Dear Young Fine Gaelers,
I was asked to speak about my vision for Dublin this evening. This will probably be the longest speech of my Mayoralty, my shortest being logged at 25 seconds. I want to talk about my vision for Young Fine Gael, Fine Gael, Ireland and Dublin.
But first a little bit about me. I got involved in politics in 1976 – some 34 years ago when elected to the position of class rep for a class of 350 in first year in B.Comm. in UCD. I was re elected for second year and returned unopposed for the final year. I joined Fine Gael in 1981 and was elected to this city council in 1999. In 2002 I was lucky in acquiring the first aid business of my employer then, Smith + Nephew, and the business has performed well since.
I want to talk to you in a frank way and as members of the wider Fine Gael family. The most frequent comment I hear about Young Fine Gael is that “they are good for leaflet drops”. I have never had a member of Young Fine Gael canvass for me. Why? You don’t have to be old to have compassion. But there are certain elements in Young Fine Gael that lack the compassion needed to relate to ordinary people on the door step. We should remember that Fine Gael is the party of the “Just Society”.
Babies born in the Coombe, the Rotunda or Holles Street are all born with the same abilities. It is only when they are brought home that their chances and opportunities in life change. Society should be like a family, only bigger. You have to continually afford people down on their luck the chance to get up and be happy in life. Not for one minute do I think that drug addicts, alcoholics or anyone else suffering from an addiction want to be in that dark place. Not for one minute do I think that a majority of unemployed people want to be unemployed and unoccupied. And those that may do are in my view conditioned by years and generations of experience. That is my challenge for Young Fine Gael. Compassion should be the driver for your involvement in politics.
A month ago, a Fine Gael member of the Oireachtas wrote to the Irish Times making comment on the health of the Minister for Finance and the invitation extended to him to speak at the Beal na mBláth. Mind you, this individual only joined Fine Gael in the last five years. His first mistake was to comment on the suitability of the Minister for Finance for his job given his medical condition. That was beyond the pale, especially coming from a medical practitioner. The second was to indulge in a ninety-year quarrel that contributes nothing to the well-being of the Irish nation. As Shakespeare might have said, “the senator doth protest too much”. Perhaps if he joined Fine Gael twenty years ago, he wouldn’t have made such comments.
And of course Young Fine Gael had to row in behind this silliness. Relating to that quarrel which was founded in a real and fundamental disagreement about the formation and structure of the state, how does it now contribute anything to the current situation we the Irish nation are in? Does indulging in the Collins legacy in this way take anyone unfortunate person off the dole queue? Does it result in gaining a meaningful job for any person young or not so young? No. And those in Fine Gael who perpetuate this ninety year old argument merely serve to block off support for the party from at least 30% of the population. We have to appeal to all Irish citizens. Fianna Fail politicians and supporters are good people. It’s true that certain individuals have sullied that proud tradition by being corrupt. Nepotism has contributed to poor performance. That comes with being in power for sixty of the ninety years of independence and it could happen to any party. We are not a two-nation state.
What we in Fine Gael have to focus fully on now is the argument about who should be in government and why they should be in government. What is needed more than ever are competent politicians who can manage this country. Fine Gael is a natural party of government. We will make decisions. Those decisions require energy and freshness. They also require steeliness. In contrast the Labour Party’s core competence is opposition. They remind me of the dog at the crossroads who chases every car that passes. But if a car stopped and they were handed the car keys, they would shrink away. Or the under-eight footballer who chases the ball around the park at a safe distance hoping they never get passed the ball and no one will notice. That is why we in Fine Gael have to strive to be the largest party after the next election.
The whole point of politics is to be in power and not in opposition decrying every government action. The whole point of politics is to gain power for the betterment of all society. To change where necessary. To maintain when right. To improve where possible. The difficulties of power should not be underestimated. Fine Gael are likely to be in power in the next twenty months and we must prepare and plan for the rescue job this country will need then after fifteen years of poor management. But we must guard against the cling-ons who will attach themselves to any future government. We must align all our ambitions for Fine Gael with our ambitions for our country. Perhaps, in that respect it would be more useful in this day and age if we were to reference Arthur Griffith rather than Michael Collins in seeking solutions for dealing with our problems today.
Now after all that – what is my vision for Dublin?
In contrast to some politicians, I am a great believer in the “what can we do now philosophy”. Given that I knew I would be Lord Mayor (barring a major upset) since April, I took a week off after Easter and then every Friday off to engage with as many people as possible to research and plan for my mayoralty. This included ex-Lord Mayors from across the divide, senior Fine Gael figures, Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Dublin Tourism, Dublin City Enterprise Board, Dun Laoire Rathdown Enterprise Board, three county managers, present and former assistant city managers, many councillors (including past Young Fine Gaelers) and many more. I recruited two additional employees for my business and took myself out of the business at the end of May. With two interns and free office space we got to work.
Now there is the first website for the Lord Mayor of Dublin, www.lordmayordublin.ie, a Facebook page and a Google mapping of over 250 free wifi spots in Dublin. With the Dublin Institute of Technology, I have agreement to execute two projects – one to populate the sat nav databases for all points of interests in Dublin including schools, shops, libraries, hotels, cafes, etc. The other project is to set up a web-based Intern Exchange for graduates and non-graduates alike. Three talented interns are working with me on over ten projects – a first for a Lord Mayor. With Griffith College Dublin, there are going to be a series of businesses courses free to businesses in the city.
In my speech to the Fine Gael group for the election of the Fine Gael candidate for the Lord Mayor and in my election as Lord Mayor, I spoke about “accentuating the positive and eliminating the negatives” for Dublin city, surburbs, communities and businesses.
With that objective in mind, I have walked over twenty six villages in Dublin and held a Village Workshop in this room last Tuesday week. Some eighty business people from villages in our capital discussed how they can promote their village and their businesses. We are hoping to recruit a number of FAS funded interns to work with the thirty-plus villages. While its focus is to protect and maintain employment in our villages, it will also have a strong positive community impact.
Next Tuesday, with the Assistant Garda Commissioner I am chairing the first City Business Safety Forum for Dublin city centre. The forum will include representatives of the Dublin City Business Association, Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Business Improvement Districts in Dublin, Temple Bar, Dublin Tourism, Dublin City Council and Gardai. These fora will take place every two months. Their purpose is to deal with any safety issues in the immediate city centre area. In preparation and in my chains, I have been walking the streets meeting business people and others in the city. Tomorrow at 10am in this room, again with the Assistant Garda Commissioner we are hosting a best practice workshop for all Safety Fora in the country.
I am engaging with a group of industry experts to see what we in the city council and in Dublin city can do on a practical level to increase the city’s smartness and improve productivity through technology in the city. I have opened up the Mansion House to courses with the Dublin City Enterprise Board and every Wednesday open the doors of the Mansion House to any member of the public who wants to meet me.
I may not deliver the Olympics for Dublin but if my efforts result in one single job being maintained or created, I will be a proud man leaving this position on June 27th 2011.
In conclusion, I didn’t list these activities in an effort to try to impress you about my modest efforts to improve the lot of the citizens of Dublin, but simply to affirm my strong belief that the business of politics today must focus firmly on the decisions and actions that are required to reach out to people and to deal with the challenges and problems they face every day, and not the semantics of who should and should not be able to address a memorial service or some other trivial issue. I challenge you to stop dropping leaflets and to start doing some heavy lifting.
Thank you.
