Power. And influence.
They're the words most often used to describe what politics is all about.
Power and influence.
But - after 28 years in politics, I believe they come behind something even more important.
Trust.
Trust is where politics begins and ends.
Because public trust is the essence of democracy
Public trust is the basis of good government
Because public trust is the key to everything this country could be.
So, when I ask for public trust, I don't do it lightly. Because when I ask it, I know that I'm asking for everything. But it's vital, if I'm to achieve my goal.
I want to recreate politics in Ireland. I want to rescue it from the mire of lowest common denominator and the curse of the quick-fix.
I want to restore politics in the public heart and imagination as a real entity.
A real entity with real values. That works for real people. That can make real change. Change their lives, their communities, their future, this country.
But, I've got a pretty tough job to do first: I have to convince people that they can actually believe what a politician tells them. Get them to see that we're not all the same. That there will be a party worth voting for. That, despite what they think right now, there's someone on their side.
That they can still rely on a politics of principle, of truth.
Politics that puts the good of the country over the good of the party.
Politics that puts the public interest over the private interest.
Politics that will make the tough decisions. Tell it like it is.
That's politics the patriotic way.
Politics the Fine Gael way.
Politics on your side.
But, tonight, in every part of Ireland, far from the Government's parallel universe, people are paying dear for another kind of politics, one based on rank expediency and self-serving pragmatism.
Tonight, they're worrying about the soaring cost of living, how it's harder to get by, to make ends meet, even when they have a good job. And the jobs themselves are a worry. Because, twelve hundred new people go to sign on now every day.
Tonight, they're incensed by thugs who having asserted their legal rights, give their victory-salute in 'Fingers' to the nation
They're queuing up in our dilapidated hospitals, wondering how long more they'll have to wait to get on a waiting list
They're sending their children off to school in community halls, in clapped out prefabs, even in funeral homes.
They're living with the consequences of public policy that seems totally disconnected from their the reality of their lives and they're thinking,
Is this what I voted for?
Is this what I believed in?
And they're thinking & & .. never again.
But tonight, I want them to think again. I'm looking for their confidence. Their hope. Their trust.
And, I do it because I have a clear conscience, respect for our people and ideas about what I want to do for Ireland. Starting with putting it first.
And since becoming leader of FG, that's exactly what I've done. Putting Ireland first meant taking difficult positions on crime, justice, neutrality, the war on Iraq and Benchmarking. It's a duty thing.
On Benchmarking, we stood outside the cosy consensus and stood up for the hard-working taxpayers. Taxpayers like you, whose families will pay an extra thousand euro a year, every year, for invisible improvements in the public service. A thousand euro. You could do a lot with that.
Benchmarking was the perfect opportunity to reconfigure our public services around the consumer, not the provider. It was a brilliant chance to give dedicated public servants the reforms that would let them do their job, to be rightly rewarded for excellence, not just 'seniority' or length of service.
And, we put Ireland first on the Nice Treaty Referendum. We refused to play politics with our future.
We could have opposed the Government for political advantage. But we knew that a prosperous future depended on playing a central role in the new Europe. So, we didn't just support the Nice campaign. We led it.
We might be a small nation, but we are not inconsequential. A thousand years ago, we Irish lifted Europe out of the Dark Ages, changing the course of a Continent. A thousand years later, we can try again. We can be a role model for the fragile new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe, who will join us in the EU, next May.
But, first, we must live up to our international responsibilities. We must tell the truth on our neutrality.
Because, like it or not, Ireland is no longer neutral. We are merely unaligned. And it's time the Government came clean and gave the country the debate it deserves.
In a short time, the EU will devise a common policy of security and defence. I want us in there shaping that plan. I believe the Government is wrong to expect Ireland to sit back and accept a plan in which we've had no say at all.
Which was exactly where they left us on Iraq& with no voice, no view.
To us, though, it was simple: you either believe in the international rule of law and order, or you believe in the international rule of the few. The Taoiseach did what he does best. Sit tight on the fence and refuse to lead.
