Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have a window of opportunity now to build a social recovery, and by making education central to that social recovery, we can deliver a world of opportunity for all of our children.

This Government will also embark on a new cycle of political reform to restore trust in our institutions and public life. My colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, has done a huge amount of work in this area, introducing ground-breaking legislation to protect whistleblowers and he has restored the Freedom of Information Act, among numerous other measures introduced by the Government. However, we can and must go further and by the end of this year we will introduce an independent Garda authority to restore confidence and accountability in our policing system. We will also complete a review of the operation of the judicial appointments system to ensure an appointments system that is open, transparent and accountable, and we will enact the lobbyists Bill. Next year, we will bring forward legislation to establish an electoral commission to ensure best practice and probity in our election processes. We will hold a number of referendums on the recommendations made by the Constitutional Convention to improve our public life. We will also hold a referendum on marriage equality next spring and I look forward to working with the Taoiseach to win that referendum and to win the approval and consent of the Irish people to change our Constitution. It is their decision but I hope that many, if not all, of the parties in this House will support the electorate in reaching that choice.

I want to see an all-island recovery and that means working together, North and South, on investment, jobs and growth to deliver prosperity to all the people on the island. Essential to that task is preserving the peace and ensuring political stability in Northern Ireland. I fervently hope that dialogue can resume and that violence can be avoided during the parades season. The Government will continue to work closely with the British Government, the US Administration and the parties in the Executive to break the political deadlock and ensure we preserve the hard-won peace, and continue on the road to all-island prosperity. We will also work with our counterparts in Europe to ensure the EU prioritises the social recovery too by focusing on jobs, investment, growth and equality. We also have unfinished business on our legacy bank debt and we will continue to work through diplomatic channels to build international support for measures to reduce that debt burden on the Irish people.

Today, this Government has set out a very ambitious agenda recognising the opportunity that now exists to build the social recovery, and our commitment to delivering it. This vital window of opportunity must not be lost because the people of this country suffered hugely as a result of a crisis they did not cause, endured while this Government implemented the necessary policies to end it, and now must feel the benefits of the recovery in their lives. That is our task, and we will work with head and heart to deliver it.

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