The following is an extended summary of the speech given by Labour Party leader Mr Ruairi Quinn on Saturday at his party's national conference:
Friends and Delegates: Almost 30 years ago I made a choice. I chose to enter politics because I believed in it. I chose Labour because I wanted to make this society not just better but more equal as well. I still do. Despite the cynicism that's around, I have never been more excited about politics and its potential.
As a nation today we have choices to make. We have built a modern and dynamic economy. But for Labour that's not enough. If the Sheedy cases prove anything it is that there is still one law for the rich and one for the poor. If you don't believe me ask the person on a two-year waiting list at a Free Legal Aid Centre.
Poverty remains. It's all around us. Children begging in the street, teenagers shooting up heroin and old people living in fear and isolation are only the most visible evidence of the work that remains to be done.
Our party has a major task - to use the wealth of a healthy economy to build a more equal and more inclusive society. Friends, politics today is entering a new era. Since independence, politics has been dominated by two issues - Northern Ireland and an under-performing economy. Both problems, in their own way, reflected a society happier looking backwards than forwards.
The old authoritarian order is gone and good riddance. Only in recent years have we begun to acknowledge some of the hideous problems that as a society we chose to sweep under the carpet.
We owe a profound debt to the men, the women and the children whose courage has forced us to lift this veil: the victims who have confronted their abusers. Their bravery is opening up doors for us all, concrete evidence that we need not be curtailed by our past.
Our old sense of community founded on fear is thankfully gone. But it begs the question. Have we replaced those old values with new ones?
The truth is we live in an age of individualism. Rebuilding a strong sense of community will not be easy. Some will say it's a restriction of their freedoms. Others will accuse us of undermining the economic progress of recent years. But values like mutual respect, tolerance and concern for others are worth fighting for.
Dick Spring, on his retirement, set us a challenge. He said that others were strong because the left is weak, and that we were weak because we were divided.
This time last year, I talked to Democratic Left and Proinsias De Rossa. We shared our goals and our ideals. The rest, as they say, is history. Today we are a cohesive force. But don't get comfortable. The merger has been cemented but the task of telling this new chapter in Labour's story has only just begun.
We want to put an end to the complacent party system that delivered so little to the Irish people for over half a century. Now is the time for new politics for a new era. Politics based on a vision of the future, not the divisions of the past.
For us, it means listening to people; adopting our solutions to their needs. Their voice? Our strength.
In Northern Ireland the new era has had a difficult birth. It has taken time and it has taken courage, courage on all sides.
To David Trimble and John Taylor, to John Hume and Seamus Mallon, to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, to John Alderdice and Sean Neeson, to Monica McWilliams, to David Irvine and Billy Hutchinson, to Gary McMichael and many others, we owe a debt of gratitude.
But the peace process is ultimately the property of the people of Northern Ireland and the people of this Republic. Their desire for peace has driven it on. The Good Friday Agreement is their agreement. They voted for it in unprecedented numbers. It's the people's agreement. That's why the current impasse is so worrying.
Let me be clear. I do not believe that any gesture, by any side, which moves this process on, is an act of surrender. I repeat. Nobody is being asked to surrender. This process is not about winners or losers. If it were, we would not have made it this far.
But the time for guns and weapons of death is over. Those with the courage and vision to render the guns silent must understand the need to reassure others that they can never be used again.
Friends, this impasse is not about who will blink first. Rather, it's a question of who has the courage to move first. And whoever does will have our full support and respect.
In Ireland, as a result of our own economic resurgence, we are also experiencing a cultural rebirth. Our musicians, our filmmakers and our writers are promoting Ireland on the world stage. The numbers of tourists on our streets is proof of their success.
But other people have come here as well. And the land of a hundred thousand welcomes is failing them miserably. Colleagues, our history as a nation is one of sending forth economic refugees. Now the boot is on the other foot and some of us don't like it.
OUR treatment of applicants for refugee status is a disgrace. We make them dependent on state supports because we won't allow them to make a living for themselves. The independent application and appeals process contained in the 1996 Refugee Act has never been put in place. Instead, Minister O'Donoghue, has retained that power for himself.
When the Minister does get around to making decisions, he refuses over 90 per cent of applications. His only legislative response has been his Immigration Bill. But to call it an Immigration Bill is wrong. Its sole purpose is to allow the Minister to deport people.
Any rational observer can see that we are fostering the kind of conditions in which racism flourishes. Yet this Government refuses to change direction. The Tanaiste made a plea for tolerance last weekend. I welcome her call. But will Minister O'Donoghue show her tolerance? That's the real question. Whether they like it or not, the PDs are party to this Government's shameful behaviour.
