This is the full text of the speech by the Progressive Democrat leader, Ms Mary Harney, to the party conference on Saturday night.
Five years ago the Progressive Democrats entered Government for the second time in our party's short history. In Government, we've put our principles into practice. We've put our policies into action. And the impact on our country has been truly enormous.
Look at the scale of what we have achieved together: we have created 400,000 new jobs; we have overcome the injustice of mass unemployment; we have ended the heartbreak of emigration; we have transformed the tax system; and we have lifted people out of poverty.
And all of this would not have happened on the scale it did, and at the pace it did, without the Progressive Democrats. It happened by putting PD policies into practice in Government.
Our party has always been convinced that a job is the best poverty-fighter. We've proven that. And we've also proven our core belief that it's by keeping tax low that you create jobs.
We have been able to share the fruits of economic growth by giving dignity to the less well-off in our society. Look again at what has been achieved - record increases in the old- age pension, record increases in child benefit, record increases for people with mental and physical disabilities. And we have made a real effort to improve the lives of people with disabilities and to ease the burden on the families who care for them.
Emigration has ended. Families have been reunited. Our young people look forward to jobs at home. Yes, they travel to study and work, but now they travel on a two-way ticket.
With that record of achievement, our founder, Des O'Malley, can be proud of this party. His hard work to break the mould of Irish politics has paid off. It's been a crowning public service to the people of Ireland.
Des made us the party of enterprise and initiative, the party of freedom and fairness. And we continue to attract the kind of people with the energy and the ambition to make things happen in their communities and in their country.
We've been able to put our policies to work in a stable coalition Government. And we in the Progressive Democrats generously salute the achievement of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. This is now the most successful and the most long-lasting coalition in the history of this State.
We have shown our identity in Government. We're an independent party with our own policies, our own principles, our own core beliefs. And that's the way we'll keep it. That's how we'll grow. That's how we'll fight the next election. That's how we'll be effective for the country.
Amending the Constitution
Governing is about tackling the hard issues. I recognise that abortion is a difficult and divisive issue for many people in this country. I recognise that there are very strong views passionately held on all sides of the issue.
This Government has made a genuine and sincere attempt to find a way forward on this complex and difficult question. It is an honest effort, a step forward, and we are giving the people of this country an opportunity to express their judgment on March 6th.
It is an emotive issue, but I would ask people to debate it in a calm, caring and rational way. And I would ask people to inform themselves as fully as possible before voting.
The Economic Challenges Ahead
Recent months have been difficult for the international economy. The world is more uncertain. September 11th was an outrage, an attack on basic civilised values.
Ireland must play a part in the world, not withdraw from it. We must be a fully committed member of the European Union, not a hurler on the ditch.
We must be in there to shape the right policies and the right structures for Europe. Our prosperity depends on it. Our jobs depend on it. I'll say it again: enlargement of Europe is good for Ireland and good for Europe. We can ratify the Nice Treaty if we put in the work, listening, explaining and reassuring the Irish people. We must work for Ireland in Europe and for Europe in Ireland.
We now look ahead with a mixture of confidence and caution.
We are confident in the energy and the enterprise of the Irish people. We are confident about the great potential in our country.
We are confident that Ireland can come through the present difficulties and attain even greater success in the years ahead.
But we are cautious too. We are cautious because we recognise the need for prudence, the need to avoid unnecessary risks. This is not the time to take chances with our jobs, with our livelihoods and with our children's futures.
This party is not going to get involved in auction politics. We are not going to make reckless promises now which would undermine the public finances and put jobs at risk. We will not mortgage the country's future with costly promises. We believe in governing, not gambling.
There are promises made by others which would cost billions to implement. Let's be clear about it. It's your money. And such promises can be paid for only by raising taxes and reducing employment.
The country went down that road before. Many of you are old enough to remember the price we paid - long dole queues, mass emigration, poverty and despair. Let us not turn the clock back. Let us not put our future at risk.
We believe that our tax and employment policies are the best guarantee of success. The country can't afford a lurch to the left. And the last thing we need is a party in government with a ballot paper in one hand and a baseball bat in the other.
