Ladies and Gentlemen
I am delighted to be here again in Glenties, and to have the
opportunity to present this lecture in honour of John Hume.
Through a lifetime of work, determination, courage, persistence and
vision, John Hume, more than most, has shaped the Ireland in which we
live today.
I am particularly pleased to be asked to give the 2012 John Hume
lecture, since this year marks the centenary of the foundation of the
Labour Party. It is fitting, in a year of celebration and reflection
for Labour, that I should pay tribute to a man who for many years led
our sister party in Northern Ireland, the Social Democratic and Labour
Party. A man who stood courageously for the core labour values of
civil rights, equality and peaceful democratic politics.
The theme of this year’s proceedings here in Glenties, is ‘reforming
and rebuilding our state’. Throughout the 100 years of our existence,
reforming and rebuilding Ireland is and always has been the Labour
Party’s mission. Reform not for its own sake, but reform for the
purpose of building a better and fairer society As Labour celebrates
its centenary, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on how the
progressive agenda stands today, and more importantly what the
progressive priorities are for the future.
Last Wednesday afternoon I attended a meeting of the Government’s
economic management council. The EMC, as it is known, consists of
myself and the Taoiseach, Michael Noonan the Minister for Finance and
the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin. This
group meets every week, together with senior officials, to discuss key
economic issues, and the strategic management of the economic crisis.
The EMC is itself a reform – a new way of doing joined up Government
across Departments and Institutions. A new way of decision making in
a coalition Government. A new way to make key economic decisions at
the heart of Government.
What struck me about last Wednesday in particular, was how different
the tone of the meeting was, compared to some of the EMC meetings that
we had in the first few months of the life of this Government.
In those early days, the crisis that we faced was existential. There
were days when I feared for the financial survival of the State.
Today, while the problems we face are still grave, we are in a much
stronger position. Following agreement at the European summit on
Ireland’s bank debt, and given the progress that we have made on a
number of core economic issues – including a significant stimulus
package – our prospects of economic recovery have been substantially
improved.
No one doubts that there are still difficulties to confront. No one
doubts that the true test of progress is the creation of jobs and
improving the situation of those thousands of families in Ireland who
have been profoundly affected by the crisis. But we now have a far
stronger platform on which to build.
The core task of this Government is to deal with the deep economic
crisis that we inherited, and to build a sustainable economic
recovery. It is our clear and stated aim, to restore financial
stability, to renew growth, and above all, to create jobs. To restore
our economic sovereignty, by exiting the EU/IMF programme. As Leader
of the Labour Party, it is clear to me that these are the first
priorities for any progressive agenda.
But this is also a Government of Reform.
Determined that this moment of crisis will also be a genuine turning point.
One of my abiding memories of John Hume is from late 1993, when he was
moved to tears at the funeral of the victims of the Greysteel
Massacre. It was one of the darkest moments of the troubles – a low
point of sectarianism that threatened to drown the tentative moves
towards peace. But it was also a turning point - a moment when
people saw the vital necessity of dialogue. That dark and difficult
time was almost 20 years ago. The Ireland we live in today is
virtually unrecognisable. The troubles as we knew them are at an end.
We have a functioning power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
Ministers from North and South of the border meet regularly in a
North-South Ministerial Council to discuss matters of common interest.
And the visit of Queen Elizabeth has opened a whole new chapter in
the relationship between Ireland and Britain, which was subsequently
documented in the joint statement of the Taoiseach and Prime Minister
Cameron. Who would have thought that any of this was possible only
twenty years ago?
Twenty years ago, homosexuality was effectively illegal in the
republic, and divorce was banned by the Constitution. Today, we live
in a far more open and tolerant Ireland, where we have civil
partnerships for gay couples and the question of full marriage
equality is being put to a constitutional convention.
What is so striking about these examples, is the contrast between
looking back and looking forward. Events of 20 years ago can seem
like they only happened yesterday. Looking forward twenty years into
the future can seem like peering into a dim and distant haze. The
future always seems further away than the past. And yet we can see
that from great moments of crisis, can also come great change, if we
have a vision of what we want to achieve, and the determination and
courage to pursue it.
Let us ask ourselves this question: If we are to look back on this
moment in twenty years time, what is it that we want to have achieved?