It's time to face the truth. This is not just about asylum-seekers. Europeans, east and west, Americans, Africans and Asians now see Ireland as an attractive place in which to live and work.
The irony of it all is that we need these people. All the evidence shows that immigrants bring vibrancy and energy into existing economic and cultural activity. Our own young people, the best-travelled Irish generation ever, have lived in culturally diverse societies. They know we have nothing to be afraid of.
But the racism that is growing in our society will not disappear unless it is challenged by each and every one of us. Economic immigration is inevitable. The cultural mix in our society is changing.
Friends, hasn't our economic progress been spectacular? It's this progress and our success in advancing the cause of peace that have laid the foundations upon which we can build the new Ireland.
Remember the 80s. High unemployment, high inflation and massive emigration. The contrast with the 90s couldn't be greater. Future success will require us to look forward, not backwards. Too many of our politicians still live in the 80s. Unfortunately, the worst example is the current Minister for Finance.
The man is obsessed with 80s politics and 80s economics. Take public spending, for example, so long the obsession of Minister McCreevy and his colleagues on the political right. To listen to him you would swear we had the highest public spending levels in Europe. In fact, the opposite is the case.
To our shame, we are spending less money investing in people and their needs than any other country in Europe. But if 80s economics hasn't disappeared, neither has 80s politics. Given recent successes, you might think that politics should be on a high. But it's not. And we know why.
Let us remind people that Dick Spring was right. His damning indictment of the Haughey era is being vindicated every day in Dublin Castle.
Many of our public institutions now stand accused, but none more so than the profession of politics. It has been put there not just by one man, Charles Haughey, but by a culture he presided over as Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail.
The sickening revelations from the Moriarty tribunal are shocking us all. The breath-taking hypocrisy of the man who told the rest of us to tighten our belts while he lived in the lap of luxury is difficult to take.
But those people who worked with Mr Haughey, who supported his leadership, who served in his governments, who did his bidding and called him Boss have questions to answer. Did they ever put a question to their leader as they cut back on services to the old, the sick and the handicapped?
I want political accountability for the continuous support of a man and a system; acknowledgement that they share in his shame; the courage to admit they were wrong. And with accountability, there should be condemnation. Condemnation of Mr Haughey by the leader of Fianna Fail and his party.
Condemnation of Mr Burke by the leader of Fianna Fail and his party. Condemnation of Mr Flynn by the leader of Fianna Fail and his party.
People before Politics was the slogan. Fianna Fail before everyone else is the reality. And what have they learnt? Nothing. Remember, they resisted Labour's Ethics in Public Office legislation.
They resisted Brendan Howlin's reforms to open up the funding of politics and election campaigns to public scrutiny. They dragged their feet in establishing the tribunals. The Taoiseach talks tough about standards but the reality is different.
There will be no spending limits in this year's local elections campaign and Minister Dempsey wants to remove them for future general elections. Politics is up for sale again. The system that put local government in the dock in Dublin Castle is back.
Politics and big business are now inextricably linked in the public mind. The perception that money means access is killing politics. But it's not just politics that's in the dock. Business too has been implicated.
Slavish minions looking the other way sustained Mr Haughey's political career, but members of the business community financed his lavish lifestyle, the golden circle.
These people defended their interests aggressively. Those who opposed them were described as anti-business, anti-developer or anti-bloody-everything as Larry Goodman put it. Of course we know the opposite is true. Corruption is an indication of failure, not success.
Politics and business need to be able to work together in the national interest. But they cannot do so successfully under a cloud of suspicion. The murky link between business and politics is not just bad for politics, it is bad for business too. It's time for it to go.
This is what Labour will do. We will end the connection between business and political parties once and for all. Donations to parties will be limited by law to £500 per person. Corporate donations will be made illegal. In future, political parties will be funded by the State.
THE business of government has become a business in itself. Consultants and lobbyists enjoy regular access to government departments and other public bodies. Of course, people have a right to employ others to liaise with public bodies, but the public has a right to know who they are and what they're doing.
Later this year, Labour will be introducing legislation to give effect to a public register for lobbyists. The people of Ireland deserve no less.
Friends, I've said that we stand on the verge of a new era in this country. But we are not there quite yet. Our national wealth may be approaching the European average, but our physical infrastructure is not. Despite our recent economic progress, we still have a long way to travel.
Traffic congestion in our towns is destroying our quality of life and hampering our competitiveness. Public transport is expensive and overburdened. Water and sewerage services remain basic in many areas, urban and rural. The lack of affordable housing is now a real barrier to employment growth.