New Challenges, New Agenda
Five years ago this country faced a clear set of problems. We had mass unemployment. We had punitive levels of taxation. We had an economy performing below its true potential. We have dealt with those problems and we have created a new platform for progress in this country.
Five years on, the country faces a new set of problems. There are new challenges and a new agenda to be addressed. How do we modernize our transport system? How do we improve public services? How do we translate economic success into a better quality of life for out citizens.
Our party has been a radical, reforming force in Irish politics for nearly two decades now. It is time now to apply our reforming energy to new areas of Government.
Transport
The shortcomings of our transport network are well-known. We are trying to run a first-rate economy with a second-rate transport system. And it simply isn't working.
This is a small country. But it has fallen victim to the tyranny of distance because of our poor transport infrastructure. Journeys that take minutes elsewhere in Europe take hours here in Ireland.
The results are there for all to see. Commuters lose patience. Companies lose money. Regions lose jobs.
We know that decades of neglect is the cause; but what about the solution? The present Government has begun a massive investment programme. Going forward, we'll need new ways to make this work, to build infrastructure, fast, much faster. We will use all available ways to finance infrastructure: public finance, private finance and the proceeds from the sale of State assets.
We will give the private sector a much greater role in financing road developments. We are strongly committed to the completion of the national motorway network over the next five years. But we recognize the need for better consulation and better communication with local communities affected by major road projects.
We will introduce competition into the airports sector. We want to see an independent second terminal at Dublin Airport. We want Shannon and Cork to have the freedom and the resources to compete successfully as major gateways in their own right.
We will release Aer Lingus from State control so that it can secure the new investment it needs to become a vibrant and successful international carrier, capable of competing with the best.
We will introduce real competition to the bus market. We will break down the barriers that prevent independent operators from offering a service to the often frustrated travelling public. We will open local and city networks to competitive tendering. We will deregulate the market for long-distance bus services. And we will support community enterprise to provide local services in rural areas.
We will do so because we want to see more companies operating more services on more routes than ever before. We believe that competition is good for the consumer.
We recognize that Ireland needs a modern and reliable rail system. We must cut commuting times. We must give people a real alternative to the car.
Our objective will be simple: to provide the Irish people with the kind of transport system they are entitled to expect. After all, we are citizens of one of the most successful and prosperous societies in the developed world.
We must press ahead therefore with a national motorway network, a modern rail network and a metro for Dublin.
Regional development
Investment in infrastructure is absolutely essential if we are to unlock the full of the regions.
All parts of the country have benefited from our recent success. But it's a fact that some regions have done much better than others. It is a fact that some areas are not achieving their full potential. It is a fact that too many places are in danger of being left behind.
We have shown our ability to create prosperity. The challenge facing us as a nation now is to show that we can spread the benefits of that prosperity fairly and evenly across all regions. That is why I took action to channel a greater share of foreign direct investment into the regions.
I want to commit this party this evening to the achievement of real regional development as a political priority.
We must put in place the road, rail, energy and telecoms infrastructure to ensure that every region has the opportunity to participate, the opportunity to prosper. Without that, regional development will remain nothing more than a pious aspiration.
And beware of those who proclaim themselves supporters of regional development but who vigorously oppose the investment in infrastructure required to bring it about. Let's be very clear about this: you can't have one without the other.
It's time we started using public investment to lead development and not just to follow it. Otherwise we will never resolve the structural imbalances in our country.
Health
The people of Ireland are entitled to a quality health service.
We have over 80,000 people working in our health services - great doctors, great nurses, committed and hard-working staff. There are a lot of demands on them. They passionately want the health services to work for patients. It's a big system that takes a lot to change and to reform. So the approach we have taken with the Government's Health Strategy is to prioritise actions that will deliver real results.
That's why our party has focused on ending hospital waiting lists. Our Treatment Purchase Fund has €30m this year to make sure people get the operations they need. We brought forward this initiative in Government to end the pain and the suffering and the unfairness of long waiting times for patients and their families.
Over the last five years this Government has put massive additional resources into the health service. The challenge now is to convert resources into results.
As with unemployment and emigration, we will never be defeatist about hospital waiting lists. And we refuse to admit that this is a problem which cannot be solved.
