Fine Gael National Press Office Press Release

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Jobs, Jobs, Jobs prioritised as FG Vision can drag Ireland out of recession - Coveney

A Fairer Ireland
Fine Gael Ard Fheis

Summary of Speech by Fine Gael Energy & Communications Spokesman, Simon Coveney TD

Fine Gael will offer more than strong criticism of Government performance, as we have been doing, we will bring forward solutions and a radical new reform agenda, Fine Gael Communications, Energy & Natural Resources Spokesman, Simon Coveney TD said at his Party's Ard Fheis today (Saturday) in CityWest.

"The key battleground for successfully turning around this country must be jobs: jobs, jobs, jobs.

"The stagnation of ideas and lack of energy or drive from the Fianna Fáil Government, leaves me, and in fact most voters, with no faith in Brian Cowen and his comrades to provide the new thinking necessary to effectively counteract this recession.

"Fine Gael must provide the political leadership needed, even from opposition, and even if that means sacrificing popularity and taking political risk.

"We have been doing just that:

- This week, Richard Bruton outlined detailed Fine Gael Budget proposals, even in the absence of information from government.
- Two weeks ago, Enda Kenny brought forward brave proposals on reforming the political system, to lead by example in the current climate.
- Three weeks ago Brian Hayes gave leadership on how to fund third level education without re-introducing direct fees.

"And last week I launched our 'Rebuilding Ireland' document that contained proposals to deliver an €18.5 billion economic stimulus package and create 100,000 new jobs. For the first time all State companies will be managed as a portfolio of companies to deliver a new strategic vision for the State. A new State industrial holding company New ERA (New Economic and Recovery Authority) would operate and allow us to harness the new opportunities right in front of us.

"The populist, incompetent and dishonest politics of Fianna Fáil drove us into recession but bold Fine Gael policies will get us out of it. Through hard work, visionary thinking and intelligent planning we can bring about a new era of growth and job creation."

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Speech by Fine Gael Communications, Energy & Natural Resources Spokesman, Simon Coveney TD

We are told by An Taoiseach that, this Tuesday, his Government will deliver the 'tough but necessary medicine' Ireland needs.

I hope he's right but I doubt it.

I have no faith in this Government to provide the new thinking necessary to counteract this recession.

Let's be blunt and call it as it is: This is a failed, tired administration without a mandate or a vision for the New Ireland we must create.

For the second time in my lifetime these "Soldiers of Destiny" have brought our country to its knees.

We, in this Party, must now focus all of our energy and intelligence on finding solutions. We can't afford to waste time on political recriminations, while our deficit grows by a billion a month and our dole queues grow by a thousand a day.

However, let me say one thing clearly for the record, before focusing on positive new thinking. This weekend, we must make an absolute commitment: that the populist, incompetent and frankly dishonest politics of Fianna Fail that have led us from "boom to bust" must never be allowed to happen again.

They never saw it coming, despite frequent and evidence based warnings, "Ireland has just hit a wall" to quote our Justice Minister. Now that the recession is here, it's crisis management week-on-week with no broader plan of action to change and reform for the better.

While other countries are financing economic stimulus packages to create jobs and boost spending, we are floundering to deal with a frightening deficit, expensively borrowing 40% of all State expenditure.

While other countries cut taxes to put money back in people's pockets, we are being forced to do the opposite, taking money out of an already flat market where nobody's spending and nobody's lending.

Fine Gael believes that this Budget must be about much more than simply tackling 2009 deficit problems.

If we limit our ambition this week to raising taxes and cutting expenditure, then we are facing just one battle while the war is being lost on so many other fronts.

The key battleground for successfully arresting this negative economic landslide must be jobs: jobs, jobs, jobs - we must protect them and find ways to create them.

Government is totally failing to protect existing jobs - 80,000 people joined the dole queues in the first three months of 2009 - and there's no new thinking to create new employment.

This is a national emergency and should be treated as such. It needs to be responded to with cool heads and clear thinking but with an urgency and firmness that is visible, giving a sense of clear direction. People will follow if given leadership that they can believe in - even if that leadership demands significant sacrifice.

These are the moments when the political system must deliver for the people that put it in place.

