The following is the full text of the speech by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, to the party's ardfheis on Saturday:
You are welcome to the 71st ardfheis of this great and historic party. Since the foundation of the State by our forefathers in Cumann na nGael, Fine Gael has always, when this country needed change, provided the energy, the organisation, the ability and the commitment to bring about such change.
As the country emerged from the harsh and unfeeling 50s, Fine Gael developed the Just Society policies of the 60s that have given clarity and impetus to issues of equality and social justice ever since. In the 70s we provided the bulwark against republican terrorism, faced down the forces of darkness in this State, recommitted ourselves to the principle of consent - a principle first enunciated by W.T. Cosgrave in 1924, and kept this country safe while many of our principal opponents were ambivalent on the national question.
In the 80s this party restored economic security and sound money after the first Haughey government. Garret FitzGerald's Constitutional Crusade, thought radical in the 80s, became the conventional wisdom of the 90s. In the 90s we built on the Tallaght Strategy and, in the Rainbow government, put the Celtic Tiger economy well on the road.
On Northern Ireland, it was Liam Cosgrave who signed the Sunningdale Agreement in 1973 - an agreement, whose underlying principles formed the basis for the Good Friday agreement. In the mid-80s it was a government led by Garret FitzGerald, and of which Peter Barry and I were members, which negotiated the Anglo-Irish Agreement, an agreement that, for the first time, gave the Irish Government a forward role in the affairs of Northern Ireland.
Our track record as a party is one of vision and of achievement. As the present Government flounders, as the public finances slide back into deficit, as the quality of life of our fellow citizens continues to deteriorate, as public services decline and State companies collapse, the country again needs Fine Gael's leadership, to banish from office a Government who have squandered our boom and failed the people.
Fine Gael will give decent, competent, effective government to the people of Ireland. As we set out on that task let us recommit ourselves to restoring honour to the profession of politics. Politics is an honourable profession but it has been besmirched by some of its practitioners, principally from the Fianna Fáil party. As the lurid tribunal scandals play out before our eyes, one thing is clear. We cannot restore politics until the perceived link between political contributions and public policy is broken.
That is why when I became leader, I announced that Fine Gael would no longer accept corporate donations and that we would limit personal donations to the lowest possible level consistent with the individual's constitutional right to assembly.
In government we will put this ban on a statutory basis and I call on all other parties contesting the general election to make a commitment to support such legislation.
I say to the business community that when Fine Gael are in government you will be welcome to walk in the front door to present your policy views to us. You won't have to pay an entrance fee and you won't be asked, for hello money or goodbye money as Tom Gilmartin was.
I often wonder what moral compass guides the Taoiseach. He makes Ray Burke the Minister for Foreign Affairs, he makes Liam Lawlor chairman of the Ethics Committee. He appoints Denis Foley to investigate tax evasion. He admonishes his erring colleagues in public but accompanies this by a private accommodation of their needs within Fianna Fáil. The Government carries on with no moral renewal, no fresh start, politics is destroyed by cynicism and young people are alienated.
The Ministers in this Government brag and boast, about their successes, but the successes in whose glow they indolently bask are the successes of the private sector. As I said last night, where Ministers are directly responsible they have failed disgracefully. The main culprit is, of course, Fianna Fáil but the PDs also made a major contribution to this litany of failures. And they did this with four TDs. Imagine what they would do if they had eight? This Government encourages greed and individualism to the detriment of society and the community. Former British Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher once infamously said, "There is no such thing as society, only individuals." I profoundly disagree with this sentiment but I suspect that many of the more influential ministers in Government agree with it. That is why we have the massive deterioration in the quality of life experienced under this Government. If the only consideration of government is individual advancement, everyone ends up bowling alone and the threads, the cords, the webs and the networks which sustain communities are gnawed away.
No matter how vibrant communities are they die without proper public services staffed by committed public servants. Teachers, nurses, doctors, post office workers, guards, the people who clean the streets and collect the rubbish are essential in communities. This Government's failure to provide proper public services is due, in no small part, to their disregard for public servants and a failure to understand their commitment to public service. This is why the Government, as a deliberate industrial relations strategy, drove nurses, junior doctors and teachers into industrial action and were then surprised that the morale of these professions declined.
Fine Gael is committed to acknowledging the key role played by public servants in underpinning community life and we will work in partnership with them to restore, reform and improve all public services.
Fine Gael in government will give priority to the health services. Initially we will concentrate on primary care. We will double the income limits for medical cards, extend free GP services to those in the lower 60 per cent of income groups, to children up to 18 years of age, and beyond that age to children in fulltime education, to all senior citizens over 65 years of age, and to all asthma sufferers, to whom we will also provide free medication. We will increase the limits for carer's allowance and fund day care centres for the elderly throughout the country.
Above all, the health service needs structural reform. Fine Gael will unify the two-tier health system specialty by specialty and ensure that waiting lists are totally eliminated and that treatment is available to all patients on the basis of their healthcare needs.