If we want to redistribute opportunity and wealth across the country then we have to generate it first. To do so we need to increase our capacity for growth. Labour's vision is the physical and social reconstruction of Ireland.
But let's do it properly. We are already paying a big price for haphazard development. Coherent and co-ordinated planning will save us money in the long term. We need a decade of investment. And it will cost not the £20 billion suggested by the Government - the real figure is closer to £70 billion, roughly three times our capital spending levels.
And this money will have to be raised within Ireland. Funding must come from a variety of sources and be co-ordinated by the National Treasury Management Agency. Public Private Partnerships can free up state resources for spending elsewhere. The proceeds from the sale of state assets should be retained for this purpose. Pension fund-holders should be encouraged to invest further in Ireland.
It is payback time. Payback time for people who have done without for too long.
Take healthcare for example.
Labour is committed to a quality health service, one that is based on quality and equality. We know that even with additional resources, inequality of access will remain.
Our system of public provision and private insurance is failing us in one critical area. There are simply too many people falling through the net, 38,000 languishing on waiting lists. Our proposal is this. Since we have an insurance-based system, let everyone be insured. And let the State insure those who cannot afford it themselves.
Labour's team is already working on proposals for a system that conforms to four fundamental principles; universality, fairness, efficiency and innovation. Each is equally important.
We are listening to the everyday concerns of people from every corner of the land.
Labour's commitment to people with disabilities remains as strong as ever, but under Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats, equality issues are slipping down the agenda. Having abolished Mervyn Taylor's Department of Equality and Law Reform, Mr Zero Tolerance has become Mr Zero Action.
We also need to put down a marker; a marker that states clearly that the old standards are no longer acceptable; a break with the past that symbolises our intent for the new era.
I believe it's time that the Constitution properly reflected a new ethos for a new era. Its range of guarantees against oppression should be expanded to give legal backing to the principle of the full participation by each individual in the social, economic and cultural life of the nation.
As a step towards achieving that goal our Constitution must be reformulated to recognise and promote the basic social and economic rights of every citizen of this State, the right to food, shelter, health and education.
Over the next six months Labour will publish our proposals for such constitutional reform.
Part and parcel of building a fairer society at home is reflecting those values abroad. Our membership of the European Union has transformed this country. The introspection of 30 years ago has been replaced by a dynamic and young country. But we have yet to reflect that abroad.
The accession of a series of smaller countries to the European Union presents us with the opportunity to expand our influence, if we have the courage to take it.
Colleagues, I know that the current NATO action over Kosovo has caused many people grave concern and given rise to different views within the party - views I respect.
The action was poorly planned and without explicit sanction from the UN. Planning for the predictable plight of the Kosovar Albanians seems to have been practically non-existent. They, not us, know what it means to be between a rock and a hard place.
BUT would the situation be any better had there been no intervention? Milosevic's plans for the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo were already well advanced.
Is ethnic cleansing conducted steadily over a number of years somehow less repellent than that conducted over a few weeks? Is the intervention in Serbia any more morally disturbing than the intervention that didn't happen in Rwanda?
Labour will not support Ireland's membership of NATO. Its nuclear first-strike policy is abhorrent to us. But we will have to work with it - we are already working with it, as in Bosnia, where Irish troops, with a UN mandate and under NATO control, are all part of the peacekeeping operation.
And that is how I see our membership of Partnership for Peace. A small but forward step. I know others feel differently. Before the last election, Fianna Fail made two commitments. One was not to join PfP, the other was to hold a referendum should they change their mind. Having reneged on one, they must now deliver on the other.
The single purpose of our merger with Democratic Left was not to hold what we had more easily, but to reach out to new people - people frustrated and alienated by a politics burdened by obsolete ideological baggage, fighting tribal battles that make no sense today.
I want to welcome this evening delegates who are with us here for the first time. I want to welcome in particular Proinsias De Rossa, Pat Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore and Liz McManus. Senator Brendan Ryan, Jim Connolly and Dan McCarthy symbolise our growing national strength. We share a common aim.
Never before has a generation of Irish people had the opportunities facing us today. It is time to be ambitious about ourselves. Time to be ambitious and generous about how we treat ourselves and others.
We are a small country. But, a country with friends all over the world. I want them to look at us with pride. I want them not just to marvel at our ancient past, or sympathise with our divided history. I want them to marvel too at the inclusive and fair society we have created. I know what kind of country I would like to see my young son grow up in. An Ireland in which every individual is encouraged to fulfil their potential. An Ireland in which our children and our elderly are cherished. An Ireland in which we value what is public and respect what is private. An Ireland confident in itself and its values.
Let's build in this country a decent, caring and compassionate society. Let's create the new politics for a new era. From tonight let the work begin.