Leader's speech:The following is an edited version of Pat Rabbitte's speech:
Fellow delegates: it was US president Lyndon Johnson who said, 'The purpose of protecting the life of our nation and preserving the liberty of our citizens is to pursue the happiness of our people. Our success in that pursuit is the test of our success as a nation'.
Having enjoyed a decade and a half of economic boom - something we should never take for granted - I want tonight to put the Johnson test of success to each of you and to the people at home.
Yes, we have seen great economic progress but are you happy? Are you happy to live in a wealthy economy, but in a society under strain?
All over the country, I continually meet people who get up at six in the morning to go to work and to mind children, people who work so much, cope with so much, contribute so much - just to get through the week; caught on a never-ending treadmill of work, traffic and responsibility; weighed down by a day that never has enough hours in it, by rising bills and by a Government that doesn't listen.
You are working harder, longer, faster, smarter - but are you happy that for all your effort, you have less time for yourself and less time for your family?
Our people know that over a decade and a half, we have made great progress, but they also know, deep down, that Ireland can do better. How is it that it is the things for which Government is directly responsible that don't work? The people work; it's their Government that doesn't work. Ireland can do better but to do better, we need to make a change.
These past few weeks, I have been outlining five 'commitments for change' that Labour in Government will implement: more hospital beds in clean hospitals; pre-school education for all our children; more gardaí on the beat in neighbourhoods; abolish the means test for carers; enable more people to begin to buy a home.
That's my personal commitment to you. They are not the totality of what we will do, but they are five commitments for change that will make a difference. That is why we so badly need a change of government.
I have been asked not about policy or programmes or reforms, but whether, on electoral strategy, I have left the door even slightly ajar. The answer is no. We have a settled strategy since Tralee and it is designed to offer the people at the next election a choice of government . . .
From equality for women at work, to divorce, to anti-discrimination legislation, Labour has stood for a more tolerant, more open, more equal Ireland. If returned to government, we will do so again, passing into law our civil-union bill because gay and lesbian people are not second-class citizens . . .
As a country, we are rightly proud of our achievements in education, but we need to do better.
Too many kids are in classes that are too big; too many, 100,000 children in the last 10 years, leave school without a Leaving Cert; too many - as many as one in three in some areas - have reading problems; too few are doing well enough in maths and science in a world where science and technology are the driving force of economic growth.
Schools don't have enough money to pay their bills and the physical fabric of our schools is well below the standard that our children deserve. For Labour, it is a core value that poverty must never be a barrier to learning, but rather education and learning must be a route out of poverty . . .
The first duty of any government is the safety of our citizens. The casual destruction of human life has become commonplace. The lucrative profits from the deadly drugs trade are driving the crime wave where even innocent citizens are no longer safe in their homes or in their place of work.
Following the murder of a Mulhuddart man in November 2004, Michael McDowell said it was the last sting of the dying wasp. Since then we have had 49 gun murders. Some wasp, some sting.
We will legislate against gang membership and we will allow an individual's unexplained wealth and unsourced assets, together with his previous activities and associations, to be admissible as evidence of profiting from gangland activity. The onus will be on the individual with no obvious means of support to explain how he came by the money . . .
For all the new prosperity, we have a society ill at ease with itself, drifting we don't know where. What are our values? What are the instincts and ethics that guide us? What is our purpose? What kind of society are we bequeathing to our children?
Traditional society has retreated and, while the churches remain a vital part of civic society, religion is now more diverse, less visible and far less dominant than heretofore.
These trends, which took a century or more in other European countries, have happened in less than two decades in Ireland.
We are a more open and liberal society now, but we cannot drift towards becoming a society devoid of community and public values. Yes, we have more rights to be ourselves, to think for ourselves and to act as we choose in matters of private morality, but we cannot walk away from our broader obligations to our community.
The best way for our country to succeed socially as well as economically in the 21st century will be by building a fair society in which there is liberty for all, responsibility by all and fairness to all . . .