When I was Minister for Health I developed and published the Cancer Strategy. As soon as I left office the priority I had given to the cancer services was diminished, and despite some recent progress there is now need for the reaffirmation of a strategy to combat cancer and to ensure that appropriate services are readily available to all cancer sufferers regardless of in what part of the country they live. In government, Fine Gael will do this.
Crime, especially violent crime, is like an acid that eats away at the foundation of communities. As I travel around the country I regularly meet people who talk about crime, their fear of crime, the increase in violent crime and how cheap in so many eyes human life has become. The latest murder now excites as little outrage as a broken window-pane.
Parents are fearful to let their teenage children down town for fear of being beaten up, and there is no response from the Government. Young people have their social life destroyed by wanton acts of random violence, and there is no response from the Government. Women are afraid to walk alone after dark, and there is no response from the Government. Violent street crime has increased by 130 per cent and there is no response from the Government.
Instead of acting, the great apostle of zero tolerance goes into denial. He denies that street violence is at crisis levels. He denies that only one crime in four is now being reported. He denies that crime statistics do not reflect the reality on the streets. A Government that cannot keep its citizens safe in their homes and on the streets is not worthy of the name of government.
Fine Gael in government will give priority to the reduction of street violence. We will put more guards on the streets especially at night, we will extend the use of CCT cameras, we will establish night courts, we will provide public transport late at night to bring people safely home, we will legislate to give statutory rights to victims of crime.
This Government suffers from a major delusion. They think they created the wave on which they have surfed for the last five years.
When they entered office in 1997, the Exchequer was in surplus. After five years of Fianna Fáil and the PDs, when we enter government in May this year the Exchequer will be heading straight for a deficit and the deficit will rise to €6 billion in two years' time.
Sometimes I think Fine Gael should establish a sanitary services department, we have to clean up so often after Fianna Fáil.
Last year public expenditure increased by 22 per cent and revenue by only 2 per cent and this under a Government elected on a commitment to increase public expenditure by no more than 4 per cent per annum.
I would like to remind the ardfheis of the sacrifices of the 80s when Fine Gael had to clear up the financial mess left by the first Haughey administration. I would like to remind the ardfheis of the Tallaght Strategy when Alan Dukes put the interest of the country above party political advantage and laid down the foundations of the Celtic Tiger economy.
In government we will be prudent financial managers. With proper management the economy will grow at rates above the European average and this will allow us to increase public spending to fund our public service programmes without tax increases. Spending increases of the present magnitude in excess of 20 per cent per annum cannot be allowed to continue.
WHEN we put our programme for government to the people in the election, it will be fully costed by the Department of Finance, and the economic assumptions on which it is based will be made public.
Mary Harney, the Tánaiste no less, is fond of pointing out that we have a modern industrialised economy but a third world infrastructure to back it up. I have a question for you¨, Mary. Why have you done little or nothing to deal with the problem in your five years in government?
Tonight I give you a commitment. As soon as we enter government, we will hit the ground running and implement the National Plan without further procrastination. As Taoiseach, I will take personal charge of ensuring that the projects in the plan become reality as quickly as possible.
Fine Gael is committed, through the Public Private Partnerships, to the use of private funds to deliver the plan in full. I have also recently proposed that money in the national pension fund should be invested, at commercial rates of return, in infrastructural projects at home. I am glad that Charlie McCreevy has now taken up my idea and has asked the NTMA to do what I suggested. Charlie was always a good man to spot a winner.
I will turn now to the abortion referendum. 7,000 Irish women go to England each year to terminate their pregnancies. Abortion is part of the life experience of many women in Ireland. The issue should be treated with sensitivity and compassion and with respect for the views expressed on both sides of the present debate.
I want the Fine Gael party to campaign for a No vote. If the referendum succeeds it will introduce uncertainty into the Constitution. A future Supreme Court may interpret the accompanying Act in a variety of ways. I believe that the Dáil, not the Supreme Court, is the appropriate place for decisions on issues as sensitive as abortion. A Yes majority will roll back that small additional protection which the decision on the X case gave to women. It will increase the risk to women who, in an emergency, require immediate medical assistance but who, if the referendum is passed will have to travel sometimes long distances to designated centres to be treated. The proposal is unnecessary, and should be rejected out of hand.
One of the most disturbing things about the campaign to date is the lack of information available to the public because of the Government's failure to set up the Referendum Commission. It is as if the Government did not want the people to be fully informed.
The people should be fully informed and to assist in this I now challenge the Taoiseach to debate the issues with me on television in a head-to-head debate. You can run, Taoiseach, but you can't hide. It is time you dealt with this issue in a public debate. I look forward to your early reply.
In that short video, you have snapshots of how children, 10 years from now, might look at some aspects of their lives. Problems that are common today will have been resolved.
But none of this can happen unless the appropriate decisions are taken now.
And these decisions will not be taken unless whoever is in government has a vision for the future of Ireland, five, 10 and 15 years ahead.
Fine Gael has a vision. And the reason we seek to be in government is, not just to be in power for its own sake, but to be able to make that vision happen.
There are three parts to the Fine Gael vision. First: Fine Gael's vision is of a forward-looking Ireland that plans its future with care. An Ireland that knows we must constantly extend our capabilities, if we are to compete successfully in a fast-changing world. An Ireland that pays as much attention to raising the quality of our lives as to raising our standard of living.
