Speech by Mr Brendan Howlin, T.D.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
on the Private Members’ Motion of Confidence in the Taoiseach,
the Attorney General, and the Government
Tuesday, 22nd September 2015
Check against delivery
Five years ago, the party with the audacity to table this motion today brought this country to within an inch of its life.
The current Fianna Fáil leader was a member of that Government until he chose to save his political career rather than the country by jumping ship.
That he would bring a confidence motion in this Taoiseach is the finest exercise in brass neckery I’ve come across in a long while.
Let us revisit the record of this Government.
• From the economic punch bag of Europe in 2010 Ireland is on course to have the strongest economic growth in the European Union in both 2015 and 2016.
• Recent figures from the CSO show that GDP in the second quarter of the year was 6.7% higher than a year earlier, and GNP 5.3% higher over the same period.
• Unemployment, which peaked at 15.1% in February 2012, dropped to 9.5% in August of this year.
• Critically, large reductions have been seen, not just in the number of short-term unemployed, but also in the numbers of long-term unemployed, which has dropped from a peak of 184,800 to 118,600
— a decrease of more than 66,000 individuals — showing the success of the revamped Labour Market Activation Programmes included in the Pathways to Work strategy.
• Since the Action Plan for Jobs was launched in 2012, over 120,000 additional jobs have been created, exceeding the initial target of 100,000 new jobs, and much earlier than the initial deadline of 2016.
As well as creating the best possible environment for the economy to flourish, we have also sought to ensure the sustainability of the State’s finances.
• As we committed the budget deficit, a once off 30% plus in 2010 will fall below the 3% target this year.
• Next year we will target a figure under 2%.
• As a result the debt burden is coming down. Having peaked at over 120%, this year it will be 108% of GDP. The net debt figure is a further 20 points lower.
• We fulfilled our key commitment to the Irish people ensuring Ireland left the Fianna Fáil troika programme at the end of 2014.
• We renegotiated the poor deal done by Fianna Fail. That renegotiation has saved the state billions of euros.
• Critically, the Fianna Fáil promissory notes have been torn up and the €3bn annual exchequer burden removed.
The economic growth we are experiencing now is structural, sustainable, and increasingly broad based, with both the domestic and exporting sectors reporting strong growth figures. Jobs are being created in every region. Businesses are investing. However, as a small open economy, we remain susceptible to shocks from abroad. We must ensure that the fiscal crisis that befell this country never happens again. That is why we will continue to pursue a prudent course in managing the Public finances — investing wisely for the future and providing much needed services and support to our people, but doing so in a sensible and sustainable manner that will not undermine the future prospects of the country.
Yes we have issues to address as a country. Important issues.
We are still dealing with the fall-out from the crash and will be for a while. That’s how big a mess Fianna Fáil made of this economy.
And this Government, having brought us back from the brink, will pursue the solutions to these problems with the same vigour we have brought to bear in addressing our economic problems.
The next General Election will take place in the next six months.
The Irish people will be faced with a choice between this Government which can offer stability and prosperity versus the party, Fianna Fáil, that broke the economy and the party,
Sinn Féin, who are so addicted to the politics of crises that they are incapable of articulating any sensible, mature or coherent policy response to any problem.
The people will have their say soon. For today I’m sure that Dáil Eireann will vote confidence in the Government that has steered the ship of state form chaos to calm.
ENDS

