LABOUR’S VALUES

Speech to Labour Party Conference, April 2004

Friends

Commentators say that there is no difference beteen political parties anymore. They say our values are the same. It isn’t true.

Fianna Fail and the PDs may make up the Government but they don’t see Government as a force for good. The PDs describe themselves as progressive, but they are anything but.

Every single advancement in social progress the last century, from the introduction of national insurance in the 1910s to the advent of the welfare state have been won by people like us against people like them.

The Michael McDowells of 1945 were arguing that a universal health service would be too expensive. Today it is free GP care for Irish children.

Labour is the Irish party of progress.

We believe in the freedom of the individual but know that that inequality restricts that liberty. We believe that stronger societies help individuals to reach their potential. We understand that true freedom and equality are not mutually exclusive but mutually dependent.

We demand that people have basic rights and a basic standard of living extended to them, but we insist also that they have responsibilities to themselves, their communities and to the common good. We want people to live their own lives, to help themselves, but we know that to do that people need the help of Government.

In our politics, people are not customers or clients. The state is not a business. People are citizens. They have a duty to contribute to society through their work, through their taxes, and their voluntary activity.

In return they are entitled to support when they’re young, care when they’re sick and protection when they’re old.

That’s the deal. That’s the contract between the state and the individual in a civilised society.

So when you go out and ask people to vote Labour, yes the issues are important, yes they should send a message to the government, yes we have the best candidates, but tell them that when they vote for a Labour candidate, they vote for these values.