But, we stood up for the primacy of the UN. It's not perfect. But, for 50 years, it's been the most successful arbiter of peace in our world. And, standing by the UN, the first and last hope of the small nation, we did what was right for Ireland.
Yes. We have a warm relationship with the US. But even friends can disagree.
Europe was one of the war's first casualties. And I believe Ireland should use its upcoming Presidency of the EU to heal the rift between Europe and America.
Fine Gael believes in fair and peaceful settlement of conflict. Which is why, both in Government or Opposition, we have always put the achievement of a settlement in Northern Ireland above any party interest. Our role in the Sunningdale Agreement, the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Framework Document, all of them achievements of Fine Gael Taoisigh, paved the way for the relative peace enjoyed by the people of Northern Ireland today.
For five years now, we have strongly supported and defended the Good Friday Agreement. The principles underpinning it are those that Fine Gael has promoted for many years - reconciliation, power-sharing and the absolute rejection of violence as a means of achieving political ends.
The results of this week's Assembly Elections expose a worrying polarisation of the communities. A rift which can healed only through the cooperation and power-sharing provided for by the Agreement itself.
I acknowledge the new reality presented by these elections. But I say to Dr. Paisley and his colleagues in the DUP - I recognise your mandate, but you too must accept that over 70% of the Northern Ireland electorate voted for pro-Agreement parties. And their wish for the process to continue, and be completed, must be respected.
I assure the pro-Agreement parties and the Governments, that FG will continue to support and assist them in every way possible in the difficult days and weeks ahead. I assure them, equally, that our always-positive and constructive approach will continue when we are returned to Government.
Positive and constructive hardly describe the seamless, 'single-party' Government of FF and the PDs, those former Keepers of the Public Conscience.
Have you ever seen a Government spend so much to achieve so little?
But what have they done with your money?
What have you get for your trust?
You got the disaster of Luas and the Port Tunnel. Where are the 2,000 extra Gardai. Where are the 50,000 new medical cards? What have you got on housing and hospital waiting lists. And what about the 300,000 Irish people hanging-on below the poverty line.
And what about the mother on tv, asking why if she's paying tax, prsi and private insurance, the health system treats her and her daughter like animals. Her words. Like animals.
You got another mother telling how she "rescued" her intellectually-disabled daughter from an eight-year sentence in a psychiatric hospital.
You got streets that are unsafe at any hour of the day or night.
And you thanks to the Government you got organised crime threatening our democracy and our State. Right now, not sixty miles away, young men are arming themselves with submachine guns, semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles ready to defend or extend their turf. Only here, we're the enemy. You, me, our families, our communities, this society.
And still, we can't trust the Government to defend us. They sit idly by, while a new and worse generation of criminals, consolidate their power bases of murder, anarchy and addiction.
Make no mistake, this is the biggest threat to our democracy since the murder of Veronica Guerin. In 1996, we used the State to fight organised crime. We used every legislative and executive power we could to put them out of business. We made new laws, enforced them better, drafted in specially-dedicated Gardai, we set up the Criminal Assets Bureau. And this week, I was pleased to see that it's still doing its job.
And what have you got from the Government on the economy? Hmm?
You got competitiveness that's plummeting and a cost of living that's rocketing. If the Taoiseach's beloved Manchester United were falling down the league tables, the way Ireland is tumbling down the competitiveness league, Alex Ferguson would be looking for a new job.
But unlike Sir Alex, this Government has lost control. There's no-one in charge. They hang on by Charlie McCreevy's dictum: What we have, we hold. Only the we was the Government. Not the country.
Not the people of Ballinsaloe, or Ennis, or Nenagh, or Mullingar, or Castlebar, or Killarney, or Monaghan and Roscommon who are all set to lose the vital health facilities they hold. And who will, in time, remind the Minister of his immortal words.
That's not my kind of Government. That's not my Ireland. And it need not be yours. But changing it depends on the vast, the silent majority.
The quiet, forgotten people of this country, who work hard, rear their children, pay their taxes, contribute to their community, who still believe in the higher ideals, who balance their rights with their responsibilities.
