merrion street

Good morning all.

I’m always delighted to come here to UCC, so thank you to the Department of Government for inviting me to give the Philip Monahan Lecture 2014.

I see many students here. Notable maybe for 9 am on a Friday morning. So thank you all for showing up in such numbers.

The Relevance of Philip Monahan

In putting this speech together I brought Philip Monahan to Davos. At least in notes….

The theme Reshaping the World would probably have greatly interested a man who set out to reshape a city physically and socially by building quality public housing for its inhabitants.

These were houses with gardens front and rear where people would actually like to live, to grow their roses and vegetables, to rear their families.

Those houses survive to this day. With for example French’s Villas, McSwiney’s Villas and MacCurtain’s Villas being held in great esteem and affection by generations of Cork people.

They housed greatly respected and dignified communities, producing men and women who have made a huge contribution to public services, not alone here in Cork, but well beyond Ireland’s shores.

As you know, Philip Monahan began his work of renewal in the difficult 20s and 30s.

Cork had been occupied and burned.

The people were still raw after the deaths of their Lords Mayor, Terence MacSwiney and Tomas MacCurtain and, of course, their own Michael Collins

Memory of the Ballycannon Boys, civil war, curfew, ambushes, the indignity of carrying ‘papers’ in their own city was lived and carried by the people of Cork.

At night, in houses across city and county, the Great War was fought every night as men and their families struggled with Shell Shock, or more grievously still, with the sense of ‘shame’ put on them by those with a limited understanding of what constitutes compassion, heroism and courage.

But Philip Monahan was not deterred. With his eyes fixed firmly on the future he set about dismantling tenement Cork and housing people of the city well, comfortably under the differential rent system.

He knew that to achieve this he would have to engage and encourage the staff of Cork Corporation to buy into his vision. That all of them would have to work together. In common purpose to bring these ambitious plans to fruition.

He was adamant that the housing itself would be all about the people who would live there.

It would suit the people’s needs, the people’s lives, it would not be confined or held back by ‘the system’.

Renewing Politics and the Public Service

Like Philip Monahan and this city, the Government too has been working to reshape the country.

In my first speech as Taoiseach I spoke of how we needed to leave the darkness, Ireland’s long economic winter, behind.

That we should lift up our heads, turn our faces to the sun, as we started our journey of recovery and renewal.

There’s no doubt it’s been a difficult, at times harrowing, journey for our people.

But since they gave us the mandate to fix our broken economy, to get our people back to work, to restore our international reputation, we knew we couldn’t fail them.

We knew too that the old ways wouldn’t work.

We need something different, something new.

Which meant modernising our system of government and administration.

Equally, it meant seeing Ireland travel further on its journey to being ‘a real Republic’.

One that is more compassionate, equal, inclusive and generous to all its citizens.

Including our children who are recognised by the Constitution as citizens in their own right for the first time.

Fixing the Economy

Three years ago we faced a shrinking economy, skyrocketing unemployment, and an exploding deficit.

We came to Office as Ireland was forced into an EU/IMF bailout with our international reputation in ruins.

Last month this country successfully exited from that bailout.

It has been a very difficult time for the country. But due to the commitment and determination of the Irish people we have reason to be positive again.

Today the economy is growing, we have seen over 58,000 new jobs created in the past year, and we have hit our deficit reduction targets without fail as we put the country back on a solid footing.

As the first country inside the Euro area to successfully emerge from an EU/IMF bailout, it is a significant vote of international confidence in Ireland and an important milestone.

We returned to the private debt markets and recently Moody’s became the latest ratings agency to upgrade Ireland to investment status and changed our outlook to positive.

Ireland is now a highly competitive and stable location for investment and jobs.

As a Government we plan to safeguard this progress by ensuring we put the country back on self financing basis. We will reduce the deficit to under 3% of GDP by 2015 and plan to eliminate it altogether by 2018.

This is a major part of our plan to make Ireland the best small country in the world for business.

We remain a location of choice to establish, grow, and invest in enterprise. I’m delighted that during this day I will attend a number of great economic and jobs announcements around Cork.

The priority for 2014 will remain firmly on jobs.

At 12.4% the unemployment rate remains far too high.

Throughout this year there will be a series of new initiatives and plans to support Irish businesses to export, innovate and employ more people.

Modernising Government and Administration

There is no greater threat to the long term economic and social wellbeing of our nation than that of long term unemployment.

As the Government deficit falls, reducing unemployment will be the Government's top priority in the second half of this Government's lifetime.

We cannot allow economic recovery to bypass the tens of thousands of families that saw their lives turned upside down by the economic collapse. Getting people back to work will require a much more coordinated response among all relevant Departments and agencies.

This represents one of the biggest public sector reforms introduced by this Government to date.

We are implementing our landmark strategy ‘Pathways to Work’ which sets out an entirely new vision for our welfare and employment services.

Instead of being cast adrift by the State, jobseekers now face group engagements, one-on-one interviews, skills and experience assessments, training and work placements, as we continue to roll out one stop shop Intreo offices nationwide.

Engagement with these services is now fully compulsory if jobseekers wish to continue to receive benefits. 2014 will see the Government continue its ambitious and pressing agenda in rolling out new services across the country as we build a modern employment and activation support service.

Given the scale of the crisis we will be contracting in additional caseworker support in the second half of 2014 from the voluntary and private sector which will better support jobseekers on their path back to work.

