It is an honour to have been invited to address you here in Belfast this morning as part of the Biennial Conference of Congress. And it is appropriate that I should begin by acknowledging and paying tribute to the role of Congress as the largest civil society organisation on the island, representing well over three-quarters of a million working people north and south – almost one-third of them here in Northern Ireland.
I congratulate you, President, on the completion of a very successful term of office. I wish the incoming President,
Peter McLoone, every success in his demanding responsibilities.
Those of you who live and work in the North, and those of us who visit here regularly, know how times have changed. We only have to look around us here in Belfast to see the new developments and the growing prosperity. The city is being transformed. The fruits of peace are there to be seen, in all aspects of life.
We cannot, however, be complacent. We cannot settle for an imperfect peace. We cannot be blind to the continued tension, fear and intimidation that still blight the lives of many people in communities in Belfast and across the North. We cannot ignore the need to address the deep-rooted problems in society. We cannot – and I will not – rest until we see the completion of the process of transformation that was set in train by the Good Friday Agreement.
Change may not always happen as quickly as we would like. But enormous changes for the better have come. And those changes cannot be reversed. There can be no going back to the failures – political and economic – of the past.
I do not wish to speculate here on what might be said or done in the next few weeks. All I will say is that the policy of the Irish Government – and the British Government – is clear. We need to see an end to all paramilitary and criminal activity and the completion of decommissioning. It has to be clear and decisive. If that happens, we will expect unionists to participate in genuine partnership politics.
I know that trust has been damaged and will take time to rebuild. However, we must not deviate from the agreed destination. That destination is the full operation of partnership politics, as outlined in the Good Friday Agreement. Nothing less will work. Nothing less will last. Nothing less will provide a basis on which unionists and nationalists of all persuasions can live and work together.
Only partnership politics, that empowers and liberates all communities, provides a viable and acceptable way forward in Northern Ireland.
In the weeks ahead, Northern Ireland will again experience the challenges and difficulties of the marching season. The vast majority of parades will pass off peacefully and without incident. A small number may prove to be contentious. I would ask that, while each side will have different perspectives on the rights and wrongs of such parades, those with influence on both sides use it for the good of their communities, by easing tensions and avoiding conflict.
That influence has proved very effective in the past. In recent years, despite some volatile local incidents, successive marching seasons have been broadly peaceful because of the hard work and good intentions of leaders and community workers on both sides. The entirely peaceful parade in Rosnowlagh, Co. Donegal each year, and the good work that is being done in developing the Boyne battle site, demonstrate that it is possible to celebrate the Orange tradition in a way that threatens and offends nobody.
There is no doubt that the overwhelming desire of all the citizens on this island is for peace and normality in their daily lives. The longstanding commitment of the trade union movement to this end continues to be an enormously significant and valuable one – representing members of all political ideologies and none; members of all religious denominations and none.
As an all-island body, Congress has time and again shown its ability to mobilise community opinion against sectarianism and prejudice. I am not alone in saying that your efforts in this area are deeply appreciated. I do not forget the contribution of Congress in supporting the Good Friday Agreement.
And you have a role in the future. We have huge potential on this island – to develop the island economy, to work together on infrastructure development and service provision, to improve social protection, to learn from each other. This is not just the work of politicians and civil servants. We need the social partners to help. We need your help, your knowledge, your ideas and your advice. We need your engagement with Government to work for peace, reconciliation and co-operation across this island. I hope, moving on from today, we can build a deeper dialogue on all these issues.
Shared Achievements Through Partnership
In a world in which change has become one of the few constants, it is also appropriate that I acknowledge this morning the relevance of the goals of Congress: your commitment to work for economic development, social cohesion and justice by upholding the values of solidarity, fairness and equality. It is my view that these values provide us with a solid foundation with which to address with confidence the many shared challenges that lie ahead.
The instrument through which we have worked together is social partnership. Through the partnership process, we have helped to ensure that the policies of Government and the efforts of the social partners create the right environment to secure jobs and living standards.
Economy and Jobs
In terms of economic growth, job creation, unemployment and income per head, our performance has compared very favourably with the rest of the European Union, while days lost through industrial disputes are now at a record low. This is not to say that we can be complacent, as evidenced in particular by the worrying increase in redundancies. However, we have come through in much better shape within the framework of social partnership than many who see no need of a social dialogue process.