Too many of our neighbourhoods are tortured by anti-social behaviour. Labour's firm commitment will put more community gardaí, visibly patrolling neighbourhoods. We will not tackle anti-social behaviour without better policing, but better policing on its own is not enough . . .
Climate change too, is an ethical issue. We must all of us look at how our own behaviour is affecting the environment and we must look at how our country behaves in the world. We must face up to the great global challenge of climate change, not grudgingly, or belatedly, but as persuaders and leaders in Europe, and for Europe on the world stage.
Here, as in so many other areas, government must give a lead.
Let me give a simple example. Transport accounts for one-fifth of carbon emissions in Ireland. We will not reduce that pollution by keeping traffic on poor roads but we must also effect a shift to public transport. Róisín Shorthall has outlined a series of commonsense measures to get traffic moving in this city, by putting more buses on the streets and giving people a reason to use them. Instead of putting up bus fares, we should have a €1 standard fare on all routes. We can do the same in other towns and cities around the country.
When we build houses we must also build sustainable communities. My firm commitment for change is Labour's new 'begin to buy' scheme for affordable homes in good neighbourhoods.
We will also legislate to protect the consumer rights of home buyers, to regulate management companies and estate agents, and to control management charges. We will end homelessness and reform the planning system to better serve communities.
Everywhere I go, people ask me, how can we sort out health? If Mary Harney can't do it, how can the Labour Party do it? Let me tell you: Mary Harney can't do it, isn't doing it and won't do it, because Mary Harney doesn't understand that health is a community service, not a market commodity.
Her plan is to give tax breaks to developers to build super-private clinics, her plan is to sell off scarce public land. Her plan won't work. It will drive up insurance bills, damage public hospitals, and worsen the two-tier system.
Her plan is to sign contracts before the election. You have no mandate, Minister, to do so and in government, Labour will stop it.
How do we fix the hospitals? Three steps.
Firstly, get basic management right. Where A&E is not working, reorganise it. Last Monday, I visited St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny where they are getting results through simple efficiencies. Where the hospitals are dirty, clean them. It's not rocket science. It's a bucket, a mop and people who will use them.
Secondly, build more beds. We need 2,300 more beds - and while we are building up that capacity, make sure we are getting the most from the beds we have.
Labour wants a healthcare system where the money follows the patient. That is why we want to extend universal health insurance to all children up to age 16 as soon as progress is made on the capacity issue.
Thirdly, don't have people in hospital who don't need to be there. Build proper community care beds for elderly patients, in their communities, so they are not in hospital beds. Don't send people to A&E who could be treated by their family doctor. Extend the medical card to more people so they can be treated by their GP, and make GP care free for children under five . . .
Economic growth brings resources and choices. I have said taxes are down and will stay down.
In the recent budget, the Minister admitted that he was €5 billion better off than he had forecast a year earlier. Growth at 4.5 per cent over five years will generate at least €11 billion in additional revenues for the Exchequer. I want those resources to deliver public services that will add to our quality of life, but with investment must come reform . . .
Year on year, this Government has levied more taxes and wasted more taxes than any government since the foundation of the State. Given the opportunity to cut tax rates, Fianna Fáil and the PDs made the choice to cut the top rate. They have now committed to another cut in the top rate from 41 per cent to 40 per cent. That's the Fianna Fáil/PD way. It's not the Labour way.
When you cut the top rate of tax, those who have most benefit most. If you cut the lower or standard rate, all taxpayers benefit but those on middle and low incomes gain most.
Therefore, given the resources available, within two years of being returned to government Labour will cut the standard rate from 20 per cent to 18 per cent . . .
If you believe in a government that gets up every morning with the interests of hard-working people in mind; a government that will protect the weak and the excluded; a government that believes that its job is to make Ireland not just a good place to work, but a better place to live; if you, like me, believe that Ireland can do better, then join us. Help us to go from here and win because we need you to make a change.