Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

At that time, in the middle of the crisis, the immediate tasks facing the Government could be expressed in a small number of statistics. The bond yield encapsulated the view from abroad of Ireland's financial position. The live register showed the rate at which jobs were being lost and lives destroyed. The number of mortgages in arrears signalled the scale of the social destruction being wrought by household debt. The loan-to-deposit ratio in the banking system showed the extent to which Irish banks had been bloated in an unsustainable property bubble.

Today, those numbers have all improved dramatically. However Government is not about numbers but about people. As we move into the fourth year of this Government the tests we face and must now pass are different. The numbers still matter, but the tasks of Government are more diverse and personal than before. Having left the bailout, we must decide what kind of post-crisis Ireland we want to create and what kind of future we want to build for our children. I want Ireland to be a genuine republic where opportunity is open to all our people, where if one works for a living one can afford to live; where a job pays enough to pay the bills, buy a home and raise a family; where one can hope for something better for one's children; and where one can grow old in safety and dignity. We want a country where a young person who leaves school or college can find work, education or training; where a young family can afford to buy a home; where the parents of young children can find a school for their child that fits with their hopes and beliefs and where they can bear the cost of sending their children to school; where if one gets sick one can afford to go to the doctor; where elderly citizens can afford to keep their health insurance and where they can access a hospital when they need to; and where parents can be sure that their children can be children, safe in school and safe online.

We cannot have those things without sound economics. However, they are not just economic questions. They are fundamentally about fairness. They are about whether individuals and families who work hard and play by the rules can have a decent standard of living and hope of a better future. Too many people do not have that. Too many families in this country are still under severe financial strain, living from day to day or from week to week. The legacy of the crisis is still with us, even if the headline indicators have improved. That is why we are determined to continue the work of restoring the economy and maintaining financial stability. Too much has been sacrificed for anyone to now put the recovery at risk. There can be no return to the failures of the past or to fairy tale economics.

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