Particularly welcome, to you as well as to me, has been the massive employment growth over a sustained period. Even as recently as 8 years ago, we had long-term unemployment approaching 6 per cent. That level now stands at 1.5 per cent.
But social partnership has also brought about substantive net income gains for all employees. Irish workers – according to the OECD – pay the third lowest tax and social insurance contributions in the industrial world.
Critically, the OECD found that, when child benefit payments are taken into account, the Irish tax and welfare system is the most generous in the world for single income families on average industrial wages.
The Government has targeted tax reductions on workers on low earnings. When combined with the relatively high national minimum wage which we have introduced, I am satisfied that we have a firm commitment to protecting the position of those on modest wages.
Fair and Inclusive Society
Reducing the tax burden on workers on all incomes, but especially low incomes, is only part of the dividend from sensible economic policies, complemented by our partnership agreement.
We have made substantial progress in recent years in terms of social infrastructure, with total health spending increasing by 215% since 1997, while spending on education will be 120% higher than it was eight years ago.
Last December's budget reflected the Government's commitment to the welfare of those in greatest need in our society. It delivered a substantial social package to reduce poverty and inequality and promote social inclusion. In total, we will spend a record figure, €12.25 billion, on social welfare in 2005 - double the 1997 figure.
The budget included a range of other measures, including a special multi-annual funding package for disability, worth almost €900 million over the years 2006-2009. Combined with the new Disability legislation, this will deliver real and immediate benefit.
Housing and other Special Initiatives
The Government and the ICTU share a conviction that quality of life issues and the necessary underpinning infrastructure are just as important to national competitiveness as the more traditional cost issues.
That is particularly true of housing. A growing, young population needs housing of good quality, at reasonable prices. That is why the Government has given such attention to housing policy.
In global terms, our housing performance has been outstanding. Last year, almost 77,000 units were completed. This was the 10th year of record output. Nearly 500,000 units have been built in the last 10 years, accounting for 30% of the country’s total housing stock. We are building at a rate of 19 units per 1000 persons, which is the highest rate in the European Union and significantly ahead of the UK which is building at less than 4 units per 1000 persons.
However, demand has been such that making house purchase more affordable for young couples, in particular, is a real priority for the Government, as well as for your members.
We introduced stamp duty changes in Budget 2005, targeted at the first time buyer, helping to make second-hand homes more affordable to first time buyers by significantly reducing, and in some instances eliminating, the level of stamp duty payable.
We have facilitated the introduction to the market by Bank of Ireland of an affordable mortgage product with substantially lowered deposit requirements. This opens up the possibility of a significant reduction in the direct entry costs for first-time buyers, making the prospect of buying their own home an achievable goal. We are finalising discussions with a number of other major financial institutions to extend the range of affordable mortgage finance products available to the first time buyer. This will be a continuing priority.
We have enacted new legislation to facilitate the sale of affordable units by developers and builders directly to purchasers, with claw back arrangements to prevent profiteering.
In this context, the Affordable Housing Initiative under Sustaining Progress is an innovative approach that has brought about collaboration on a cross agency basis. Many different organisations are involved, from the Departments who have made lands available to the various local authorities who are project managing the Initiative from green field site, through planning, to actual construction.
We have released public lands, with a total potential yield of over 10,000 housing units, meeting the milestone target contained in Sustaining Progress.
Some 70 sites have now been assigned to the Initiative.
In his latest progress report, Des Geraghty has pointed out that construction of housing units - from identification of the land, through the planning and development process, to completion of the first housing units, assuming no unforeseen delays - can take over four years. Against that backdrop, the Government has made very significant progress over the past two years.
The Government has agreed to the greater use of fast-tracking mechanisms for accelerated delivery of affordable housing. In this context, a premium site at Harcourt Terrace in Dublin was identified as a land swap option and brought to the market. This was the first pilot for an exchange of state/local authority land for completed (turnkey) housing units and/or zoned lands for housing.
The bid process for the Harcourt site has now been completed and I am pleased to announce this morning that this will result in nearly 200 additional affordable units being made available on a phased basis, over the next nine months, commencing this month.
Based on the experience with this pilot project, I can also confirm that six further sites have now been selected as candidates for the land swap option. These are being brought to the market as a matter of urgency.
They include two sites at Backweston and sites at Model Farm Road, McGee Barracks, Gormanston and the old Garda Station at Harcourt Terrace.