The people, who, every day, in every vital area of their lives, battle with the bureaucratic bedlam the government has made of this country. And think& ..this Government is on my side?
But if these quiet people are not to give up, we must get them to see that the change they're yearning for does not rest first with us. But with them. It rests in the most powerful agent of change that any democrat holds: their vote.
Starting now, we must get them to recognise the power of their vote. Get them see that a single vote can make or break a Government. That a single vote, in a single constituency can decide how Ireland is governed, how the public money is spent, the kind of society we want to create, the kind of future we give our children.
And when they're deciding how to vote, I want them to be able to say 'no actually, politicians are not all the same. Fine Gael is different. They know something about Courage. Duty. Truth. And they show it in what they do. They put sanity over vanity. They put the national interest over vested interest. And always and ever, they put the good of country over their own.
We do it because we believe in Ireland. We believe in the rights and the responsibilities of all who live here, the governed and the government alike.
We will never give Ireland government by expense-account, where we expect you, the taxpayer, to endlessly pick up the tab for our reckless excesses.
The writer Frank O'Connor told of how when he and his friends would be out walking, if they came across an orchard wall that was tempting, but just too high, they'd throw their hats over it, so they'd have no choice but to follow them.
I think it's time to throw our hats over the wall for Ireland. It's time to dream a better dream for our children. So, they can say with confidence:
I am a valued citizen
I feel part of my community
I am proud of my country
Life is meaningful, safe, good and prosperous in Ireland 2020.
(I talk especially tonight to Eugene McArdle, aged eleven, who wrote me a terrific poem this week and who's watching with his family in Inniskeen in Dundalk).
I want to give you and your generation an Ireland with the family, in all its modern forms, firmly at its heart. Today, the family is under siege. Irish parents face the double whammy of living in the most expensive country in Europe, with the worst possible childcare. And, it's getting worse. Because today in Ireland, 30 per cent of income goes on childcare - a Baby Mortgage - while in the rest of Europe it's closer to 8 per cent.
For the sake of society, I want to end the forced labour of many parents in the workforce. If a mother or father decides to stay at home to rear the next generation, the State should support them in their choice, not punish them in their pocket.
We want an Ireland where we are encouraged to take greater responsibility for our health. Where our health system is centred around the person, the patient, and not paperwork. The consumer not the provider must come first.
I want an Ireland with not just plenty of law, but plenty of order. FG is the party of law and order. And, our absence from Government is being felt on Ireland's streets.
And, for society's sake, we must stop the erosion of the people from the land. We must rebuild communities - real communities - rural and urban. There must be life in our communities, no matter how remote. We must build community in our new Deserted Villages, the huge estates in the Dublin commuter belt, that stretches all the way from Gorey to Dundalk, many of them left with hardly a soul, literally from dawn to dark.
Therefore we must have planning that's led by the Government, in tandem with the community, not by the developers.
And I want a first-class education as a basic civil right, not the random privilege of parenting or class. Because a society which devalues education loses its sense of self. I want every child to go as far as their talents can take them. I think, especially, tonight of all those children living in estates named after our dead patriots - Wolfe Tone, Davitt and our own Michael Collins - who will have to be twice as intelligent, twice as determined, twice as talented and dedicated, to do even half as well as their better off counterparts.
We must support them and their parents vigorously, and at the earliest opportunity we can, so they can reach their extraordinary potential.
That way, by 2020, we'll have corrected the gross educational injustice where one in five people watching tonight - one in five - cannot read or write.
And I want an Ireland where our people can look forward to a safe old age with their own people in their own place. I want to end the social isolation of our older people, where thousands of them live lives of desperate, unbroken stunning silence.
And I want an Ireland where people have faith in politics. Where someone can point to a politician, not as an object of derision, but as someone who makes a real, a positive difference to their lives.
Achieving this will be a challenge. But we're equal to it.
We can start by remembering that we, and any government, hold that office in trust. For the benefit of future generations.
So, how will we create our Ireland?
Well, we'll start with the kind of planning that goes way beyond the next general election, all the way to the next generation.
