Fine Gael National Press Office Press Release

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Sixty years ago this week, a Fine Gael Taoiseach, John A Costello, declared Ireland a Republic. The birth of the Republic was welcomed in celebrations throughout the country and in Dublin with a 21 gun salute from O'Connell Bridge just after midnight. Newspapers of the time record that at least 40 people collapsed that night on O'Connell Bridge. They do not record whether this was a result of high spirits, or spirits of an entirely different kind.

It was entirely fitting that it was Fine Gael, the party that created the Irish State, which finally declared it to be a Republic. The declaration was an emphatic vindication of Michael Collins' claim that the 1921 Treaty had given Ireland "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire and develop to, but the freedom to achieve it". By declaring the Republic, Costello hoped that it would finally be possible to take the gun out of Irish politics. Unfortunately, it was to take several more decades before his aspiration was finally realised.

While the 1949 declaration may have been the final step in establishing Ireland's Independence from the UK, it left unanswered one key question: What kind of Republic did Ireland want to become? The answer quickly became apparent. Ireland in the 1950s and the 1960s was a Republic that exported vast swathes of its young people because it had no work for them at home. It was a Republic of low growth and low ambition; a Republic which failed to meet even the basic needs of its citizens.

Fifteen years after his father declared the Republic, Declan Costello, a young member of the Fine Gael front bench, published "Towards a Just Society", a document that was to shape a great deal of Fine Gael thinking over the next 20 years. Declan Costello's argument was both simple and profound: Freedom from foreign rule was not enough. We also had to create the kind of society in Ireland that would make everyone truly free:

"We have, it is true, achieved freedom from foreign rule for most of our country and our citizens enjoy freedom from arbitrary arrest, but freedom is much more than the absence of tyranny . . . it only becomes real when economic and social conditions permit the full development of the human personality."

The Just Society was much more than a critique of Irish society and politics, or a set of lofty aspirations. It was a clarion call for real, tangible change that would improve the lives of ordinary people. It was about creating a Republic in which every citizen could find fulfilling work and realise their true potential.

Sixty years after John Costello's declaration, it is clear that our Republic is in very serious trouble. The statistics tell their own, dreadful story: Unemployment is heading towards 500,000; our economy is contracting by at least 7% this year, and a savage budget which has added €4,000 to the tax bill of an average family, with more tax increases to come.

But the bald statistics don't tell the full story: They don't tell you about the struggle that it imposes on hardworking families. They don't tell you about the complete absence of hope or opportunity for those who are burdened with the scourge of unemployment and they don't tell you of the absolute nightmare facing small and medium sized businesses - struggling to survive in the midst of one of the most vicious credit squeezes in Irish banking history.

It's obvious that the global downturn has hurt Ireland badly. However, even without that downturn, our economy would still be in recession. Fianna Fail's "bubble economy", supported by massive increases in public spending and unsustainable tax receipts from property, was never going to last. Yet up to the very last, the Government was in complete denial about the reality of what was happening. Now that Fianna Fail has finally acknowledged just how bad things are, is the Irish people that are being asked to pick up the pieces and to pay the price the Government's mistakes.

It's not just that Fianna Fail was hugely incompetent over the last ten years. That would be bad enough. But Fianna Fail did something even more unforgivable - the "Republican Party" turned its back on the very principles that underpin our Republic. Real Republicanism, a political tradition that stretches right back to classical Rome and Greece, is about protecting the people from the rich and powerful. Res Republica - Things of the People. It's about ensuring that everyone has an equal voice in how society is run.

In Ireland, our Republic has been undermined by Cosy Capitalism and Crony Government. There may have been a time when Fianna Fail could claim to be a party of the people. That time is long gone. Today Fianna Fail is the party of the Galway Tent, of the "Golden Circle" of bankers, big businessmen and developers who turned our banks into casinos for the rich and powerful. It is the party of a Social Partnership that worked well for many years, but increasingly became a mechanism for divvying up the spoils between the various interest groups.

So how stands our Republic now?

The idea of the Republic is one that fills me with a tremendous sense of responsibility. The idea that the State belongs to no one, because it belongs to everyone. Today, more than ever, we need a new, reinvigorated Republic. Ireland needs a Government that is on the side of the people not the powerful, a Government which is willing to make the tough decisions to get our public finances in order, but knows that the most important priority is to get people back to work. To give people the dignity of work and active participation in our society.

Above all it needs a Government that is not afraid of new ideas, and is willing to embrace radical change. Fine Gael can and does embrace change. We are proud of Ireland's accomplishments, and its strong role in Europe. We have transformed our Country from being economically subservient to economically independent. The Irish people have achieved great things in the past. But politics isn't about the past. It's about creating a new future. I believe that our country's best days are still ahead of us and that, under Fine Gael's leadership, we can, and will, create a Republic worthy of our people.