Whether it be the 120th anniversary of the Labour party, or the
120th anniversary of 1916, will we be able to able to say that this
was a reforming generation? That we made a lasting impact on the
course of Irish history?
The answer to that question, will depend, not on the specifics of any
one policy, or the technicalities of any one reform.
It will depend on our capacity to deal both with the immediate
problems of today, and to address the great issues of today and
tomorrow (and in some cases of yesterday too).
It will depend on our capacity to recognise that reforming and
rebuilding our state, is not a goal in itself, but a means to building
a society that better serves its people.
It will depend, not simply on the actions of Governments, but on the
willingness of individuals both to embrace and work for change.
Hume’s vision of an Ireland at peace, with mutual respect for, and by,
its different traditions could not have been achieved without the
consent of the people. Neither could the massive social changes of
the past two or three decades.
Reforming and rebuilding the state is not, therefore, just an exercise
in constitutional amendment, the changing of laws or the remaking of
institutions. These elements are, of course, important, but they are
actions located in a changing economic and social context, and their
real significance can only be appreciated or evaluated over a longer
period of time. That is why we have to approach the task of reforming
and rebuilding, not by trying out something new in the hope that it
will work 20 years from now, but to place ourselves 20 years forward
and to look back to the present so that we can make the right
decisions to remake the Ireland we want to see in 20 years time. This
inevitably involves the making of political choices about the future
of our society and those choices go far beyond the institutional.
Reforming and re-building the State can not happen in isolation from
the great changes that are taking place in the world around us. At
times of crisis, it is all too easy to turn inwards. To focus on
repairing what was broken at home. But failing to prepare for what is
happening beyond our own horizons is like fixing the ceiling while
ignoring that the house is missing a roof, or that a new housing
estate is being developed all around us.
We can no longer think of reform and rebuilding this State as a purely
domestic project. Our state does not stand in splendid isolation. We
have, as a result of the Good Friday Agreement, a developing set of
relationships, some of them institutional, with Northern Ireland and
with Britain. We are an integrated part of a changing European Union,
and we share a currency with sixteen other states. We share a
world
where economics is global, communications are instant, and we have
common concerns about peace, security, energy, environment and
climate.
Today the European Union spreads from the Atlantic coast of Connemara
to the Black Sea. In 20 years time, will the EU’s border stretch to
the Russian steppes? Today, we are a Union of 27 member states. 20
years from now that number could be closer to 40. Ireland was a
member state when there were only nine. How are we, as a small state,
to exercise our influence and leadership in a much bigger and more
populous Union? Ireland’s Presidency of the EU at the beginning of
next year will be crucial, as we are unlikely to occupy that role
again for at least 14 years. Our chairmanship of the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (the OSCE), is also important in
this context as it enables us to provide leadership, in an
international organisation which is important to aspiring EU member
states.
The context is not even confined to Europe. Economically many believe
that this will be the Asian century. That is why we are putting a new
emphasis on our political and trade relationship with the countries of
Asia, including China. The visit to Ireland by Chinese Vice Premier
Xi earlier this year was hugely important, as was the
subsequent visit by the Taoiseach and the signing of a Strategic
Partnership Agreement between China and Ireland.
If Asia is the new economic power in the early decades of the 21st
century, then Africa is the coming continent. Seven of the world’s
ten fastest growing economies are in Africa. Africa can go from being
a net food importer today, to feeding a growing world population.
Some world powers, especially China, already recognise this. Ireland
is uniquely placed to develop a thriving relationship with the African
continent. We carry no colonial baggage, and we have built a
relationship for friendship and respect in Africa through our
Development Aid Programme and right back to the work of our
missionaries. We can build on this, which is why last year we
launched our Africa Strategy charting the progress we can make from
Aid to Trade. That is why I will be travelling to East Africa later
this week, to pursue that strategy further.
And what does a growing global population mean for finite resources?
Global commodity prices are rising, having fallen steadily during the
20th century. Now, if the only way is up (and it’s not certain that
it is), will scarcity be the mother of invention, or of tension?
