The following is the speech by Ms Mary Harney, leader of the Progressive Democrats, at the party's conference in Cork on Saturday.
The 1990s were a decade of transformation in Ireland. Rapid economic change means that this country is now almost unrecognisable from the Ireland of 10 or 12 years ago. We have created confidence. We have conquered unemployment. We have ended emigration. We have moved from poverty to prosperity in little more than a decade.
As leader of the Progressive Democrats, I am proud of the lead role which this party has played in that transformation. Fifteen years ago we put forward the policies to save this country from bankruptcy; we set out the solutions to the social and economic problems of the nation.
Fifteen years on, I am proud to say that our policies have worked and our solutions have succeeded. We have helped to create the Irish economic miracle.
As a nation we have attained success. We have created wealth. We have achieved prosperity. The question which we must ask ourselves now is: what is the purpose of this prosperity?
What do we want to do with our new-found wealth? What do we want to achieve as a nation? What kind of country, what kind of society do we want to create? What vision of our own future do we have?
We in the Progressive Democrats set ourselves ambitious and imaginative targets when we founded this party back in the 1980s.
We said that by reducing the burden of taxation on ordinary working people we could overcome unemployment and emigration.
We said that by reforming social legislation we could create a more pluralist society in this country. We said that by embracing conciliation and consent we could solve the problems of Northern Ireland. We have delivered so much in all of these areas.
Tonight, I want to set equally ambitious and imaginative targets for this party and for this country as we move forward into the new millennium. We want to prove that this is still the party of ambition and imagination.
I want to describe the Ireland that can be built, the targets that can be reached, the kind of society that can be created. We want to show what this party can achieve for the people of this country. We want to set a new agenda for a new Republic.
We must use the fruits of prosperity to help the more vulnerable groups in Irish society - the young, the old, the ill, the excluded - the people who are in danger of being left behind by the economic boom.
We must use the fruits of prosperity to modernise this country, to provide it with a 21st-century infrastructure, to put our public services on a par with the best in the world.
But we will only be able to deliver on these ambitions if we can sustain the impressive growth of recent years, and that will require a continuation of tried and tested Progressive Democrats policies.
Sustaining Economic Growth
Tax reductions have been central to our economic success. We have shown that it is by reducing taxes that you reduce emigration, reduce unemployment and reduce social exclusion.
We have shown that it is by reducing taxes that you can put more money in the hands of working people without running the risk of inflation. And we have shown that it is by reducing taxes that you generate the resources required to improve public services.
Our tax policies work. They have put us on the path to prosperity and they will help to keep us on that path. And we intend to roll out a further programme of reforms over the next two budgets.
That programme will include further cuts in tax rates. Let's put the record straight here. The top rate of income tax is not paid by some small group of wealthy individuals; it is paid by 500,000 ordinary working people - teachers, truck drivers, trade unionists - a quarter of the entire workforce.
Others may be prepared to turn their backs on these people: I am not and the Progressive Democrats are not. I believe that fair taxes are low taxes.
That programme of tax reform will raise the tax bands in order to take more than 80 per cent of earners out of the top-rate tax net. And it will raise tax-free allowances in order to exempt the new national minimum wage from tax completely.
That means that by 2002 nobody earning £200 a week or less will pay any income tax. That's what real tax reform is about. That's what the Progressive Democrats are about.
Tax reform will enable us to sustain prosperity. We will distribute the resources provided by that prosperity to those who need them most. I would like to start by talking about the young.
Cherishing our Children
Every child should have a fair chance in life.
Clearly, that is not the case in this country at present. The high tide of economic growth has not lifted all boats and poverty and deprivation persist in many areas. We have disadvantaged families living in disadvantaged communities in urban and rural Ireland. For children growing up in these areas it is impossible to get a fair start in life.
We must think in terms of equality of outcomes. If we really want the most disadvantaged children in our society to succeed then we will have to channel disproportionately higher levels of investment into the schools in which they learn and into the communities in which they live.
Investment in education is vital if we are to break that cycle of disadvantage. Education is the passport to prosperity in modern Ireland and we must ensure, through early intervention and effective investment, that every child in this country has a fair chance to avail of the opportunities which are now on offer.
I have spoken of the need to be ambitious in our thinking; well, let's be ambitious for our children. I want to commit the Progressive Democrats to the elimination of child poverty in Ireland.
That is a bold objective. But we have the means to do it and the mechanisms to tackle it - child benefit is paid directly into the hands of parents, particularly mothers. I want to see the rate of child benefit raised to £100 per month for every child in the country.
Our Constitution commits us to cherishing all the children of this nation equally. Let's show that we really mean that.
Addressing the Needs of Older People
The current generation of pensioners has made an enormous contribution to the social and economic development of this country down the years.
They worked hard at a time when wages were low and taxes were high. Women in particular made a huge contribution to family life and community life but were denied the opportunity of participating fully in paid employment. This party has always believed in the rights of the individual. But our welfare system still treats many people not as persons but as dependants of their spouses.
This is particularly true of women pensioners who did not have the chance to build up pension entitlements of their own.
We must recognise that these women are individuals in their own right and that they should be treated as such by the State. I want to see every pensioner, whether male or female, having a full old-age pension in their own right. I want older women to be able to enjoy at last the benefits of the equality which was denied to them in their younger years.
Without the efforts and sacrifices of our pensioners we would never have achieved the success we enjoy today. Yet, as a society, we have been slow to recognise that contribution. Pensioners don't protest. Pensioners don't go on strike. But just because people are responsible citizens does not mean that their voice should not be heard.
No party has worked harder for pensioners in recent years than the Progressive Democrats. Three years ago, in the 1997 election, we undertook to raise the basic rate old-age pension to £100 a week. Three years on we have made huge progress towards that goal, increasing the pension by a total of £18 per week over three budgets.
I can assure the pensioners of this country tonight that the £100-a-week target which we set in 1997 will not just be met in next month's budget - it will be exceeded. If you want to know what "PD" stands for, it stands for "promises delivered".