Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A Cheann Comhairle, a Chathaoirligh, ar an lá seo, céad bliain ó shin, deimhníodh ráiteas dearfa, diongbháilte, misniúil faoi thodhchaí na hÉireann. Tháinig grúpa beag duine a bhí tofa i bParlaimint Westminster, le chéile anseo, i dTeach an Ardmhéara i mBaile Átha Cliath, chun an Chéad Dáil a reachtú.

Ar shlí, is ráiteas siombolach a bhí i gceist. Bhí an Dáil ina Oireachtas gan aon chumhacht ach ó thaobh an tsiombalachais de, bhí sé an-chumhachtach ar fad. Fógraíodh leis an ócáid an nádúr daonlathach a rith mar bhuntréith trí réabhlóid na hÉireann, an luach a chuir sí in institiúidí parlaiminteacha, agus an mhian a bhí ann chun Stát saor, neamhspleách, daonlathach a bhaint amach.

Ba chruinniú dátheangach é, an chéad chruinniú stairiúil sin. Seoladh an chuid is mó de as Gaeilge, agus léadh cuid de na doiciméid as Fraincis, agus ansin as Béarla.

Inniu, cuimhnímid ar fhís de phoblacht shaor, neamhspleách a bhí leagtha amach sa Dearbhú Neamhspleáchais sin, a bhronnfaí cearta agus deiseanna comhionanna ar gach saoránach. Is í an fhís chéanna a threoraímid inniu.

When a small group of people, recently elected to the Westminster Parliament, met here in the Mansion House 100 years ago they changed the course of Irish history. The meeting of the First Dáil was bold, profound and decisive as a statement about the future of Ireland. In some ways, it was more of a symbolic statement. The First Dáil was a Legislature without any power but, as symbolism went, it was incredibly powerful. It proclaimed the essential democratic nature of the Irish revolution, the value that it placed on parliamentary institutions and its aspirations for a free, independent and democratic state.

I believe it is significant that the Declaration of Independence was read out in Irish, French and English. The vision of a free, independent republic was multilingual in its approach and multilateral in its outlook. It was one which sought to "re-establish justice, to provide for future defence, to ensure peace at home and goodwill with all nations and to constitute a national polity based on the people's will with equal right and equal opportunity for every citizen". These are the same principles which guide us today.

Much asserted in the message to the Free Nations of the World could be restated by us here today. We share the vision of a confident trading nation which must be open to all nations. Through our membership of the European Union, our role with the United Nations, in peacekeeping and international development, we have turned the dream of Ireland taking her place among the nations of the world into a reality.

I am happy to acknowledge the influence of the Labour movement on the Democratic Programme, and we see it in the assertion that private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare. Today, this is reflected in Bunreacht na hÉireann in Article 43 where private property rights are enshrined but are subject to the common good.

For many at the time, the ideas in the Democratic Programme seemed radical. A Minister in the first Free State Government dismissed it as "mostly poetry".What is striking to me is how successive Governments were eventually able to translate the poetry of the Democratic Programme into legislative and policy prose. That work continues.

Over time, the new Irish State would establish policies as the programme directed "for the care of the nation's aged and infirm, who shall not be regarded as a burden, but rather entitled to the nation's gratitude and consideration". Health services were established to safeguard the health of the people and ensure the physical well-being of the country, services that serve us well, notwithstanding the many problems. The Poor Laws were abolished and the State pension system and a social insurance system brought in to replace them. Also, through the development of State-owned enterprises such as the ESB and Bord na Móna "the nation's resources", its "mineral deposits, peat bogs, fisheries, waterways and harbours" were developed "in the interests and for the benefit of the Irish people" and remain in their ownership. Although it took many decades and a new direction in Irish economic policy, industries were eventually invigorated and trade with foreign nations revived on terms of mutual advantage and goodwill as the programme foresaw.

The Democratic Programme also points to where the State has fallen short. Its assertion that "the first duty of the Government of the Republic" will be to ensure that "no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training" reminds us of our ongoing responsibilities to children today. Industrial schools, illegal adoptions and mother and baby homes were a betrayal of those ideals. Although the rate of child poverty in Ireland is only a fraction of what it was 100 years ago, and is falling, we must still do better.

In the first years of the Irish Free State it is interesting to reflect that there were almost half a million pupils in primary schools across the country, but only one in 20 would continue beyond that. Second level education was for the few and third level for the very few. It is no wonder that a Member of the first Free State Senate, William Butler Yeats, called Ireland, in 1928, "the worst educated country in northern Europe". Now, we are one of the best educated. Different Governments over many years made that possible, for example, bringing in free second level education. The result is that this ideal of the Democratic Programme has become a reality for the many. In 2019, more people attend higher education than ever before, with more coming from non-traditional backgrounds than ever was the case in the past.

We also remember that Constance Markievicz was made Minister for Labour not on this day 100 years ago but by the First Dáil nonetheless in April 1919. It is deeply shameful that it took another 60 years before another woman became a Government Minister. As a State, we have been diminished by the absence of women from positions of power.

Today we also remember that 21 January 1919 was also the date of the ambush at Soloheadbeg in County Tipperary, an event that subsequently became seen as the first shots in the War of Independence. In the months and years ahead we will commemorate the struggle that helped us achieve the independence declared so eloquently on behalf of the Irish people in the Mansion House on this day.

A Cheann Comhairle, tugann an ócáid inniu an deis dúinn chun machnamh a dhéanamh ar an saol a bhí ann fadó agus, ag an am céanna, smaoineamh ar an saol atá amach romhainn sa todhchaí. Ba chéim mhisniúil, chróga í cruinniú na Chéad Dála, a dhearbhaigh go raibh tacaíocht mhuintir na hÉireann taobh thiar den chomhlint chun neamhspleachas na hÉireann a bhuachan, agus gur bhain sí a dlisteanacht as sin.

Agus muid ag tabhairt ómós don Chéad Dáil, athdhearbhaímid ár gcreideamh ina hionracas daonlathach, a comhthionól leis an saol, agus aththiomnaímid dá hidéil agus dá fís.

Today is an opportunity for all of us to recall the past and also to look to the future. The meeting of the First Dáil was a bold exercise in democracy, an assertion that the struggle for Irish independence had the support of the Irish people and derived its legitimacy from it. By honouring the First Dáil here today we reaffirm our belief in democratic integrity in concourse with the world and rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of its values and its aspirations.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

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