"Lasting peace on this island is the single cause that is most important for me. And it is the issue on which, more than any other, I know I must succeed. It is six years since that fateful Good Friday morning when the past ended and the future began. Today the progress is continuing - and so, too, is our strong resolve to complete the journey."
In countries across Europe people ask me about the progress that Ireland has made. I tell them it is the product of social partnership, of education, and of the hard work of the Irish people. Our neighbours talk about the enormous difficulties they have faced of rising deficits and longer dole queues.
Ireland today is becoming a better, fairer and more prosperous nation. Now our task is to move Ireland ahead.
We will continue to win the fight against inflation. We must keep a firm handle on government spending. Some parties believe that the only way to spend more is to tax more or to borrow more. Fianna Fáil, however, understands a fundamental economic fact. The way to keep employment high is to keep income tax low.
Our economic strategy is not just limited to a tight rein on government spending, inflation and taxes.
We are pursuing a policy of strategic investment in education, in health, in pensions and infrastructure. With multi-year capital funding, we are now building our infrastructure for better value and in better time.
But value for money alone is not enough. Massive resources are required as well. And they will only be there if our economy continues to grow. While the signs are good, we take nothing for granted.
We must never pursue the economic path of our opponents, who when the tough decisions had to be taken, failed every test. In order to buy quick popularity, they chose to ignore hard realities. Never again - not under this Government - not under Fianna Fáil.
To maintain this success, we must be flexible in responding to rapid change and we must continue to invest in education, in science and in research.
The new economy of our time is a market place of ideas and a race for knowledge.
Our economic success will be measured by real world standards: The quality of life of our people and a knowledge economy with world class services that is at the forefront of technological change.
Ireland will become one of the most competitive countries in the world - and so have the capacity to achieve social inclusion and cohesion, with a people and a Government committed to lifelong learning and the highest environmental standards.
In a few weeks, Ireland will become centre stage for Europe and the world. May 1st will be a defining moment for the entire continent. On that day in Dublin, 10 new member states - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Cyprus, Malta and Hungary - will be welcomed into full membership of the European Union. It will be a historic day for those countries, for the European continent, for Dublin our capital city and for the entire country.
The ghosts of the twentieth century, the memories of two world wars, a half-century of cold war and countless conflicts will be laid to rest.
The discussions about a future European constitution are a search by sovereign nation states for constitutional coherence. In leading this historic debate forward, Ireland will assert its place, Ireland will do its work and Ireland will make a difference.
There are deep bonds between Europe and the United States and those bonds are especially cherished here in Ireland. They are deep and genuine. They are strong enough to cope with the differences that arise on specific issues. That is why Ireland can, and will, play a leading part in building up better relationships between Europe and the United States of America.
We will also deepen the economic links between Ireland and the United States. US investment here has been spectacularly successful. We will work to ensure that it continues, and that deeper links result in real economic gains for the most advanced technologies and sectors in Ireland.
The challenge is not only to build a better economy; it is to bring Government closer to the needs of all our people. That is why delivering decentralisation as we promised we would is a top priority for Fianna Fáil.
Decentralising over 10,000 public and civil servants will not only be good for the regions; it will be good for Government.
Moving Government to the regions is more than just a change of address. It will mean a change of attitude and a Government that is closer to the people. It will mean real opportunity for communities all across our country and give entire towns and villages the opportunity to meet their potential.
It means, too, that by easing congestion, Dublin will be the beautiful and living city that it was built and meant to be.
The time has come, the time is now - Fianna Fáil will deliver on decentralisation.
No part of Government is closer to the needs of our people than Local Government. Local councillors are at the heart of our democracy. They are charged with charting the future of every city and county in the country.
The county development plan, the annual budget, local roads, waste collection and traffic management may not be front-page issues but they are real life concerns.
The plastic bag charge and the landfill levy are cleaning up our country and paying for recycling. Since the last local elections, we have doubled the number of bottle banks. From a standing start of zero, we now have door to door recycling for one third of all Irish homes.
On waste, Fianna Fáil in Local Government has introduced a new system of paying by volume for domestic rubbish. This policy will be applied nationwide from 2005. Recycling will be rewarded. Waste less and you will pay less; pollute and you will pay more.
Rural housing is central to real regional development. We believe in a rural Ireland of living communities. We believe that people who are born in an area, who live in an area and who contribute to an area should be entitled to build their home in that area. That is Fianna Fáil policy, that is Government policy, that is our philosophy.
The better life that we are working for is based on the republican belief that every citizen is entitled to equal opportunity.
That is why Fianna Fáil believes in education. It is a republican value, it is life changing and it is nation building.