Local Government Reform

But welfare is just one part of our public service that is undergoing a complete overhaul this year.

Another is Local Government, which I know Philip Monahan would approve of.

This year will see the most fundamental reform of the local government system in Ireland in over 100 years.

It will see us move from the current system of local government with limited functions, that is overly dependent on central funding, one that’s often distant from the very communities it’s meant to serve.

In its place we will put a coherent system, one that is the heart of governance and public service, at local level.

In this new model local government will have a bigger role in promoting economic development through the new Local Enterprise Offices.

These will be a “one-stop-shop” to support small businesses.

The introduction of the Local Property Tax will ensure that there is a direct financial relationship between communities and their local governments.

This will bring greater responsibility and accountability to the role of the elected members, energising local democracy.

Public Service Reform

Yes, you might say, we have our work cut out for us. Because we’re reforming the entire public service and not just one part of it.

We know all too well that the Public Service has a central role to play in underpinning economic growth.

We know equally that the quality of public institutions is a crucial factor in contributing to Ireland’s attractiveness for foreign investment.

It also makes it so much easier for domestic businesses to function.

But as Philip Monahan knew so well, our public service doesn’t exist to sustain jobs or to support ‘systems’.

Our public service exists for the people.

Its function is to make our lives better, be it in how we’re treated in a hospital, how we get to work, how well our children are taught in school.

That’s why this January, the Government published a new Public Service Reform Plan which plans a new wave of reform across every sector.

In particular, it focuses on how the public will get better services and be able to access them easier and faster.

The Haddington Road Agreement is particularly important in this respect as it will deliver 15 million extra working hours from public servants and 1 billion euro in savings.

Political Reform

When we came to Office I said we would be a very open government.

To make sure we are, we have introduced legislation to reform the Freedom of Information Act.

The restoration and extension of FOI is central to the delivery of the Government’s reform agenda to secure greater openness, transparency and accountability of public governance.

In addition to reversing the substantive restrictions on FOI introduced in 2003 and extending FOI to all public bodies, the new FOI Bill contains a number of important innovations to update, modernise and enhance Ireland’s FOI legislation.

We have also introduced the Protected Disclosures Bill which will promote the exposure of wrongdoing in the workplace by protecting whistleblowers.

Equally, we’re introducing the Regulation of Lobbying legislation which will create a public register of lobbyists so their influence can be traced.

Oireachtas Reform

The ultimate power and influence though is and must be with the Oireachtas.

That’s why we have given the Oireachtas Committees more authority including a pre-legislative role where they consult with civil society groups and individuals. And enhanced powers of inquiry. It’s easy to talk about ‘transparency’. But this is political and executive transparency in practice.

Where we’ve brought in a new Dáil schedule with Friday sittings, a schedule that gives more time for debate of legislation.

TDs are engaging in this process, there are 29 Private Members Bills put forward to date on a wide range of issues.

In addition, I have extended the work of the Constitutional Convention to the end of March. Indeed, tomorrow they will discuss Dáil Reform. I look forward to hearing the outcome of their deliberations.

Already, on foot of their recommendations, the Government has committed to holding referendums before the end of 2015 on

(i) reducing the voting age to 16;

(ii) reducing the age of candidacy for Presidential elections from 35 to 21; and

(iii) Same-sex marriage

The Government will also look at making Article 41.2 on the role of women gender-neutral and at including other carers both in and beyond the home; and to look at amending the Constitution to include the principle of gender equality and also to include gender-inclusive language.

Most critically, the Convention comprises 66 members of the public. It is the first time that the general public has been given an active role in the direction the country takes in terms of policy formation.

The citizen is there at the earliest possible stage of consideration and deliberation of issues that are put to the people in referendum.

Seanad Reform

On the Seanad referendum, I respect the decision of the Irish people.

They voted to keep the Seanad. Though there appeared to be little enough appetite for it to continue in its present form.

So now it’s time to look very closely at the Seanad, to see how it can best serve its purpose as a House of the Oireachtas in the 21st century.

It’s 35 years since the people decided in a referendum to extend the university franchise to other institutions of higher education in the State.

35 years on we are the first government to act on that stated public desire.

Right now, a Bill is being prepared to implement that 1979 constitutional amendment and to reform the arrangements for the election of the six university members.

The legislation will provide for a single six-seat constituency and for one register of electors.

The franchise will be extended to all holders of a degree, or equivalent qualification, from an institution of higher education in the State.

Conclusion

From all of this you can see that when it comes to changing our public service and how it works, we haven’t been slacking.

On the contrary, since coming to Office we’ve been working hard across all areas to overhaul the way Irish politics, government and public services operate.

We’re committed to this because we believe there must be a shift in power from the State to the citizen.

A culture and practice of greater accountability and transparency are crucial if we are to achieve this.

Democratic government, not least the government of a still-young republic, must always be about the common good.

Yes the economic crisis damaged the trust between the citizen and the State.

And rebuilding that trust - remaking government as something worthy of public trust - has been central to our work to date.

As democrats, we ‘mind the gap’. For the sake of our democracy, our citizens, we make sure that the gap is filled. And to the highest strands of probity and accountability.

But to do any of it, all of it, we need you. The government and the people working together side by side.

It is the best and only way to make our country what we want it to be as we face the centenary of 1916.

The best place to rear our children, start and grow our businesses, live a good life with dignity and opportunity and to grow old with security and dignity.

Our Ireland. The one we create together.