Current delivery of affordable housing units for the Initiative, including arrangements under Part V of the Planning and Development Act (otherwise known as the 20% levy scheme) is projected to yield 3,300 completed units in the period 2005 - 2006. Delivery across all of the affordable housing schemes is now projected at 7,300 units for the same period.
However, the Affordable Housing Initiative has proved that commitment and enthusiastic support, of themselves, are not enough to deliver affordable housing quickly and on an ambitious scale. We need a more co-ordinated structure that can deliver more and faster.
I am pleased to announce today that the Government has decided to establish, with immediate effect, a new Agency – the Affordable Homes Partnership – to drive and co-ordinate the delivery of affordable housing in the Greater Dublin Area.
The agency will be focused on early improvements in the delivery of affordable housing. The Agency’s first tasks will include helping to accelerate the Sustaining Progress Affordable Housing Initiative on State lands. The Agency will also issue a call for proposals from third parties in order to identify further appropriate sites for affordable housing.
Furthermore, the Agency will provide a co-ordinated public information service on the various aspects of Affordable Housing, thus making it easier for people to find out what is on offer and how to avail of it.
Initially, the Agency will work within the existing planning/ development framework but additional legislative powers will be made available should they prove necessary. In addition, consideration is to be given by the appropriate Departments to approaches dealing with land options and a “use it or lose it” approach to relevant planning permissions. The new Agency will also interact closely with Departments responsible for key infrastructure delivery, such as transport, schools and water. This will ensure a rapid, “whole of Government” approach to affordable housing developments.
The Board of this agency will, initially, include Managers of the four Dublin local authorities and a number of independent members and we will keep open the option of adding additional members as the need arises.
I am delighted to let you know that Des Geraghty - no stranger to ICTU! – has been invited, and has agreed, to serve as Chairman of the new Agency. Des’ keen interest in this subject, as evidenced by his close shepherding of the Affordable Housing Initiative under Sustaining Progress, means that he is well placed to take on this new and important role.
The work of the Agency, in particular by increasing the availability of land for housing, will complement the extensive measures already underway to improve the delivery of social housing. As a further element of overall housing policy, the Government will address the more medium term issues for the provision of social and affordable housing in the early Autumn. This process will be informed by the outcome of the statutory housing needs assessment currently underway. It will also reflect the work underway in the Housing Forum, reviewing the effectiveness of the existing social and affordable housing schemes in the context of Sustaining Progress.
The initiatives I am announcing today reflect the Government’s commitment to ensure that our housing needs are met, and that ordinary working men and women can continue to aspire to home ownership in sustainable communities.
Towards a New Agreement
I want to make very clear the Government’s continued strong commitment to pursuing Ireland’s economic and social prosperity through the process of social dialogue and partnership. We have now had 6 national partnership agreements since 1987 and are due to begin discussions on a new agreement towards the end of this year.
The NESC is working on a new Strategy Report to be published in the autumn. This will set the context within which negotiations on any new social partnership agreement will be undertaken. Their analysis will take account of the pressure of globalisation, the increasing role of services, the implications of migration and the role of productivity in supporting living standards. It also needs to analyse how economic progress and policy change can further reduce poverty and inequality and create a sustainable system of social protection.
The pace of economic restructuring is accelerating. Enlargement of the European Union, and the dynamic growth of economies like China, represent a significant external challenge. Equipping our workers and our students for the workplace of the future requires new thinking and new approaches.
Potentially, we all have much to gain from adjustment that leads to a more efficient division of labour and faster growth. But transformation pressures can also give rise to periods of insecurity that affect peoples’ everyday lives. We must therefore work together, through the partnership process, to ensure that these threats are averted. We must provide bridges from the old to the new. We must ensure that our people feel confident to embrace the reality of change.
This is about lifelong learning. It is about broad social security and active labour market policies. And it is about equality of opportunity. We have reached a point in our national development where future prosperity has never been more dependent on unlocking the talents of each and every citizen. That means appropriate education and training opportunities for people with low skills and in vulnerable jobs. We need to establish new and innovative ways of meeting our future needs in the area of retirement and pension security. As you all know, we also face particular challenges in the area of care – childcare, eldercare and care for people with disabilities.
The challenge of delivering quality services in these areas will require a more innovative and dynamic public service. This means a public service that is committed to renewal and that embraces proactively the management, organisational and technological changes that are necessary. Those of us who share a commitment to quality public services should be very clear that the enemy of progress – in health, in education, in transport and in other areas too – is failure to accept that yesterday’s solutions will not work in today’s environment.
