The vast majority of people in Ireland today are not poor but they are not rich either, the Taoiseach said last night. In his address to Cairde Fail, the annual Fianna Fail Taoiseach's dinner in Dublin, Mr Ahern also said he wanted tomorrow's Ireland to be one where communities pulled together.
He said there had been a lot of comment in the run-up to next week's Budget about the rich and the poor. "It may have once been the case, though I doubt it, that Ireland consisted of only those two categories, but the fact is that the vast majority of people today are not poor, but are not rich either."
It was important, he added, that the less well-off were looked after generously and that most of the other help should go to those who wanted and needed to do better.
Mr Ahern, addressing 2,000 people who attended the dinner, said Fianna Fail was not just about an economy but about a decent society. A healthy economy could do far more for the sick, the unemployed, marginalised groups and for poorly funded services than an economy in difficulties.
"The balance of our term will see sustained improvements in our public services and with child and pensioner poverty consigned to history all our people can begin to share in our new-found wealth." Mr Ahern said we would be poorer as a country if we lost the "vibrant sense of community" that was the hallmark of everyday life.
"I ask all of you here tonight to share in the responsibility to embrace a renewed spirit of community in your own areas. I want tomorrow's Ireland to be one where communities pull together, where people will help each other in a spirit of neighbourliness and where technology does not prevail over human relationships."
On the North, Mr Ahern said the Government would do all in its power to uphold and sustain the Belfast Agreement and to ensure its implementation. "It represents a win-win formula, instead of the zero sum game." The fundamental reforms "must be carried through in keeping with the spirit of the agreement". "After that, nationalists have every incentive to go through the door and participate in the new structures, and no one should ask them to stand outside the door. The agreement also puts unionists more in direct charge of their destiny than any alternative."