This week marks the third anniversary of the formation of this Government. A national Government, formed at a moment of profound crisis for our country.
But if March 2011 was a critical moment in Ireland’s economic crisis, then 2014 is the pivotal moment in our country’s recovery.
This is a moment when we decide, as a people, how we share this recovery.
As a party, Labour is clear: recovery must mean that if you’re looking for work, you can find it. And that if you work for a living, that you should be able to afford to live.
Recovery must also mean that when the public finances allow, that we can ease the burden on hard pressed families.
As a coalition government, we have sought to reflect the determination, and decency, of the Irish people in the decisions that we have taken. Decisions that have taken us from a crisis that destroyed a quarter of a million jobs, to a recovery that is seeing, on average, 5,000 new jobs being created every month.
This time three years ago, the State did not have enough money to fund itself to the end of the year. Unemployment was heading for half a million people. And the only way of keeping the country running, was to accept the Troika loans, and the harsh terms that came with them.
It is fair to say, that Ireland was not coming to those negotiations from a position of strength.
But this Government said we would renegotiate a bad deal, and we did.
We said we would renegotiate the Anglo promissory notes, and last year we did that too – cutting the debt burden by €20 billion, and consigning Anglo Irish Bank to history.
And we said that we would work our way out of the Troika bailout, which we did successfully last December.
Ireland is, rightly, regarded as Europe's success story. An economy that had been catastrophically run aground, but which is now forecast to grow by 2% this year.
But the test for our country, and for this Government, is how people share in this recovery.
I was in Limerick recently, and I met a former construction worker whose livelihood collapsed almost overnight when the bust happened. It’s hard to make ends meet when you don’t know where your next job is coming from. Recovery has to mean the opportunity for full-time, secure work again.
And we all know of young couples in Dublin, Cork, Galway and right across the country who can just about afford to buy a home, but are being squeezed out because of lack of housing supply.
That is why this year, we are determined to get construction activity back to normal – normal for our economy, and normal for our population needs.. We are currently working on a strategy for the construction sector, that has the potential to create 60,000 new jobs over the next five years.
And it is why we will also pass legislation to establish, on a statutory footing, a strategic investment fund, to invest €6 billion in critical infrastructure and sectors with high potential for growth.
Recovery must also mean that people who are looking for work, have access to the new jobs that are coming on stream.
That is why we will drive on with the Action Plan for Jobs, and with Pathways to Work, to connect people who are currently on the live register with those new jobs. Part of that will see Solas, the new skills agency, publishing the country's first ever further education and training strategy to make sure that people can access the right training, for the right jobs, in the right place.
And as recovery in the public finances allows, there also has to be recovery in the money people have in their pockets at the end of the month.
With a lower budget adjustment last year, it was possible both to meet our deficit targets, and introduce measures to help young families, such as free GP visits for children under six. As I have said before, if and when there is scope to reduce the burden of taxation in our economy, our priority must be to help hard-pressed families.
Finally, we have to make sure that people who are still struggling with unsustainable mortgage debt, are not left behind. As a Government, we have set a target for the banks that they have to make a sustainable offer to every family in mortgage distress by the end of the year. If people are willing to find a solution to their mortgage problems, then as a Government, we will expect banks to offer one.
For too long in our country, people have been living with a fear of the future. Fear for their families’ future. Our focus now, in 2014, is ensuring that nothing puts recovery at risk, and in making the choices that ensure people can plan for the future again, with hope.
If the first half of this Government was about fixing the crisis, the second half is about ensuring the recovery delivers for people. There is still work to do – to drive down unemployment, to grow confidence, to finish the job of fixing our public finances.
We are determined to finish that job, not as an end in itself, but as the foundation for a country that is a good place to work, to raise a family, and to plan for a secure future.