Pay and the Workplace
I think it should also be clear that how we go about setting wage levels is critically important for stability and growth in our economy.
Some commentators seem to believe that we should move away from collective bargaining structures, including the well-tried and tested bargaining procedures within social partnership. There are of course anti-partnership and anti-union voices to be heard, domestically as well as internationally. For them, the very low levels of union membership in some countries are seen as an attractive goal. They overlook the fact that collective bargaining continues and is a critically important influence on wage levels, even in economies with low union density.
We can best protect high income levels by setting wage growth at a sensible and affordable level. It is important that we do not undermine the job creation capability of the Irish economy or our international attractions as a place to work and to invest. This is the context in which a successor to the current agreement will be considered.
EU Context
The need to change to benefit from globalisation is not unique to Ireland. It is a challenge facing all of the Member States of the European Union.
Our membership of the EU has been fundamental to the transformation of Ireland. Our economic progress has been hugely supported by our access to the EU Internal market, by EU structural and cohesion funding and by the discipline required for membership of the Economic and Monetary Union. Our social progress has been underpinned by progressive EU social legislation, an integral component of social Europe. Our national commitment to social partnership is reflected at the European level in the Tripartite Social Summit.
The past weeks have not been good for the European Union. The rejection of the European Constitution in France and The Netherlands, two founding members of the Union, has been a major shock. The damage to the Union was further compounded by the failure of the European Council to agree on the future funding of the EU. The negotiations on the EU funding broke down in bad temper and acrimony.
However, the European Council has a launched a broad debate on the European Constitution, and on Europe generally, across the Union. The National Forum for Europe will take the lead in promoting and facilitating this national dialogue in Ireland. For its part, the Government will publish a White Paper on the European Constitution in September. This will explain clearly what is in the European Constitution and why we need such a Constitution in Europe today.
I would like to see all sectors of society, including the social partners, participate in this national debate.
The European Constitution, unlike the Treaties it replaces, sets out clearly what the citizens of Europe stand for and what their values are: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
The Constitution also identifies the type of society that Europeans want - a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between men and women prevail.
In addition to establishing a Union of values, the Constitution also establishes a Union of rights. The incorporation of the Charter on Fundamental Rights into the European Constitution provides new rights for European citizens that the Institutions of the Union must respect.
In keeping with Europe’s strong commitment to the protection of the weak and vulnerable, to social protection and cohesion and to the rights of workers, the Constitution provides for a Union based on solidarity. It includes the fight against social exclusion and discrimination among the objectives of the EU. It makes legal provisions for the promotion of equal treatment of women and men, solidarity between generations and the protection of the rights of the child. It includes commitments to social dialogue involving Trades Unions.
The national debate on Europe launched by the European Council will be an opportunity to inform the people about the benefits of the European Constitution. The Government and the social partners can promote the message that the values enshrined in the European Constitution are our values. The type of society which the European Constitution wants to create in Europe reflects our society.
I remain convinced that the ratification and entry into force of the European Constitution is in Ireland’s interest and in the interest of Europe a whole. As globalisation intensifies, as the competitive challenge from China, India and others increases, Europe must remain united.
The debate on the future of Europe is not a debate that is remote from the Trade Union movement. It demands your active engagement. It deals with issues that are vital to your members. And it has enormous implications for the future success of the Irish economy and its workers. In pursuing the goals of the Lisbon Agenda – to make Europe a dynamic, knowledge-based economy – Europe has recognised – not least in the light of our own domestic experience – that this can best be achieved by national partnerships which are deeply rooted in a commitment to economic and social reform.
I therefore look forward to hearing the voice of the Trade Union movement loudly and clearly as we intensify our national discussion on Europe and the European Constitution.
Conclusion
In a globalised and increasingly interdependent world, the strength of Ireland’s economy, the attractiveness of its society and the sustainability of its institutions, north and south, will rest on the same foundation – the human qualities of its people.
The future of the social partnership process is in the hands of all of the partners, together. I have no doubt about its continued relevance to meeting the challenges that we face. I believe its own record of success in underpinning our economic and social transformation represents the best argument for continuing with the process. The challenges we now face are different to those of 1987, but they are no less complex and meeting them successfully is no less important.
ENDS