We'll be engaging in real debate with the people, open debate about the often difficult choices that face us, so that when the election comes, the responsible, caring, decent citizens of this country will know where we stand and will be committed to travel the road with us.
We'll invest in an economy based not on the easy habits of the past, but on the technology and ideas of the future, on creativity and brainpower, on high-end activities like research-and-development and patenting. We'll encourage the risk taker and reward the entrepreneur. All of which should make Ireland an excellent prospect for investors overseas or here at home.
We'll have safer streets because our policing will be directed and targeted, where goals are set, performance measured and results - publicly verifiable results - are achieved.
But this new thinking will start with Government. FG-led Government will be honest, reliable, smarter, more focused and efficient, more accountable. We won't waste the taxpayers' hard-earned money because we will spend it where it is most needed, not where it is easiest to spend.
We will give Ireland an open Government that welcomes public scrutiny, a Government they can be proud of and most of all, a Government they can trust.
I believe with every fibre of who I am, husband, father, teacher, politician, leader of the proud party that founded this State - that there is still no higher calling than public service and government. It's ironic that half an hour after I finish talking tonight, RTE is broadcasting the life story of the man who understood that calling more than anyone else. The man who was instrumental in the founding of this Nation and this party, Michael Collins. Regrettably for Ireland, this Government has de-based the concept of public service that Collins stood for, they've given politics and governance, a bad name, and has failed, and spectacularly so, the people who elected it to serve them.
They speak one way down the country and vote a different way in the Dail. They won't answer questions, don't tell the truth and cronyism is alive and well.
But, tonight, Ireland is yearning for change. The electorate is desperately demanding an alternative.
And they'll be glad that there are parties who want to provide it. That there are others who share FG's commitment to the democratic process. Particularly the Labour Party. I will work closely with Pat Rabbitte and other like-minded colleagues to persuade the people to use their vote, not just for change, but for a better alternative. That they can have a Government who will be prepared to act like one. To take charge and get this country right.
It is our job, colleagues, to provide that alternative.
And we will.
Because we are not beholden to any individual or corporation. We're bought by no-one. Our only vested interest is the public interest.
Earlier this year, I told you we were in a battle for the very soul of politics in this country.
That's the reality we face.
It's not just about opinion polls or elections.
It's about restoring public trust and integrity.
It's about installing competent management at the top of this nation.
Fine Gael must present the people with the choice they haven't had, the change they yearn for, the alternative they demand.
Fine Gael must restore an Ireland that values the individual in more than words, that cares for its people in more than promises.
This must be an Ireland of standards and safety, an Ireland of heroes, hopes and dreams, an Ireland of diversity and deep tradition.
Our children must grow up in an Ireland filled with opportunity and possibility, creativity and innovation. An Ireland with a strong, influential voice on the issues that we have made our own.
If you tell me that's unrealistic, I'll tell you that Fine Gael can stand for nothing less, aim at nothing lower.
After the last election I made a simple promise. That, no matter what it took, I would give every last ounce of energy and commitment I had to rebuild the Fine Gael party that has been my life.
Tonight, I want the same promise from you. That you will give every last ounce of energy and commitment you have, that you will take whatever punishment and pain it requires, to get Fine Gael back to where it must be: a powerful, competent, inescapable alternative Government.
Because we are the party of integrity, of passion, of overarching vision.
· It was Fine Gael that founded this state and set up its institutions.
· that drove all of the massive changes that brought this nation out of repression into true freedom.
· It was Fine Gael's thinking that brought us to the great, welcoming, pluralist nation we are today.
· It was Fine Gael policies that gave us an international reputation as a force for liberalism, for equality and for human dignity.
My friends - let us prove to the nation that Fine Gael - and only Fine Gael - can restore public trust.
Fine Gael - a party of high purpose - believes in a cause greater than any one of us.
That cause is the restoration of competence and creativity, of drive and decency. A big cause - a crucial task.
But - because we believe in each other - we can do it. We can and we will prove to the nation that Fine Gael is the answer.
Let's go and do it.