One thing that is certain, will be the globalisation of the drive to
reduce greenhouse gases. Following Durban last December, the clock is
ticking on agreeing a binding deal on carbon reduction by 2015, coming
into force by 2020. In 20 years time the oil race will have become
its opposite. The race to decarbonise economic growth is already
underway. The future rests with those countries who, like Ireland can
produce large amounts of renewable energy. Twenty years from now we
will really value the fact that 90% of this county's territory is the
sea and ocean around us. The national maritime policy which has just
been completed by the Government, is the blueprint for the re-building
of this State, not just as 26 counties of land, but of our vast, and
resource rich maritime area as well.
Since the Great Famine, and before it, the economy of Ireland has not,
for any sustained period of time, provided a secure and sustainable
living for all the people of Ireland. On any analysis of Irish
economic performance over a century or more, forced emigration stands
out as our greatest failing. And yet we should and do have the
resources, the knowledge, the skills and the capacity to build an
economy here that provides good and sustainable jobs for our people.
We can build an export-led, knowledge driven economy, that is
connected to the main sources of global economic growth. We should
never again allow ourselves to become dependent on any one sector, or
any one market, and certainly not on the domestic property sector. In
the 21st century Ireland must connect itself to the economic
opportunities that are emerging in the east, and in Africa. When we
look back on this moment in 20 years time, we should see this as a
time when Ireland re-assessed its position in the global trading
system. When we made a long term and strategic decision to build
relationships in new and emerging economies, including China.
Relationships that complement, rather than replace, our existing
markets in Europe, and America.
Three times since the Second World War– in the 1950s, the 1980s, and
in the last decade, bad economic management in Ireland has led to
economic stagnation. We cannot go on like this. The lessons of the
crisis have to be learned, not least because it is working people who
suffer most in recession, through loss of jobs and lower living
standards. A small open economy has to manage its public finances
prudently and with a far greater eye to long term sustainability.
That is a lesson that the Nordic social democratic economies learned
decades ago. In passing the European Stability Treaty, we have
adopted a set of rules which will provide for better management of our
affairs. We have established a Fiscal Advisory council to cast an
independent eye over forecasts and budgets. And, critically, the
European Union has decided to establish a banking union, so that the
regulation of banking, and the costs of banking failures, will in
future be managed on a collective European basis. This must be the
moment when we break out of the cycle of economic crises. For the
sake of the children born this year, who will be approaching college
graduation 20 years from now, and seeking employment.
We all know the phrase from the 1916 Proclamation about the Republic
cherishing all the children of the nation equally. Too often in our
recent past, those words have been a reproach to us, rather than an
inspiration. Too many times, as a state, we have failed our children.
In this too, the present crisis must be a watershed. This Government
is engaged in a major programme of reform of how we deliver children’s
services. But we must also bring about lasting change. Now is the
time to amend our Constitution to provide for the protection and
rights of our children, and the Government is determined to bring
forward a referendum to that end in the autumn.
The men and women who founded the Labour Party came from thatched
cottages and tenement slums. They were born into a world where the
circumstances of your birth very often dictated the horizons of your
life. No-one can say that, in the past fifty years, economic progress
in Ireland has not brought social progress. Since the 1960s, the
educational revolution has opened up opportunity across our society.
Like many others, I was a beneficiary of those changes.
But we have more to do. Even today, too many of our children have
their lives defined by the limitations of their family circumstances.
We must ensure that the economy that we build from this crisis, is one
that offers greater opportunities for all of our people.
The changes that we are making in education, through a new national
literacy strategy, and in reforming the curriculum for Junior
Certificate are absolutely fundamental to that agenda. The Government
is working hard to reform the system of training and welfare support
to ensure that people have a wider range of skills and opportunities.
Then there are the other hallmarks of a modern, progressive country,
such as access to medical care based on need, not income. Ireland is
something of a rarity in developed European countries in having an
up-front charge of €50 or more to visit a GP.
This is the first Government in the history of the State that has
pledged to introduce universal health insurance. It’s ambitious. It
will take time. But we can do it if we take it step by step,
redirecting a small fraction of the €14 billion Health budget to lower
that bar, incentivising people to get treated earlier by their GP, and
so freeing up more expensive hospital time. My colleague Roisin
Shortall has already done enormous work in the area of primary care,
and the first phase of GP care without fees for patients with some
chronic illnesses is set to be
introduced this year. And the recently
announced stimulus package provides finance for the first phase of the
primary health care centres.