But schools are not just factories to feed our economy. They are at the heart of our policy for social inclusion and a better quality of life for all.
Fianna Fáil has put real resources in disadvantaged schools and in programmes for disadvantaged children. From pre-school to adult education, the opportunity to participate and the support to see it through, are the best things we can do to build a better Ireland.
The Ireland we believe in will provide better care for those who most need our help - our elderly, our children, our carers and those they care for.
Under this Government, more than any other Government, the old age pension has been consistently increased - to € 167 per week this year. And tonight I tell you again, the old age pension will rise to € 200 per week under this Government.
When today's workers retire, they too have the right to expect a decent pension. So despite our opponents demand that we spend all the money now, we will not. Instead, we continue to invest in the National Pension Reserve Fund - to invest in a secure retirement.
Protecting security and stopping crime is a fundamental duty of government. Our determination to stop crime and to prosecute criminals is unbending and unending.
So while we are encouraged that the level of crime is decreasing, this is a respite and not an end result.
The Garda budget is now over € 1 billion and the numbers serving in An Garda Siochána will reach 12,200 during 2004. Public disorder fuelled by drink and by drugs is too common on our streets and it will be stopped. New laws are in place, are being enforced and new laws are working on our streets. On crime, Fianna Fáil is meeting the challenge.
Dár ndóigh ba í an Ghaeilge ceann do bhun luachanna Fhianna Fáil ó bunaíodh é. Tuigeann ár bpáirtí an tábhacht a bhaineann lenár gcultúr agus ár dteanga a láidriú ar fud na tíre.
Tá plean gníomhaíochta ag an Rialtas seo i leith na Gaeilge. Is faoin Rialtas seo a bhfuil Acht Teanga nua, Coimisinéir Teanga ceapaithe, agus Foras na Gaeilge bunaithe.
Maidir le seasamh na Gaeilge san Aontas Eorpach is cúis áthais dom go bhfuil comhsheasamh ag an nGaeilge lena teangacha eile sa ndréacht-bhunreacht nua atá foilsithe. Ní leor sin áfach agus is féidir liom a dhearbhú anseo anocht go ndéanfaidh an Rialtas seo gach is féidir go praicticiúl agus go stuama, le feabhas a chur ar seasamh na Gaeilge, taobh istigh d'Institiúidí an Aontais.
Lasting peace on this island is the single cause that is most important for me. And it is the issue on which, more than any other, I know I must succeed.
It is six years since that fateful Good Friday morning when the past ended and the future began. I said then that the road to peace would be long. But today the progress is continuing - and so, too, is our strong resolve to complete the journey.
But building peace is not the work of a single shining day. It is a life's work. It is my commitment and our cause.
And tonight, I say that the full potential for peace is there to be grasped.
But there can be no half-way house between democracy and violence.
There is no comfortable resting place between exclusion and partnership.
We have worked our way through issue after issue. What remains to be done now is as clear as it ever could be.
For the republican movement, this means an absolute commitment to exclusively peaceful means. It means the complete retirement of all paramilitary activity. Nationalist Ireland, this republican party, the Irish people, demand no less.
For unionism it means signing up to partnership government on a cross-community basis. It means taking responsibility for the equivalent transformation of loyalism into exclusively democratic channels.
The review of the Good Friday agreement is underway. It must now be completed in a reasonable time. As we have made clear, this is a review and not a renegotiation. And because power brings responsibility, the parties that have won most confidence from the people now bear more responsibility for progress.
We believe that all the parties want a restoration of devolution. We agree that this should come as soon as possible.
Progress requires consensus, a genuine consensus from all concerned.
But if the problems of peace are daunting, then the progress is astonishing. Lasting peace is no longer a dream. It is a real possibility in the making.
Now we must meet the challenge and travel the final mile.
When I began in politics, the challenge was to persuade anyone that change could ever come. Now the challenge is to explain why change does not come fast enough.
I take pride in the rising tide of expectation that this Fianna Fáil - Progressive Democrat Government have helped to create. I salute An Tánaiste Mary Harney and our partners in Government. Together we take seriously the challenge to aim higher and to do better.
Ireland today is a country of promise and of possibility. Across the continent we are a beacon to the applicant states. What we have already done, they now seek to do.
But rapid change also brings real challenge, the challenge that people face every day. The challenge to find the best future for ourselves and for our families. Fianna Fáil is meeting that challenge. We are carrying out the people's priorities. We are building a better Ireland and in doing so, we are meeting the greatest challenge that every generation should strive to meet - the challenge of leaving our country to our children in far better condition that it was given to us.
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