Speech by An Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen, TD, Fianna Fáil National Councillors' Forum Annual Conference, Tullamore Court Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly, Saturday November 29th 2008
"Cllr Deirdre Forde, Chairperson of the Fianna Fáil National Councillors' Forum and your Executive, Ministers, Councillors, Members of the Parliamentary Party, fellow members of Fianna Fáil
In less than 30 weeks, the Irish people will cast their votes in Local Elections. This gathering is an important marker on the road to that contest. Today, we will talk about the challenges we face as a party and a nation and take on board the views of our councillors and candidates who are at the cutting edge of community life across Ireland.
Your insights and perspectives are crucial to shaping our campaign. Your energy and commitment is the engine, which will drive local government reform. We all know Local Government is at the heart of the delivery of services. Local Government is central to the quality of life in every rural and urban community, across the country.
We meet at an economically difficult time. As a country we are immersed in a critical fight to counter a global recession, on foot of a financial crises and credit crunch. It is a downturn affecting the economies of nations around the world. It would not only be dishonest but delusional for us to suggest today that the new fiscal climate will have no impact on local government.
Our duty as representatives of the people and as members of this proud party is to deal with reality as it is, not how we might like it to be. I am reminded here of the words of one of Fianna Fáil's great founders, Frank Aiken. He used to say that while the Party was important, the nation was paramount. That is why today, and in the days ahead our paramount responsibility must be to lead Ireland through the dark waters of this economic crisis, and restore the prosperity that our people worked so hard to win.
As we move towards an election year it is natural that people will become increasingly focused on the party¿s standing. But just as we saw in the last general election, in Ireland polls can change faster than the weather. The best way forward is for us to focus on doing our job properly, even if that means making hard choices. Put simply, we must do what is right.
In the period since the last Local Elections, this country has made great progress. When times were good, we invested wisely in schools, roads, public transport, communications and housing, giving us one of the highest rates of public investment in Europe. We have dramatically increased the State pension for our elderly, child benefit for our working families and we have significantly reduced the tax burden, particularly for the lower paid and those on average incomes. We have increased the number of Gardaí, teachers, doctors and nurses serving our people. The average industrial wage has risen substantially while the tax bill paid by workers has reduced. Our completion rates for second and third-level education are amongst the highest in the EU. All of this is a solid base of achievement and the fruits of wise policies pursued in economically favourable times.
In this period, we halved the national debt and there are still more than two million people working in the country despite rises in unemployment during the past year and a similar trend in 2009. In a global recession, our first priority must be to protect that progress to the greatest extent possible. We did not solve every problem in Ireland in the past decade. But we made more progress in more areas than any Government in the history of the Irish State.
We have all heard the spurious argument that we blew the boom but the reality is up to this year, when the Irish economy was growing year on year, we saw hundreds of thousands of jobs created. We used that money to reform our income tax system, reduce tax on workers and businesses and invested heavily to address the historic under-investment in the past by providing better public services in health, in education and in social welfare and also investing in capital infrastructure to build up the country and meet the demands of a growing economy.
At the same time, while doing all that, we put over €20 billion into a national pension reserve fund to help provide for the future and halved the national debt in a decade. That decade is now over. Those improvements are there for all to see and I am proud that this Party made sure that there were more working families retaining a greater part of their income than was ever the case before.
All of us as elected representatives - whether as Taoiseach, Minister, Deputy, Senator or Councillor, have a primary duty to serve the people - all of the people - of this country to the best of our ability. Each of us have been entrusted with a responsibility by our respective communities to provide leadership and to make Ireland a better place.
As we deal with the impact of the sharp deterioration in public finances, we are demonstrating leadership. This is no time for soft options, quick fixes or political expediency. Now more than ever, we must do what is right. If we make the right choices, we can steer Ireland out of these rough waters. If we do what is right we can prepare Ireland to take up the opportunities that will be presented when this phase passes and achieve the prosperity our nation deserves and has come to expect.
In each of our communities, at every level, we must offer responsible leadership rooted in the best patriotic traditions of this national movement. Our platform is clear. No matter how difficult the decisions, Fianna Fáil will act decisively in the long-term interests of current and future generations of Irish citizens.
So let's be clear because today has to be about straight talking - we will be entering into the Local Elections in far from ideal economic circumstances. Resources will be scarcer than they have been for a long time. How we deal with this situation will define the economic direction of our nation for many years to come. It is a challenge we must confront.
We live in an economic time like no other in our lifetime. Today, there is financial turmoil across the globe. 2008 has seen Ireland, the US, Germany, Japan, the EU and many other countries and regions go into recession. We are battling the most severe global financial crises.
The downturn has come quickly and it is not a solely Irish phenomenon. Everywhere you look, the world is going through a major economic shock with growth falling, unemployment rising and confidence weakening. The global outlook is more uncertain than it has been in decades. Our country, as a small, open, exporting nation is not immune and our economic performance will be weaker than it has been in decades.
