Arts for all
A flourishing arts scene all round the country will be an integral part of our quality of life in the 21st century. Our artists and athletes bring out our extraordinary reservoir of talent. For too long, the best of them have had to go abroad for their training. We want to allow every person to have the opportunity to fulfil their dreams in our own country. The centrepiece of the Fianna Fail programme for the arts has been the establishment of an Irish academy of the performing arts, and for sport the building of a national stadium.
Fighting crime
Fianna Fail regards reducing crime as a deadly serious priority. Our overriding aim is to rebuild Ireland's civic society, make our local communities strong and to sustain confidence in law and order. We are implementing our pledge to increase the number of gardai to 12,000 and the number of pri son places by 2,000. We will be introducing within a few weeks the new bail laws. We are finally ending the revolving-door syndrome, which is one of the clearest injustices of all.
We have introduced some of the strongest anti-crime measures ever put into law. We will show no tolerance to the drug-dealers who endanger or ruin young lives, but we are providing better and non-judgmental facilities for those seeking to be cured of drug addiction. Now that we have cut the crime rate by 20 per cent, some critics think it is time to ease up. They are wrong. This party will redouble its efforts to reduce crime further and make this country one of the safest in the world for our people.
Defence
The Defence White Paper contains an agreed long-term strategy supportive of the needs of the Defence Forces. It will guarantee the manpower, the resources and the equipment that our security force personnel need for their immediate tasks, including peacekeeping, marine search and rescue, and fisheries protection.
Northern Ireland
Peace in Northern Ireland and a permanent transformation of relationships within this island is the single thing that we most want to see in our lifetime. We can truly say, when we had all the institutions of the Good Friday agreement up and running for 10 weeks, that we have seen the future and it works. The establishment of an inclusive executive, ranging from the Ulster Unionists and the DUP to the SDLP and Sinn Fein, was a marvellous achievement.
It is a great tribute to all concerned, but in particular to the First Minister David Trimble and the Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon. The new ministers certainly made an impact. A series of North-South ministerial meetings took place, and showed the huge potential for co-operation. We are also developing our relationships with Scotland and Wales. In those few short weeks, the institutions were moving into real politics. They were dealing with decisions of real concern to people on issues like hospitals, schools and roads.
We welcome plans to implement the Patten report on policing, the integrity of which is fundamental to creating a widely acceptable police force and to future stability. The new system of government is very popular and, given a chance, will create a sense of security, confidence and wellbeing that has not been experienced up till now by most people.
It was a great pity that the institutions of the Good Friday agreement had to be temporarily suspended when they were working so well. It was unfortunate that, right up to the last minute, more progress had not been made in sorting out the very difficult arms issue and in demilitarising areas like south Armagh. I understand only too well the difficulties that some people have with the very idea of decommissioning but, if democracy is to flourish, if inclusive partnership government is to be sustained, then all the armies must be stood down.
Fianna Fail stands for a modern, progressive and enlightened republicanism suitable to the Ireland of the 21st century. Our political philosophy has not stood still since 1918, but evolved naturally through the decades under all the leaders of our party, Eamon de Valera, Sean Lemass, Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds, each of whom made in their different ways important and distinctive contributions.
Having helped to bring about the second IRA ceasefire, the negotiation of the Good Friday agreement and its implementation have been the focus of the most intensive efforts by my Government. We can be proud of intensive efforts we have made since then, day in and day out, and in long nights of negotiations. But our work for peace and for better relationships must go on. Temporary obstacles will be overcome and progress will be resumed.
A few small groups still suffer from the lingering delusion that it is possible to bring about a forced unity. More than 40 years ago, Eamon de Valera predicted absolutely accurately that it would not work, and that even if it could, it would ruin national life for generations. The only alternative policy, and it has long been Fianna Fail policy, is to move forward on the basis of agreement and consent, whilst insisting on an equality of rights. Far more can be achieved by negotiation and co-operation than by diktat. This is the guiding principle of the political settlement that was overwhelmingly endorsed by the people of Ireland North and South in the referendums of May 22nd, 1998.
The Good Friday agreement, like the peace which it underpins, has a value in itself. We can be proud of what we have achieved in our generation. It is for the people of North and South to determine their future together. We cannot prejudge now what may be further agreed in 10, 15 or 20 years' time but, in all events, it is indispensable to build trust and co-operation, and to develop a habit of working together North and South. We will only ever unite with people if we are prepared to treat them as equals and friends, and respect leaders of parties whose function is to protect the basic interests of their community, as they, and not we, see it.
Northern Ireland has most to gain from a political settlement that is allowed to work. Better community relations will stimulate additional much-needed business and investment. This island of Ireland, North and South, can offer all its people the prospect of a future that will be equal to anything that can be found elsewhere.
But our relations and our friendship with the communities north of the Border, some of which identify with us and some of which do not, should be allowed to develop naturally. I thank the members of this party who have gone out of their way to invite political speakers and groups from every side in the North, so as to improve mutual understanding.
An Ghaeilge
Glacadh ceim thabhachtach maidir le leathnu na Gaeilge le bunu an Fhorais Teanga faoi choimirce Comhaontu Aoine an Cheasta, ceim a threisionn le dha cheann de bhunchuspoiri Fhianna Fail. Don chead uair, ta foras oifigiuil ar an bhfod arb e a churam an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn ar fud oilean na hEireann.
Laistigh den Fhoras, beidh gniomhair eacht ar leith dirithe ar an nGaeilge. Oib reoidh seo tre mhean na Gaeilge agus beidh priomhfheidhmeannach da chuid fein aici. Tugtar aitheantas sa chomhaontu do sheasamh ar leith na Gaeilge, bunreachtuil agus eile, sa Stat abhus.
Ta bord laidir forasach ceaptha chun an gniomhaireacht a stiuru, faoi chathaoir leacht mna cumasach as Ard Mhacha. Le fiche bliain, ta fuinneamh ar leith le sonru i measc an phobail o thuaidh maidir le saothru na Gaeilge. Ta muid go leir ag suil go dtabharfaidh an insteallu seo on dTuaisceart uire agus diograis nua leis, sna hiarrachtai chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn ar fud na hEireann, theas agus thuaidh.
Those who live in remote Gaeltacht areas and our offshore islands, though a fountainhead of our culture, have long had to contend with sub-standard infrastructure. We are determined to redress this problem, as the Gaeltacht and the islands are a vital part of what we are.
Peroration
Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight as Uachtaran Fianna Fail, as Taoiseach. I am proud of where our country stands at present. I am proud too of where we have come from, of the journey we have made together. Most of all I am proud of our shared vision of a better future for all our people.
The long years of mass unemployment and emigration are over. New industries the world over want to invest in our future. Our people who once left in vast numbers are now returning. They are helping us forge that better future. Insecurity is being replaced by confidence, begrudgery by generosity. We are building not only a better future; we are creating a new and outward-looking identity.
We in Fianna Fail have a heritage of which we are rightly proud. We have people who are confident of their standing in the world. We have talent, we have values, and we have vision. The challenge we face in Fianna Fail is to build an Ireland for all our people, an open Ireland, an accountable Ireland, an Ireland that includes all our people; mainstream, minority or marginalised; an Ireland that listens, an Ireland that hears, an Ireland with the generous beating heart our people are famous for.
Ireland is her people, North and South, east and west. With Fianna Fail the Republican Party, your party, at the helm, we are building a better Ireland for everyone. For us in Fianna Fail, leadership is about public service. Leading Ireland's people forward with pride, with confidence and with huge hope into the new millennium. Go raibh maith agaibh.