ENDA KENNY'S SPEECH TO THE FINE NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Four years ago tonight, we were in the final days of a general election.
An election about Ireland’s very survival as an independent nation.
Four years since we began the very tough journey out of crisis and into recovery.
You all remember the depth of the crisis that then gripped the country.
An economy in freefall; banks on the brink of collapse;
thousands of jobs lost; and Ireland’s international reputation in shreds.
A country in a Troika bailout.
Against that background, the Irish people gave a strong and clear mandate to a new government - to fix the public finances and get our country working again.
Many thought that the situation was hopeless.
That ending the bailout; rescuing the economy; and saving the country were impossible.
But, instead of turning our backs on that unprecedented challenge, we –  the new government and the people working together - faced up to that crisis and adopted a clear plan to stabilise the economy and turn the country in the right direction.
That was not an easy plan.
It involved very difficult decisions that were painful for many people in our country.
But the people of Ireland displayed great patience and resilience during the crisis.
It’s because of your sacrifices, that we can now say that Ireland and our economy is recovering.
The bailout is over.
The Troika are gone home.
Yes - we still have too many people out of work, but jobs are being created.
It’s not enough, but it’s a start.
After years of recession, the Irish economy is now growing again – and at a faster rate than most other European countries.
Having been regarded by Europe as a problem, Ireland’s place as a vital and valued  member of the European Union has been fully restored.
Others now look to us when they want to see a people, with sleeves rolled up, meeting a challenge head on, and meeting it successfully.
I know that, for many people watching tonight, economic statistics mean very little.
The reality is that many people do not yet see, and do not yet feel the benefits of a recovering economy.
I hear their stories every week, up and down the country.
Too many families still struggling to make ends. To pay the bills and meet the mortgage.
Too many people still out of work.
Too many families missing a daughter or son who has had to leave Ireland to find a job.
I know that growth rates, deficit targets and bond yields are of very little consolation to people in those situations.
But let me give you two firm commitments tonight:-
First - the era of new taxes and charges is over.
The 2015 Budget was the first in seven years to give people a modest increase in their take-home pay.
My commitment to you tonight is that tax cuts to reward hard work and enterprise will continue in the next Budget and in future Budgets – if the people return Fine Gael to office.
Second – we are never going back.
My commitment as your Taoiseach and as Leader of this Party is that Ireland must never go back to the culture and practices of speculation, lack of oversight, wanton waste of public money and blatant disregard to our international reputation.
The thousands of Irish families, who made such enormous sacrifices to rescue the country, can never again be subjected to such appalling governance.
So the strong foundations that have been laid must be protected to ensure that the hard won recovery is secured.
To make that happen, we must plan for the future.
If we make the right choices now, Ireland has a very bright future indeed.
-An economy creating the resources for the services people need.
Four years ago, we promised to add 100,000 new jobs to the economy by 2016.
We are on track to beat this target in 2015 and get our unemployment rate down to single figures.
Improving the lives of the Irish people is at the heart of that plan.
For us, the economy is not an end in itself.
We want to build a strong economy so that we can invest in people.
That’s why the central target of our plan is to return the country to full employment by 2018.
That means that everyone who wants a job, can get a job.
Why am I, as Taoiseach, so focussed on job creation?
It is because I know that unemployment is the main cause of inequality and unfairness in our society.
Having a job changes a person’s life.
It provides purpose, dignity, financial independence and opportunity.
More jobs fund better services for all our people, particularly the sick, the elderly and the disabled.
Essential services like teachers in our schools and Gardaí on the beat.
More jobs mean a lower tax burden on those already at work, giving them more disposable income.
It is all about people having jobs and good jobs.
That goal of full employment by 2018 is highly ambitious, but it’s achievable.
If we make the right choices.
But we must ensure that work pays.
Because we believe that work, not welfare, is the route out of poverty.
Next week, the new Low Pay Commission begins its work.
In the next Budget we plan to bring to 500,000 - the number of workers who are exempt from paying the Universal Social Charge – or a quarter of the workforce
This Government will continue to carefully manage the public finances.
By maintaining discipline over public sector pay and spending, we will eliminate the deficit and bring Government debt to well below the European average by 2020.
Fianna Fail’s €34 billion bail-out of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide should never have happened and is now dead money.
Although we have cut the cost by liquidating these banks and getting rid of the promissory notes, it remains a scar on the Irish economy that will take a long time to heal, both financially and psychologically.
It will be for the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry, set up by this Government, to fully reveal the circumstances around these catastrophic decisions.
For our part, the Government is determined to recoup for the Irish people every cent that was pumped into the surviving banks.
For them, there will be no return to the bonus-driven culture that destroyed so many lives and so many careers.
Instead, the restructured banks must focus on lending to help small businesses; and lending to help families to buy homes.
Ireland is now the location of choice for new investments and job creation.
Not just for foreign multinationals, but for our own Irish-owned businesses across the country – many of whom are now expanding again.
No matter what pressure other countries might try to exert, our 12.5% corporate tax rate - a cornerstone of our recovery - is not up for grabs.
While recovery is underway, it must be a recovery for all of Ireland.
It must be felt in every family in every corner of the country
While jobs are now being created throughout the country, not all regions are benefiting equally.
We must continue to focus on the sectors that can create jobs in the regions.
Ireland and our people are renowned throughout the world for our hospitality.