The rapid slowdown in the global economy and the downturn in the housing market have dramatically reduced the revenue available to run public services. I will say a correction to the housing market was necessary. Prices were increasing too quickly and buying a house had moved beyond the reach of many working people.Certainly, the improvement in affordability is welcome and will reduce the strain on young families over the coming years. However, this adjustment, aggravated by a severe and global banking crisis, has come at a huge cost to one of our most important industries, to many workers in the building sector and to the wider economy.
I would be delighted to tell you there is a simple answer to our current problems. I can't because it doesn't exist. In many instances, the factors that will determine the timing and pace of the recovery such as exchange and interest rates are outside our control. What we must do is reflect on the factors that we do have control over, reflect on the domestic factors that did drive our extraordinary progress and work to ensure that we get all the basics right.
What can we do? We know from hard-learnt experience that it is vitally important that we have a credible and sustainable budget position. We cannot afford to take a gamble with the long-term prospects of this economy and everyone who lives and works in it by throwing budgetary caution to the wind. We cannot afford to indulge in a burst of borrowing to fund a significant increase in current spending. We cannot afford to take an ill-judged gamble on jump starting the economy by imposing a sharply increasing debt burden on the next generation.
The primary purpose of bringing Budget 2009 forward was to try to stabilise the public finances while at the same time funding the key public services that our people need. I know that the Budget was not popular and I accept that we did not get everything right but people also have to recognise that there is no easy or painless way to restore balance to the public finances in perilous global economic times. Despite the resolute action taken in Budget 2009, day to day expenditure, most of which is on social welfare and pay, will exceed our revenue by €4.7 billion next year - that is over EUR1,000 for every man, woman and child. The repayment of this will be the first expenditure of future Governments before the pay for the services of the future. In addition, every additional teacher, doctor and public servant employed above current levels must be paid for by borrowing.
As a national priority, we must reduce the budget deficit to a reasonable and sustainable level. That is the best means of ensuring that we can keep our taxes at levels which reward work and reward investment. That is the best means of ensuring that the fundamentals which drove our economy to great success remain intact. That is the best means of ensuring that we will be ready and able to fully participate in the next global recovery whenever it comes.
We must overhaul and reform our public service so that we deliver better services at lower cost to the people of Ireland. We must work to restore our competitiveness as a nation so that the produce of our factories can reach their market.
Each one of these is a major task. However, we have come through bad times before. If we have any doubt about the ability of the Irish people to meet this challenge, we should recall the distance that we have travelled together since the dark days of the 80s. We did it then, we can do it again.
For Ireland, today, the challenge we now face is severe. Economic growth of 6% last year has been followed by an expected contraction this year and next. Put simply, we have less money to meet growing public expenditure demands - €6,500 million less collected in taxes in 2008 than expected. This is the new reality across all sectors. In local government this means that the general purpose grants to the local authorities for 2009 have been cut by over 6%. We have taken such action out of dire necessity with the imperative that we live within our economic means. We cannot borrow our way out of trouble or return to the days of punitive tax rates that stifled economic growth and resulted in high unemployment.
But let's take stock of the progress we have made as we face these challenges. Next year, Government will allocate €935 million to the current costs of the local authorities and while this figure is a reduction on 2008 levels it still represents a 176% increase on 1997. This means that there is still a vast amount of money being provided to help our local authorities help the community. I am conscious that the reduction in expenditure available to local authorities will mean councillors, like Government, will have to take and implement difficult decisions but in the climate we are in those choices are the only sustainable option to ensure that our economy will again grow in the future.
As important as the context of the prevailing economic realities may be, I also want to devote time today to talking about specific matters within the control of local councils. I want especially to hear your views and get the benefit of your expertise on local issues because these issues must be at the core of our party¿s campaign next year.
Our opponents would like to make next summer's election a national election or a plebiscite on every tough choice that has to be taken. But I believe people will first and foremost elect local candidates who are in touch with local issues, with a track-record of working hard in their local communities. Campaigns at every level are about the fight over what will define the election for voters. Let us resolve, here and now, that we will make and win the fight over what the local elections should be about first and foremost - which is the quality and character of the representation that everyone assembled in this room gives while holding local office. Let others distract and offer nothing but empty criticism, while we lead and offer real answers to the toughest problems.
Fianna Fáil has an excellent track record in spearheading reform of local government. We must build on this record and use this time of global crisis to promote further renewal of local democratic leadership capable of doing much more to meet the needs of local communities. Real progress has been made in the area of efficiencies and value for money in Local Government, as acknowledged in the Indecon Review of Local Government Financing, and we now have to bring this progress to the next stage.
