Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In evaluating how far one has travelled, it is necessary to remember the starting point. In November 2010, the US financial journalist Michael Lewis visited this country to write about Ireland’s economic meltdown under the previous Government. His article was published in Vanity Fairin March 2011, the same month that Labour and Fine Gael came into office. It is worth quoting a segment of that article to remind ourselves where this country found itself at that time:

In recognition of the spectacular losses, the entire Irish economy has almost dutifully collapsed. When you fly into Dublin you are traveling, for the first time in 15 years, against the traffic. The Irish are once again leaving Ireland, along with hordes of migrant workers. In late 2006, the unemployment rate stood at a bit more than 4 percent; now it’s 14 percent and climbing toward rates not experienced since the mid-1980s. Just a few years ago, Ireland was able to borrow money more cheaply than Germany; now, if it can borrow at all, it will be charged interest rates nearly 6 percent higher than Germany, another echo of a distant past. The Irish budget deficit—which three years ago was a surplus—is now 32 percent of its G.D.P., the highest by far in the history of the Eurozone. One credit-analysis firm has judged Ireland the third-most-likely country to default. Not quite as risky for the global investor as Venezuela, but riskier than Iraq. Distinctly Third World, in any case.

This is what one of the best-known financial commentators in the United Stats wrote about Ireland. That was then, however, and this is now. Mr. Lewis wrote about Ireland being distinctly Third World. This was the reality, as judged by neutrals, of the situation this Government inherited. Now, less than four years later, Ireland is set to record the fastest growth in the eurozone, and we are creating thousands of new jobs every month.

Almost 125,000 people have left the live register so far this year to take up work, and unemployment is down to 10.7% and falling rapidly. Our borrowing costs have fallen to record lows and we have slowly but surely reduced our debt and restored our financial sustainability as a state. The deficit will fall below 3% of GDP next year, as the Government continues a prudent and sensible course in order to secure the economic recovery.

In the recent budget, we have begun the process of building the social recovery, by ensuring the benefits of a repaired economy are spread over time to every person, every family and every community. That is why I have absolute confidence in the Government, including the Taoiseach. Labour and Fine Gael, working together, have built an economic recovery and are now building the social recovery also. The Taoiseach’s leadership —and that of my predecessor as both Tánaiste and Labour Party leader, Deputy Eamon Gilmore —has been central to the process. In 2011, under their stewardship, Labour and Fine Gael agreed a programme for Government. In it, we acknowledged that Ireland faced one of its darkest hours as an independent state, and that an unprecedented level of political resolve would be required to deal with an unprecedented national economic emergency. The Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and Deputy Eamon Gilmore showed that resolve.

As a Government, we promised to get the economy moving, restore confidence, fix our banking system and support the protection and creation of jobs. We said the success of our economic plans would lay the foundation for the rest of our agenda for change.

When I was elected Labour Party leader and nominated as Tánaiste in July, there were plenty of naysayers who said our strategy could not possibly work and that the Taoiseach and I would clash pretty much incessantly and be incapable of building a professional working relationship for the betterment of our country.

I am happy to say we have demonstrated the opposite, quickly agreeing a statement of Government priorities which spelled out how we would work to secure and deepen the economic recovery in a manner felt in people's daily lives, in other words, that the ongoing programme of economic repair would be accompanied by an equal emphasis on social repair and progress.

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