Today this Government sets out how we will build a social recovery to accompany the economic recovery that is now under way.
This means getting more people back to work and helping small businesses to prosper, building social and affordable homes and new schools, investing in health and reducing inequality.
When I was elected Labour Party leader, I said the Government had, by necessity, focused on the task of economic repair, but that we now needed an equal emphasis on social repair.
I spoke of the need to establish a Low Pay Commission to address wage issues, the need for a major housing programme and an unrelenting focus on jobs and living standards.
Today, this Government is committing to all those priorities, and I look forward to working with the Taoiseach to achieve them.
Housing will be the number one priority of the Department of the Environment for the remainder of this Government’s term.
We will set in train a construction programme to triple the number of houses built to 25,000 a year by 2020.
There are currently 80,000 construction workers unemployed, and such a programme will create a virtuous circle – helping them back to work and providing homes for families.
And to further boost business and employment, a new Labour “Super-Junior” Minister at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will be tasked with ensuring that small businesses flourish.
In addition, the new Minister will ensure that collective bargaining is delivered to enhance workers’ rights and that the Low Pay Commission is established as a statutory body.
The Commission will make annual recommendations to Government on the appropriate level of the Minimum Wage. By taking the politics out of low pay, we will ensure that there will be no more attacks on low-paid workers to suit short-term whims.
But if we are to raise living standards, jobs, pay and conditions are only part of the solution.
This Government has broadened the tax base and put it on a sustainable foundation – so that there will be no repeat of the collapse in the public finances that occurred when the crisis struck.
That work will gradually allow us to reform income tax for low and middle-income workers, to reduce the amount they pay and allow them to share in the recovery.
And we will embark on a new cycle of investment in public services, because quality public services are essential to reducing inequality.
This includes continuing the roll-out of free GP care to the entire population, prioritising the over-70s in the next phase, with the subsequent extension of free GP care to the 6 to 11 and then the 12 to 17-year-old cohorts.
And we will embark on a new phase of political reform to restore trust in our institutions and public life.
Building on the work done by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, to protect whistleblowers and restore the Freedom of Information Act, we will establish the new independent Garda Authority; complete the review of the operation of the Judicial Appointments system; enact lobbyists’ legislation; and bring forward new legislation establishing an Electoral Commission.
We will also hold a referendum on marriage equality next spring, and I look forward to working with the Taoiseach to win that referendum.
Finally, I want the recovery to be an all-island recovery.
Essential to that task is preserving the peace and ensuring political stability in Northern Ireland, and this Government will continue to work with our British counterparts and all the political leaders to preserve the peace.
That work begins this weekend, and I appeal to all sides to ensure that all of tomorrow’s 12th of July parades pass off peacefully.
Through the priorities we are setting out today, we will ensure the recovery works for the many and not just the few, and that the burden borne by the people of this country has not been in vain.
That is our task, and we will work with head and heart to deliver.