At national and local level, we need to promote flexibility and imagination in service delivery. I would encourage all of our councillors if they have not already done so to get their hands on a copy of Stronger Local Democracy, the Green Paper on Local Government. Minister Finneran will touch on the detail of this shortly and I am interested in hearing your views on its provisions and whether these should be adopted as part of our party's local election platform to deliver greater local leadership, accountability and connection with the citizen.
This year, in 2008, local authorities will still spend some €12 billion in total on their current and capital expenditure programmes. This means that there is still a lot of good news to sell and significant activity ongoing in many areas that are the preserve of Local Authorities, for example: the construction of local roads, land development infrastructure and other areas.
The last two years have seen the greatest capital investment to date (almost €50m) under the fire service capital programme. A record 18 fire station projects have been completed over this period and a total of 66 front-line fire appliances approved.
Next year, will see the highest ever provision, EUR560 million, for water services infrastructure, representing an increase of 19% over 2008. Against the present economic backdrop this is the clearest possible statement by the Government of the priority being given to preserving and protecting our water resources as a key element of our environment, to meeting EU standards for drinking water and wastewater treatment and to providing critical infrastructure that will ensure ongoing support for the economy.
Over the coming weeks and months, as we set out our platform for the Local Elections, this party needs the input of our outgoing councillors as well as new candidates. I have asked Minister Finneran to liaise directly with you as we fine-tune policies in a wide range of initiatives which are going to make a significant impact at local level. These include:
Ensuring that local government delivers quality services and value for money to local communities;
Implementing a wide range of initiatives designed to facilitate the provision of schools and schools-related infrastructure within the planning system;
Addressing flood risk management by incorporating rigorous guidelines in the preparation of regional plans, development plans and local area plans;
Developing our water and sewage infrastructure to protect our environment and to support quality housing for our people;
Delivering on our comprehensive policy on Taking Charge of Estates
Planning and designing innovative urban spaces for living and working in the twenty first century;
Investing and educating to recycle our waste while reducing reliance on landfill.
Tackling Litter and significantly increasing the percentage of Irish towns classified as 'clean to European norms'.
Investing over €4.5 million every single day in 2009 to reflect the continued priority we attach to providing social and affordable housing supports.
In this tough world economic climate, we must also remain determined to build on all of the local and community development work done since the last local elections in 2004.
In Government we have built up community facilities nationwide through the community and voluntary Once-off Grants Scheme, Gaeltacht and islands schemes, the Young People's Facilities and Services Fund, the Premises Initiative, the Rural Social Scheme, the new Community Services Programme and through the additional investment of Dormant Accounts funding in a fair and transparent way. Nearly 2,400 people are employed in the 372 projects currently supported by the Community Services Programme. The Community Halls and Facilities Strand of the programme will release the potential of community facilities by increasing the number of hours they are available to the public, improvingtheir upkeep and ensuring that other services are delivered more effectively using existing community premises.
We have given a long-term commitment to the RAPID programme by including it in the latest National Development Plan. Many of you have first-hand experience of the boost to community morale that has come with new playgrounds and games-areas in RAPID areas. RAPID and the drugs diversion programmes have become a real force for change in urban Ireland, for the first time prioritising these communities for investment and also giving them a direct say in the decisions being made for their areas.
In Government, we have set up the Regional Drugs Task Forces so that since 2005 every part of the country is served by either a Regional or Local Drugs Task Force, funded by Government. In rural areas, innovative schemes like CLÁR coupled with the trebling of funding under the Rural Development Programme announced earlier this month are making changes for the better in even the most remote and isolated areas. The Rural Social Scheme which we have rolled out gradually since 2004 is also playing a key role in providing additional income for farmers through harnessing their skills in improving and maintaining community facilities and in developing rural tourism facilities.
With good planning and continuing contact we can prepare well for the upcoming election, the procedures in place are to help us build on our present position. As Fianna Fáil people - leaders in our own communities and within our local party organisations - we have a collective responsibility to do well. We must ensure that we learn the lessons of 2004 and try, as best we can, to recover our losses and enhance and consolidate our position in local government. Each of us has, in our own way and emanating from the positions we hold, a solemn responsibility to our nation and to its continued development. In addition, we each have a responsibility to our own communities and electorate. And, of course, we have a subsidiary responsibility, but critical responsibility to our organisation, Fianna Fáil and to its continued development.
I speak now about our responsibilities as Fianna Fáil people.
The Ard Chomhairle, having reviewed the situation, agreed unanimously last year that the National Constituencies Committee should manage the party's preparations for next year's local elections. We asked our party's General Secretary to visit each constituency, meet with the membership of our organisation and to open a meaningful and deep consultation process which would ensure quality local input and would inform the National Constituencies Committee as it went about its work.
