Speech by Taoiseach and Fine Gael Leader, Simon Harris Knock Airport 24.11.24

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

My Friends,

We gather here at a momentous time for the future of our country.

The people are sovereign and soon they will make choices that will determine the composition of the next Government.

Not one vote has yet been cast and I will fight for every one for Fine Gael until the final whistle.

I know you will too.

And at every door you knock, I ask you to please be clear that it is a choice.

There are some in this election who wish to dismiss 100 years of independent democracy in Ireland.

To portray the votes cast in the last century as powerless acts by a nation without agency of their own.

It is the actually the ultimate insult to the achievement of independence to construe every free and fair election since as a monopoly – and all for a simple narrative trick. One of the oldest tricks in the book.

To try to persuade the electorate to identify oneself as change by casting one’s opponent as continuity.

But of course little truth lies in tactical narrative spinning.

Because for it to be true, you would have to believe that there has been no change in Ireland in the last 100 years.

Does anyone believe that to be true?

In fact, in just the last term of Government, the incredible successive challenges of Brexit, Covid, the return of War to Europe and the period of sky-high inflation, have taken place in a period of extraordinary change.

One of the most significant was the interventionist role the State undertook to ensure the economic survival of citizens and businesses, at the same time as survival itself was at stake for many of our people.

As we looked after each other, the Government looked after us too.

And stepping in to bolster the finances of our households and businesses turned out to be an investment which yielded a quicker and more complete recovery than many could have imagined.

This was a moment when the actions of Government directly connected to my personal values.

A caring State that honours a social contract with its people.

This is the choice I want to offer people in this election.

Because I believe in a Republic where if you work hard and play by the rules, the State will play its part too.

I believe the hard-earned money you pay in taxes should be linked to the delivery of the services that you and your family need.

I believe no matter who you are, where you come from or what your parents did before you, you should be able to reach your full potential.

I believe that home ownership must be brought back into the reach of all who need it.

I believe we must pass this earth onto the next generation having confronted the climate challenge, without pitting it against our incredible capacity for food production.

But I also believe, and Fine Gael believes, to our core, that a strong economy is fundamental to fulfilling these values, to honouring the social contract.

I know we have got to do so much more to make it happen.

I know we haven’t got everything right.

I am restless to make improvements to services that are not where they need to be, especially for children with disabilities and special educational needs.

We know we need to be ambitious and relentless on housing and that is what we commit to be.

We need to help with childcare costs to enable families to make the choices they want to make, especially women.

We know we need to give small businesses a break and keep our main streets alive.

We need more Gardaí and more law and order so those streets feel safe for our citizens.

We need to both value migration and vindicate the rules and procedures around it so that the public can have faith we have a well-managed plan.

These are all part of the manifesto we are putting before the people at this election.  A manifesto to truly secure your future.

And when you go out there on the doors, to ask the people for their votes, I want you to tell them we have something we never had before.

We have a really good plan and we have the resources to deliver it.

Because we’ve all looked into the whites of people’s eyes as we’ve been out on this campaign and we’ve seen pressure. We’ve seen stress.

Worrying about the weekly shop.

Hearing the cold snap is coming and fretting about putting the heating on.

Working long days on your feet in the busy café and coming out with no margin at the end of the week.

People need us to deliver a package that is the right balance of providing more permanent help in the here and now, investing longer term in services and infrastructure, and putting some money away to help secure the future.

Fine Gael has that plan:

Providing more permanent help in the here and now

Capping childcare fees at €200 a month per child or €600 for a family with three or more children and create 30,000 additional places by establishing State-led childcare facilities

Reduce your taxes to allow you keep more of your hard-earned income

Ensure nobody on the average wage pays the higher rate of tax

Abolish the Universal Social surcharge on the self-employed

Link social insurance benefits more closely to earnings like pay-related parental leave to ensure you can keep more of your money

Introduce a new working age payment to end welfare traps and ensure people who work are always better off working than not

Guarantee older people the State pension will increase to at least €350 per week

Extend free hot school meals to all school, and introduce a permanent double child benefit ahead of back-to-school time

Increase and expand the Child Support Payment for children living in poverty and move towards a Second Tier Child Benefit Payment

Abolish college fees and increase access to SUSI grants

Extend free GP care to under 18s, abolish prescription charges and cut the cost of medicine to €50 a month

Introduce a new Family Carer Payment of €325 per week in recognition of the vital role carers play in our society and abolish the Carer’s Allowance means test

Allow working families access fuel allowance

Permanently reduce the 13.5% VAT rate to 11% for food and catering, entertainment and hairdressing services

Reduce payroll costs through a PRSI rebate for businesses with fewer than 50 staff each year benefitting a business employing 10 staff by as much as €33,150

Extend and increase Help to Buy from €30,000 to €40,000 a year

Extend the First Home Scheme to second home homes

Help long-term homeless families access social housing

Investing longer term in services and infrastructure

Double the number of homes built to 60,000 a year with a €40 billion budget for housing

7,500 new student accommodation beds

Empower the Land Development Agency to unlock more homes on public land

Support the development of one-off housing

Open a new Garda training college and double the Garda training allowance

Recruit 6,000 new Gardaí

Build a new prison and open 1,500 new prison spaces on top of that

Give Gardaí more power to stop anti-social behaviour

Ensure a dedicated therapy service for students in all special schools and extend over time to special classes within mainstream schools

Multi-annual budgets for health to give certainty and security,  and end the cycle of overruns

New primary care centres and better support for dentists, pharmacists and GPs to deliver more care locally.

Thousands of new beds, 6 surgical hubs, 4 elective hospitals and tens of thousands of new staff increasing capacity to access care more quickly.

Make cancer care and disability supports priorities for delivery of healthcare, while developing a Women’s Health Programme in general practice.

Increase funding for school and new school buildings to meet the growing demand for places

Ensuring a strong economy and saving for the future

Create 300,000 more jobs

A new child savings account, the Acorn Account, with a €1,000 State contribution for every child from birth to help save for the future. Every child in a family in receipt of child support payments will receive €1,500.

Increase funding for new roads and the maintenance of existing roads

Fight for the retention of Ireland’s Nitrates Directive derogation with a Cabinet Committee on Water Quality

Deliver a comprehensive farm succession policy

Provide financial supports to farmers working to help address the climate crisis by ensuring a fair share of any funds from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund

Pursue energy independence by making Ireland a Green Energy Leader expanding renewable energy sources, while ensuring security of supply and avoiding bill shocks

Create a new Department of Infrastructure, Climate & Transport to deliver essential projects like energy, water, roads and public transport to support the delivery of housing for a growing population

This Department will bring in outside experts with to ensure the public purse is spent wisely and well to deliver the essential projects our country needs on time and on budget.

I know the sense that taxpayers’ money is being wasted drives people absolutely spare especially when they are to their pin of their collar and we have to make sure there is zero tolerance for it in the future.

My friends, I tell you this is the right plan for a time when we must not be complacent.

It is a very uncertain time in the world and we are not immune from potential threats.

There is a war in Europe and a war in the Middle East.

We need a stable Government to lead the country over the next five years.

A Government that makes the necessary decisions to protect you, your family and your future.

We need a Government that can last a full term and make the decisions that are needed to secure your future.

I am humbly asking people to vote for Fine Gael so that we can lead the next Government.

So that we can keep our economy strong AND make sure it is delivering for our people and making life a little bit easier.

Vote for a strong and stable Government that can secure your future in uncertain times.