The steps we have taken to rebuild the tourism sector – like cutting VAT and abolishing the travel tax – have already helped create 23,000 new jobs.
To build on this success, we are finalising a new National Tourism Strategy to target another 50,000 jobs in the sector by 2025.
Similarly, our agri-food sector continues to be a shining light of economic recovery, and the lifeblood of rural Ireland.
Thanks to the new Common Agricultural Policy – negotiated by Ireland - a new Rural Development Programme will see €4 billion invested throughout our rural economy.
The ending of milk quotas in the coming weeks is a huge opportunity to produce and sell more top quality Irish dairy products around the world.
I am proud of Irish farming and Irish food.
Everywhere I travel, I tell people about Ireland’s sustainable, safe and green food production.

The fact that we are the only European country to have secured access for our beef to Japan, the United States and now China proves that Ireland can compete on any stage.
In the past, it was rural electrification, group water schemes and motorways that opened up Ireland to new waves of industry development.
Today it is broadband.
High speed broadband is the key that unlocks jobs nationwide.
We plan to bring high speed broadband directly to every home and business in Ireland by 2020.
This will allow new businesses to create new jobs in every corner of Ireland.
The construction sector has still not recovered from the boom and bust legacy of the past.
Yet there is a real and growing need for quality housing.
By 2020, we want to triple the number of houses built and to create 60,000 construction jobs.
But there will be no going back to the bad old days of Priory Hall.
New, higher standards for construction will be rigorously enforced.
We must also keep up the momentum on the reform and renewal of our country.
During the last four years we have faced up to a number of issues that have been ignored for decades - the victims of child abuse; the survivors of the Magdalene laundries, and the protection of life during pregnancy.
The work of the Commission of Investigation into the Mother and Baby Homes will begin shortly and I hope that this too will bring some measure of closure for the women involved.
In May, the people of Ireland will vote in a referendum on marriage equality.
The issue is clear.
Whether the state will allow same sex couples the right to civil marriage.
As we approach the centenary of the Rising, a Yes vote would, I believe, send out a powerful signal internationally that Ireland has evolved into a fair, compassionate and tolerant nation.
I believe that this is the right thing to do.
I, and the Fine Gael Party strongly support a Yes vote.
And therefore I say to all same sex couples in our country.  This is about you, it’s about your right to say two small words, made up of three simple letters – I DO.
For you, in your lives together, may they become your letters of freedom.
I am not going to stand here tonight claiming that we got everything right, or that we have achieved everything we hoped for.
We haven’t.
And there are areas where we have much more to do.
In 2011, we set out our 5 Point Plan to Get Ireland Working.
We promised we would sort out the public finances.
We promised to get people back to work.
We promised that we wouldn’t increase income taxes.
We promised to reform the way government and the political system works.
We have delivered on these promises.
Reforming the health service during an economic crisis was always going to be very challenging.
Our plan for health is ambitious, but it is still the right plan.
Health care based on medical need, rather than the money in your pocket.
Despite the economic crisis, we did put in place many of the essential building blocks of the reform and there is a clear roadmap for the next steps – over a longer and more realistic timeframe than originally planned.
Next year, we will remember those who took the fledgling first steps towards independence in the Easter Rising in 1916.
Thanks to the efforts of many, we now have broad agreement on the completion of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
In the spirit of that peace, we must ensure that the commemorations next year are respectful and inclusive.
Yes, we will reflect on the past.
On how the country has changed and progressed in that century.
One milestone of real meaning to many thousands of families throughout the country would be to stem the tide of emigration of our young people.
A young person leaving can have a devastating impact on a family, and on a community.
It also has a devastating impact on our economy as we lose the input of people of talent and energy.
We need these young people at home.
I want to see them playing their part in the rebuilding of our economy, bringing home their experience to take up some of the jobs that are now being created.
I believe, that after seven years of emigration, 2016 will be the year when the number of our people coming home, will be greater than the numbers who leave.
I also believe that 2016 will also be a time to think about Ireland’s future – and the kind of future we want to build.
And we will welcome them.
However, that future cannot be taken for granted.
The recovery is fragile and incomplete.
Ireland’s future economic stability must be underpinned by political stability.
It will require a clear plan delivered by a stable and coherent team in government.
The investors who create jobs demand that stability.
Without it there will neither be confidence nor investment.
For the next year, this Government – Fine Gael and the Labour Party - will continue to work day and night to secure the recovery.
In 2016, the people will judge whether we have fulfilled that mandate.
They will have a clear choice: between stable and coherent government; or chaos and instability.
A clear choice between moving forward; or risking the country’s progress to those who wrecked it in the past, or to those whose policies would wreck our future.
I don’t want Ireland dragged back to the failures of the past.
Or for the country’s progress to be ruined by those who are intent on blowing a huge hole in our recovering national finances.
Populist promises to reverse every tough decision are nothing but empty rhetoric, irresponsible leadership and bad politics.
They are not the solution to Ireland’s problems.
Working together, Tánaiste Joan Burton and I are leading a strong and stable government.
My appeal to the Irish people is to work with us as we work to secure the recovery.
We worked together to get out of the crisis and rescue the economy.
Let us now work together to rebuild – both the economy and our communities.
This time it will be for the benefit of all our people, not for the benefit of speculators.
That is my pledge to you.

So let me leave you with a quote attributed to General Michael Collins during the treaty negotiations – “Give us the future… we’ve had enough of your past… give us back our country, to live in, to grow in… to love”.