I realise that some of you have concerns about some aspects of this process. However, as an organisation man, I say to you genuinely that we cannot approach next year's elections as we have done in the past. We cannot - and should not - approach the local elections, and its planning, in any less professional way than we would approach any other national elections.
The approach we are adopting in advance of next year's elections is essential to our organisation, its strengthening and development. We must face up to, and address, the shortcomings from previous occasions. We must ensure that we field the strongest possible candidate tickets. Quite simply, that is what the electorate and our party supporters expects of us and deserves. We must ensure our tickets are representative of the Ireland we serve and represent. And, we must ensure that our tickets are a blend of youth and experience. I ask for your continued support as we finalise this important process. The process is underway, is being well managed and is a substantive and sincere effort to scan the talent available to us as prospective candidates engage in the selection process.
I am conscious that many of you feel that we need to improve communications between our base of councillors and the hierarchy of the party.
I agree with you.
To that end, I am today announcing two immediate measures which I hope will assist with this process:
1. I am appointing my colleague Minister John Moloney to liaise with the National Councillors' Forum, to meet with your executive on a regular basis and to ensure he keeps me informed of your issues and concerns and acts as another conduit in the policy formulation process.
2. We will shortly appoint a person at Fianna Fáil Headquarters to liaise, on a full-time basis, with our nearly 500 councillors. I accept that we need to get more information to you more regularly. This person will ensure that you get the information and support you need. This will be the first time we have had a full-time person to support you. You will also be advised in advance of upcoming ministerial visits to your constituencies, where time and schedules permit. The General Secretary will write to you shortly with further details.
Like all of you, I served as a councillor. I am proud to have done so and have very warm memories of my time as a councillor representing the Tullamore LEA on Offaly County Council for my first eight years in politics. I understand the challenges each of you face as you go about your work. I am absolutely convinced that local councillors should be rooted in their communities and work hard on behalf of their electorate for the five years that they have been elected to office. In the period ahead, I am asking all of you to maintain your focus on working hard and continuing to represent your electorate and improving your local communities.
In closing, can I say this is not a time for politics as usual. The actions which are being taken now will continue will determine the future direction of our nation, and whether we can protect as much as possible the progress of the past or whether we fall backwards without prospect of recovery.
We are confronting the worst international economic situation for many decades. Because of the work done to pay down our national debt, increase reserves and invest in both skills and infrastructure, Ireland has a strong basis for coming through this crisis. At bottom line, the Irish people are this county's greatest resource and they will be the reason why our economy will rebound.
However, we should be clear on this, any opposition politician who claims that the road to recovery won¿t involve tough action is being disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst. There is a serious debate to be had about which actions are required, but it is nothing less than deeply cynical posturing to oppose every single action without proposing a serious alternative. And that is just the game our opponents have chosen to play.
Last weekend, in Wexford, we saw the Fine Gael party once again announce its imminent assumption of office. We have heard their boasts about new shoes for the Aras before. They talked a lot about responsibility but look a little bit closer and you find that their talk was a mile wide but the substance was an inch deep. As is now Fine Gael's basic tactic, their priority in this crisis has not been policy it has been playing politics.
The first thing Enda Kenny did was announce that there would be no repeat of the so-called Tallaght Strategy. In other words, Fine Gael has no intention of supporting government proposals even if they accept that they are needed to address a serious national crisis. For them, playing politics in the same old predictable way is what is important.
The next thing they did was to attack our Budget for spending too much while also demanding that we stop increasing taxes and refrain from all the spending cuts. The words 'pay freeze' have been trotted out to try and convince people that they have an alternative. Of course what they haven't mentioned is that there is a substantial gap between the budget figure they demand and the policies they are willing to support.
Finally they have done what they like most, producing an advertising campaign praising themselves. It may be good short-term politics, but short-term politics is the last thing this country needs at a time of global economic downturn, and I can assure you it will catch up with them just as it did before.
The sheer emptiness of their position will not go unchallenged. The bluster and the attacks will last only so long. Ultimately the public will step back and see the choice between those who put politics first and those who put the future of the country first and foremost.
I know exactly how robust the political environment will be for us next year. Our candidates will face a relentless wave of attacks from people attacking every spending cut and promising a painless illusory alternative.
But let¿s not lose sight of the emerging fundamental division which is emerging between the parties. On one side you have a government which is willing to act in the long-term interests of the country and be accountable for the decisions that are necessary to secure that future. On the other side you have parties who have put short-term politics first and absolutely refuse to propose a credible alternative.
Ultimately, I believe that the Irish people will side with responsible government over opportunistic opposition.
We have to see that they stick with us on the basis that this phase will pass. Yes there will be casualties, but other opportunities will emerge too.
Our job is to construct a positive agenda that gives hope to people that whatever we have to endure in this world recession, we will emerge from it with the same determination to build for the future as well as tend with the difficult present."