Of course, progress goes beyond what can be measured by income, or by
the number of people in third level, or life expectancy. It is not
just about what we achieve collectively, but also about how, as a
society, we allow individuals to flourish. The freedom they enjoy to
pursue their own good, their own way.
Ireland today is very different from the Ireland of 20 years ago, but
there is still some road to travel before we can say that ours is a
republic that treats its citizens, regardless of their faith or their
sexual orientation, equally. Now is the time to build a new
relationship between Church and State in Ireland, based on mutual
understanding and respect, but also on the primacy of personal
freedom.
For many people, when we speak of reforming and rebuilding our state,
we are essentially talking about politics. If, as many people
believe, politics failed us before the crisis, can we construct
something better?
We have to look at this issue at a number of levels.
We can, as the Government is doing, tighten the laws on political
funding and political corruption. We can, and will through the
Constitutional Convention, examine our voting system to see if we can
improve on our present constitutional arrangements. But on another
level, you cannot legislate for honesty, and no matter what voting
system you have, the outcomes will reflect our broader political
culture.
That culture is changing, not least because of the revolution that is
happening in how and where we get our news, with the internet and
social media making news more immediate. A growing number of people
are no longer buying newspapers and are getting their news online.
Twenty years from now, will newspapers as we know them still exist?
Where will people turn for reliable information and commentary? How
will people be sure that the information that they are getting is
accurate, or that commentary is reflective rather than reactive.
Edmund Burke has been credited with being the first person to refer to
the press as the fourth estate – not part of the State, but essential
to it. We need a free media that will hold Government and other
institutions to account. We need a media that will provide for fair
and balanced debate, but the only thing we can be certain of, is that
the media will look radically different in twenty years time.
Our world is changing. It is far more integrated and inter-dependent.
More and more, our daily lives are, and will be, influenced by
events and trends beyond our borders. Our young people, in
particular, see themselves as citizens of the globe. But what kind of
global citizen does Ireland want to be?
20 years ago, Mary Robinson moved us all with the tears that she shed
for the people of Somalia. Today, once again, famine stalks the horn
of Africa.
One thing that we can be proud of in how we have managed this crisis,
is that, as a country, we have kept faith with the world’s poorest
people. We have managed to sustain our aid effort, and our engagement
in development co-operation, especially in Africa. Of course, there
are also benefits to Ireland in what we do - we will, over time, see
maturing ties of trade, as well as aid. As a result of our history we
can identify with those affected by what is still one of the world’s
greatest ills – hunger, and nutrition is a strong focus of our aid
programme.
None if what I have outlined here is impossible. Progress is
something that is in our own hands. In many areas, it is already
happening.
When we think of reforming and rebuilding our state, we inevitably
come back to political and institutional architecture. Perhaps it is
only in 20 years time that we will appreciate the massive reform and
rebuilding agenda which this Government is undertaking.
A Constitutional Convention, dominated not by experts and politicians,
but two-thirds of those members will be individual citizens chosen at
random
We will hold a referendum to decide whether we have one parliamentary
chamber or two and whether we should have a Senate at all
We are reducing the membership of Dail Eireann at a time when our
population is increasing
We are planning the biggest reform of local government since the 1890s
We are undertaking a major overhaul of public bodies as part of the
biggest reform of our public services, driven by a dedicated
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
We are undertaking a major change in the way state companies are
managed through the creation of NewEra
And there are many more examples.
20 years from now, some these changes will stand out more than others.
It would not surprise me if the one which is most valued 20 years
from now is the decision we recently made to establish a State Water
Utility to manage our water resources. Water may be the great
resource issue of the 21st century, and to deal with that challenge we
have decided to establish a water utility that will keep water in
public ownership and provide finance for it.
I am hopeful for our future. I believe that Ireland is a good
country, with enormous reserves of talent, determination and grit.
Our economy will recover. But it is not enough simply to put the
pieces back together again. We must build something better and new.
This crisis can be a turning point.
We can build a new and better Ireland.
If, like John Hume, we have vision, and courage, determination and
tenacity. Not just politicians, or the Government, but every one of
us.
Thank you.