Speech by the Taoiseach Mr Enda Kenny T.D., Programme for Government Annual Report

Good afternoon everyone.

Three years ago, the Tánaiste and I formed a Government of Fine Gael and Labour with one overriding objective: to get Ireland working again.

In early 2011 the country faced a serious set of challenges. Unemployment had exploded with over 330,000 jobs lost in the crisis.

The national finances were out of control and for the first time in our history we had to be rescued by an international bailout.

These disasters resulted in Ireland’s international reputation being dragged through the mud.

On this third anniversary of the Government I am happy to say that we have seen much progress.

Our annual report being launched today, entitled ‘After the Bailout’, outlines the progress to date that allowed Ireland to successfully exit our international bailout on December 15th last year.

This was a major objective of Government in 2013 and the credit belongs to the Irish people for their sacrifice and patience as we put Ireland on the road to recovery.

A clean exit of the bailout, without requiring a precautionary credit line or indeed a second bailout which was predicted by many, has improved Ireland’s standing and has allowed us to raise new funding for the State at very low rates.

This year’s annual report outlines the excellent progress on implementing our Programme for Government with progress reported on 80% of its commitments with over 60% of all commitments delivered or substantially progressed.

2013 was also a very good year for jobs. With 61,000 new jobs created, over 1,000 a week, meaning we are moving in the right direction.

While the unemployment rate has dropped from a high of 15.1% to the current 12%, it is still unacceptably high.
Underpinning all of this has been our continued responsible management of the public finances throughout 2013 which has seen our deficit continue to fall.

The Haddington Road Agreement was a key success in this regard and we would once again sound our appreciation to all public servants for their contribution to Ireland’s recovery.

However, exiting the bailout was not an end in itself – we must use it to create more jobs and a strong economic recovery.

Looking ahead, in the same manner we had a plan to exit the bailout we also have a plan to grow the economy and get Ireland working.

It has two top targets:

1.) To create more jobs. We are fully aware that many people have yet to see signs of recovery in their lives. We plan to reduce unemployment to below the eurozone average this year, below 10% by 2016, and to return to full employment by 2020.
2.) To grow the economy to support new jobs. We are targeting growth of at least 2% in 2014; 2.5% next year and 3% in 2016.

There are three ways in which we focusing on these targets in the year ahead.

Firstly, helping the domestic economy.

Since 2011, economic recovery has been largely driven by the very welcome investment from multi-national firms and exports.

Now, we will focus more intensively on the domestic economy which has the potential to create the numbers of jobs required to return Ireland to full employment.

Our new Action Plan for Jobs for 2014 creates that focus.

You will see a number of new initiatives to help key sectors in the domestic economy, such as agri-food, tourism, construction and retail.

Second in our plan, maintaining responsible management of the public finances.

This has been key to our progress to date and we must continue with our efforts to reduce the deficit to under 3% by 2015 and to eliminate it altogether by 2018.

Thirdly, rebuilding a sustainable banking sector

The Irish banks have been stabilised, but much more needs to be done.

They must increase lending, and at competitive rates, to small businesses – the lifeblood of our economy – to allow them to grow and create jobs.

We are also making new sources of funding available to support the creation of jobs.

In the coming weeks, legislation will be published to formally establish NewERA and the €6 billion Strategic Investment Fund.

We are also concluding an agreement with Germany to secure significant new funding for Irish businesses from the German state bank KfW.

2014 will also see great progress on a number of other fronts crucial for the development of the country.
We will complete the first phase of welfare and work activation reforms with the roll out of all Intreo offices nationwide.

There will be a new ‘Pathways to Work’ plan towards the middle of the year that will put a stronger emphasis on removing disincentives to returning to work.

As new jobs are created in the economy we have to ensure that those who lost their jobs and suffered most are not left behind in the recovery.

Local Government reform, water reform, universal health insurance, education and training reform, political and public sector reform; these are just some areas where you will see a lot of developments in 2014.

I will be outlining the Government’s priorities for 2014 in the Dáil later this afternoon.

The Government has a plan for recovery.

Working with the Tánaiste we will deliver on that plan.

We will get Ireland working again.