An Ireland that recognises both the need to change, and the need to hold on to what is valuable from our past.
Second: Fine Gael's vision is of a generous Ireland, that seeks to give to the outside world as well as take from it.
An Ireland that keeps the rules of the European club, and contributes to the growth and expansion of the EU.
An Ireland that champions the cause of countries less well off that ourselves.
An Ireland that stands up for our belief in a peaceful and just world order.
Third and above all: Fine Gael's vision is of a compassionate Ireland, fair and even-handed to all.
An Ireland built on a sense of community - not one driven by individual selfishness.
An Ireland that develops the full potential of every citizen - not one that divides people into haves and have-nots, then widens the gap between them.
An Ireland where everybody has a right to the best education, to put a roof over their head, to be looked after properly when they are sick, to enjoy their old age in dignity.
"The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic towards common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage . . ." The words are those of Senator Ted Kennedy, delivering a eulogy at his brother Robert's funeral in 1968.
In Ireland the party with vision, with reason and with courage is Fine Gael.
It is up to us now to come forward with new ideas and with bold projects so that our children and our grandchildren will benefit in the same way as we have benefited from the vision of previous Fine Gael generations.
Every individual needs the support of family, friends and neighbours. That is why the sense of community is vital to the nation. That is why we need national policies to reinforce the community spirit. We are fortunate that many of our community based organisations continue to flourish. I am thinking of organisations such as the GAA, the credit unions, the community games, Macra na Feirme and the St Vincent de Paul. In these days of stress and tension for so many, the volunteers of these organisations are the real patriots of Ireland today. I salute them and acknowledge their achievements.
Despite the strong support of communities individuals sometimes find themselves in circumstances where they have to vindicate their rights or the rights of their families against the State.
Everything possible must be done to ensure that the individual does not have to confront the State to have his or her rights recognised. Our adversarial court system is rarely the appropriate place for the vindication of individual rights. Unequal access to resources makes court confrontation between an individual and the State an invidious contest. No cancer patient, no woman seeking to assert her equal rights, no Mrs Sinnott seeking proper education for her son Jamie should have to go to court for their entitlement.
In such a conflict between the State and the individual I made a mistake in the handling of the case of the late Mrs Brigid McCole. As I have said on more than one occasion, I deeply regret that I handled it the way I did and I again sincerely apologise to the McCole family for the grief caused to them.
This has been one of the most significant experiences in my personal and political life and I want to assure you that any government I may lead will not make a similar mistake in the future.
Any vision must be able to accommodate change, especially now that we are living in an era of rapid and unpredictable change. One instrument of change arises from our membership of the European Union, a membership that has served us so well over the last 30 years. Fine Gael can take pride in our contribution to the development of the Union, both nationally and through our membership of the European People's Party.
We have a clear view as to how Europe should develop and how we might play our part in that development. Central to our view is the need first to democratise the relationship between the EU and Ireland and second to democratise the Union itself. Adherence to democratic principles and accountability is as important in Europe as it is in Ireland.
Above all, we will never allow democracy to be damaged by allowing power over national taxation to be transferred to Brussels. The ability to determine our own tax rates, personal and corporate, is vital if we are to shape our own destiny. The decisions taken in our lifetime on corporate taxes have contributed enormously to our economic development. The decisions on personal taxation, have had a significant bearing on the structures of our society and the quality of our lives. These decisions rightly belong, not in Brussels - where the current Government has conceded that there might not even be an Irish Commissioner - but here at home in Dublin.
I turn now to Northern Ireland.
Fine Gael, as I said earlier, had the vision at the outbreak of the Troubles to articulate again two of our basic principles - firstly, there can be no unity in Ireland without the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland and secondly, there are no circumstances in Ireland which the use of violence to achieve political objectives can be justified. We were unambiguous on these fundamental principles at a time when others wobbled and weaved. We still are unambiguous about them.
In government, Fine Gael will work diligently and enthusiastically to ensure the implementation of all aspects of the Good Friday agreement. In particular, we will develop the North/South Ministerial Council and the cross-Border bodies set up to develop consultation and joint implementation on matters of mutual interest such as agriculture, transport, environment, waterways, tourism and EU affairs.
The campaign of violence over the last 30 years has left deep wounds which will take time and effort to heal. Fine Gael in government will give a priority to healing those wounds and to working with others of good will in both communities in Northern Ireland to create structures, on all-Ireland basis, to help achieve closure on the bloodiest episode in modern Irish history.
In conclusion, delegates, Fine Gael has the vision. Fine Gael has the policies. Above all, we have you, the representatives of the loyal, hard-working committed members of Fine Gael. I am strong because I lead the Fine Gael party. Working together, we can win the handful of extra seats that will enable us to form the next government.
I am asking you tonight to ask our supporters, our friends, our neighbours, our work colleagues to vote Fine Gael. If we don't ask for the votes we won't get them. Let the word go out from this ardfheis - we're ready, as we have never been before. We have the vision. We have the policies. We have the people. We have the organisation. We are going to win.