Supporting Communities, Combating Crime
I believe that supporting communities is the best way of combating crime.
People are worried about crime, particularly violent crime. Too many people are becoming victims of crime. They are concerned that their children may be drawn into crime. These are the reasonable concerns of reasonable people and they must be addressed.
There are no easy answers to the problem of crime. There is no quick-fix solution and it would be wrong of any politician to suggest that there was.
If we are really serious about addressing crime then we should start by addressing the conditions which give rise to crime. And the best way to do that is by investing in communities.
We must ensure that every community has access to the kind of social, cultural and sporting facilities required by young people.
We must ensure too that every young person in this country has the chance to pass through the gateway of opportunity that is education.
Great strides have been made in the field of education. Great work has been put in by dedicated teachers, often working in difficult circumstances. And great progress has been achieved in many areas.
But we still have too many young people leaving school without the basics, too many going out into the world without the life-skills to hold down a job, too many facing bleak prospects and uncertain futures. Educational intervention to break this cycle of exclusion will be a priority for the Progressive Democrats in government.
Our opponents on the left would say that society is based on rights. We would differ. We say that society is based on rights and responsibilities.
The individual has a right to freedom, a right to justice, a right to education. But the individual has responsibilities too? above all a responsibility to respect the rights of others and a responsibility to respect the rule of law.
This Government has gained ground in the fight against crime over the last five years. But it is now time to take that fight a stage further and to signal more clearly than ever before Irish society's disapproval of violent crime.
It is the first duty of the State to protect the citizen. That means protecting the young woman in the middle of the busy city from the mugger or the rapist. And it means protecting the old man living alone at the end of a country boreen from the kind of thug who views him as easy prey.
Justice delayed is justice denied. Victims of crimes and their families have to wait far too long to have their cases heard in court.
We're going to take action to speed up the courts system. We will create a single indictable crimes court. We will remove preliminary stages in district courts. We will modernise the administration of justice.
And we will press on on with the present Government's proposal for tougher laws on public order and gratuitous violence offences. We will be vigilant in our efforts to deter street crime.
It is time, too, that we recognised that there is more than one type of crime.
Much of my time at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has been taken up with policing a very different world to the world of the burglar and the petty thief.
There were many in this country who didn't think that so-called white-collar crime was any big problem. I would hope that the revelations of recent years have disabused them of that notion.
All crime corrodes the basis of trust upon which our society is built. And all crime demands an appropriate response from the state. That is why I have introduced the most comprehensive package ever of new laws and new enforcement measures to police the corporate sector.
Conclusion
The next general election will be the most important in a generation.
It will decide not just the make-up of the next government but the future direction of this country for the next decade and beyond.
We know that the next government will be a coalition. We know that that coalition will be led by one of the two major parties. And we know that the junior partner will provide much of the dynamic and direction for that government.
The people of Ireland have a choice to make.
Do they stick with the tried and tested policies of the Progressive Democrats - policies which have brought unprecedented prosperity to Ireland. Those policies have brought jobs to our people, opportunities to our children, and hope to our country.
Or do they want to put at risk all that has been achieved? Do they want to put into government parties with a totally different agenda?
Some of those parties will be hostile to enterprise. Some of them will be hostile to investment. Some of them will be hostile to the very concept of economic growth itself.
And you can be sure that all of them will be hostile to the political and economic policies which transformed this country over the last five years. They will seek to deride the great progress that has been made by the Irish people. They will talk down success. They will talk up failure.
They will raise taxes on income. They will raise taxes on enterprise. And they will raise taxes on investment. And we know what the result will be - a return to unemployment and emigration.
I give us this guarantee. The Progressive Democrats will protect your prosperity and secure your future. We will keep employment up and taxes down.
We go into this election as an independent party with independent policies. We want to participate in the formation of the next government but only if we can put our policies into action.
We are not interested in government for the sake of government. We will not participate in coalition of convenience with parties whose views are hostile to everything we stand for.
We go into this election full of confidence - confidence in our country, confidence in our candidates, confidence in our case.
Tonight I say to the Irish people: Give us your support. Give us the chance to work for you in government.
We have shown what we can do with four seats; let us show you what we can do with eight.