prioritising jobs and growth we must and will keep the national finances under control.
This is what has kept us up at night over the last five years and I can tell you after all we have done, after all the people have been though we will go on with keeping the public finances on a tight rein.
We will reduce the government budget deficit from a peak of 12.5% of GDP in 2011 to an expected 1.2% next year.
Our target is to eliminate it altogether in 2018 and deliver a balanced budget.
But of course we could have done little or any of this without you.
Without our friends in the US standing by us, in our difficulty.
The importance of our economic relationship with the United States to Ireland’s prosperity cannot be over-stated.
America is a leading export destination for merchandise.
You are our largest trading partner in services.
You are the single largest investor in Ireland.
You give us a quarter of our tourism revenue.
Today – especially - thank you.
By any standards it is an extraordinary partnership, and one which has the potential to grow even further, to the benefit of our people on both sides of the Atlantic.
We will work to build on the tremendous progress our indigenous companies have made in increasing their exports to the US.
Between 2010 and 2014, Irish indigenous exports to the US and Canada by Enterprise Ireland client companies expanded by nearly 75%.
We will also ensure that the conditions are right to maintain our competitive advantage as a location for US companies. This will be critical to meeting the ambitious overall targets for the IDA to win 900 new investments to 2020.
Our people of course remain our greatest asset.
Ireland will continue to need a workforce that is highly-skilled, adaptable and productive.
The Government’s national skills strategy is currently in development and will guide us for the coming years to meet that challenge.
We will continue to have growth-friendly tax policies based on our 12.5% corporate tax rate and a best-in-class offering to support knowledge-based investment and R&D.
In this year’s budget we also continued the process of reducing the tax burden on work.
It is clear that the rate of tax on work and jobs is becoming a drag on our recovery.
Marginal tax rates on middle income earners in Ireland are higher than in competitor countries to where many of our people have emigrated.
And indeed countries with which we are in competition for mobile talent and investment.
By reducing the Universal Social Charges rates and bands we are reducing the marginal rate of tax to 49.5% for all earners under €70,000 next year.
This is a key milestone on the path to recovery. It is the first time since April 2009 that the marginal rate has dropped below 50% for middle income workers.
Not only does our budget package put about a week’s earnings on average in the pockets of low- and middle-income working families, it will also help get our emigrants to come home.
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.
We are also working closely with our partners in Europe to strengthen the relationship with the US.
I know that for companies whose business model relies on the transfer of data to the US, the recent ECJ judgement on Safe Harbour has been problematic. Senior officials in my Department recently had a very useful meeting with the Chamber to discuss its implications.
My Department has been following closely developments in the negotiations on a revised arrangement, and just last week, met senior Commission officials to hear the outcome of Commissioner Jourova’s meeting with US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, in Washington.
While negotiations are at an advanced but sensitive stage, the Commission is determined that the outstanding issues can be resolved in the coming months.
You can all play a role in ensuring that the US Department of Commerce understands the context to and the necessity for these negotiations to come to a swift and successful conclusion.
Ireland will also continue to be a strong supporter of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which has the potential to create enormous benefits for Ireland. We will continue to push for progress in our contacts at EU level and with the US administration.
You know Ireland and the US are not just friends, with our ties, our affection, our Diaspora - we are family.
Especially on this Thanksgiving Day.
So let me wish you and all those you love, here and across the Atlantic all luck, all health and all success.
Until next Thanksgiving - God bless you all.
Thank you.
ENDS