Fine Gael's responsibility is significant. Anyone in this Party who churns out the line to me that "Fianna Fail created this mess so let them sort it out" does not represent the Party that I believe in. We must offer more than strong criticism of Government performance and remember the proud history of this Party of brave leadership at crucial times in history.

Crisis always brings with it opportunity. But the total absence of imaginative thinking from Government requires that we bring forward solutions and a radical new reform agenda. In other words we must provide political leadership, even from opposition. And even if that means sacrificing popularity and taking political risk.

Fine Gael has been doing just that: This week, Richard Bruton outlined detailed Fine Gael Budget proposals, even in the absence of information from government.

Two weeks ago, Enda Kenny brought forward brave proposals on reforming the political system.

The week before, Brian Hayes gave leadership on how to fund Third Level Education, without re-introducing direct fees.

Last week we launched proposals to deliver an €18.5 billion economic stimulus package with a new funding model that does not require increased government borrowing.

This proposal can create 100,000 new jobs over four years and at the same time build new vital infrastructure, upon which we can grow a new competitive economy.

Ireland's economy is broken - in terms of cost competitiveness in particular - doing business has become too expensive: energy costs, IT costs, water costs, waste costs and the cost of services.

Added to cost issues, we are no longer keeping pace in terms of modern infrastructure - which will be the key arteries to fuel new economic growth.

On top of this, we're still hooked on cheap oil and still grossly over-dependant on imported fuels like oil, coal and gas, that will not last forever. Reaching "peak oil" is now an accepted certainty sooner rather than later. Every progressive economy in the world is preparing accordingly.

That is why Fine Gael's stimulus plan entitled "Rebuilding Ireland" revolves around the priority of investing to build a new advanced infrastructure in the energy, telecommunications and water distribution areas. The fact that this work is highly labour intensive will create tens of thousands of jobs.

The new economic vision for Ireland must be based on intelligent energy distribution networks. Our energy should be secure. It should come from renewable sources. We have the natural resources to export tens of thousands of megawatts of green energy, if only we have the vision and ambition to make it happen.

The New Ireland must be built on world class telecommunications. Next generation broadband must be available to our people and our businesses.

When people ask how much bandwidth we need, I quote Bill Gates, who said:

"Provide more and more bandwidth and I will provide the applications and products to fill it."

The telecommunications infrastructure of the future will be more important to Ireland's development than any road or rail network that we have ever built. Television screens in homes will become multimedia devices providing visual telephony, entertainment systems and a gaming device, digital television, an information source and so much more.

This is the future and Ireland will fall behind if we don't keep pace.

Fine Gael plans to invest our €18 billion stimulus package through new and restructured state companies, operating under a new state commercial holding company called the New Economy and Recovery Authority, or New ERA for short.

For the first time, all state companies will be managed as a portfolio of companies, driven centrally to deliver a new strategic vision for Ireland.

Our country needs investment now, a new direction to inspire optimism and a cause for confidence, not self pity and paralysis.

While Brian Cowen dreams of an end to recession at some undefined future point, Enda Kenny has a vision right now to make it happen.

In this crisis, as financial markets fail and private sector investors have become risk averse, it is the State that must lead the way and take "the road less travelled by."

Fine Gael understands this - the proof is in what we say and what we will do in Government.

We have charted a new course for Ireland, based on a Reform Agenda, that will protect jobs, create new employment, new opportunities, new hope for the many people who look to this party for leadership.

Previous waves of Irish industrial innovation and expansion in Ireland were stimulated by economic crisis and a visionary response from the State and public:

- The establishment of the ESB in 1927,
- Ardnacrusha in 1929,
- Rural electrification in the 1950s,
- And the early digitalisation of our telecoms exchanges in the 1980s.

This crisis needs the same ambition from the State.

We know that through hard work, visionary thinking and intelligent planning we can bring about a new era of growth and job creation.

We will lead the fight back against recession and rebuild our country and bring our people with us in that effort - because that is what is required now.

My favourite political quote applies to the challenge that we face as a party in opposition, and perhaps soon in Government. It comes from a pragmatic visionary:

"The Ireland to which we are true, is the ideal Ireland; which means there is always something more to strive for. True devotion lies not in melodramatic defiance or self-sacrifice, but in the steady earnest effort in the face of actual possibilities towards the achievement of our hopes and visions.... the laying of stone upon stone."

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