Speech by Michael McGrath TD, Minister for Finance at the 82ú Ard Fheis

Delegates, it is an honour to speak to you this morning at our Árd Fheis.

I passionately believe that Fianna Fáil is the party best placed in Irish politics to deliver social and economic progress for our country and our people. This belief is based on my own journey through life, and how Fianna Fáil's policies enabled someone from a very modest background to stand before you today as our Minister for Finance.

My life story is like so many others - but it is a story that demonstrates how politics matters, how political decisions matter - how investment in housing, social supports, education, economic development can help to provide an opportunity for everyone. This is the essence of Fianna Fáil.

Like so many other families, when I was growing up, we didn't have a whole lot in the material sense, but our parents made sure we had everything we needed. Above all else, we were given the values that help to steer you through the ups and downs of life - that resilience you need, to never give up, to keep going.

When I was born, my parents and my siblings lived in a small rented property in the heart of Cork City. When I was very little, they were offered the tenancy of a local authority house in the wonderful community of Passage West, and they jumped at the opportunity.

My dad Jack came from a small farm in Bantry in West Cork, and he did manual work all his life - labouring on building sites in Cork and London, working as a delivery driver, whatever work was available.

When I was about 7, we almost lost my dad to a serious illness. While he did survive, he couldn't work again, but thankfully we got another 10 years with him, leaving us with many precious memories of the time spent together.

My dad passed away almost thirty years ago. My mum worked in the home in the traditional sense, so from when I was very young after Dad couldn't work any longer, the main income we had from that time on was his invalidity pension. It was our lifeline and we were glad to have it. The State was there for us when we needed it.

My mum Marie was widowed in her early 40s, my younger sister was only 5 at the time, my parents were long term foster carers and my mum continued to provide foster care on her own to my brother Patrick. She kept the show on the road, and we couldn't have asked for a better mum. It wasn't easy.

In many societies around the world, someone with the background I had wouldn't have the opportunity to progress - they'd be caught in a trap.

With the help of scholarships and a student support fund in UCC, I was able to go to College and study for a Commerce degree, and go on to develop a professional career before dedicating myself to public service, with the support of the people of Cork.

I remember well the decision I made to follow my dream and leave a very good, secure job to go full-time as a County Councillor and aim for the Dáil a couple of years later. I did this because I wanted others to have the opportunity I had.

The truth is I've always felt that public service is a very noble thing, and I wanted to make a difference, and to do all I could to give to others the chance to fulfil their dream.

My journey so far in life is not unique, it's not even exceptional, and I know it's one that many of you at this Árd Fheis and watching at home will be able to relate different strands of your life to.

The reason why I wanted to share my story with you is that I think it tells us a lot about our party. It embodies our values, who we are and what we stand for.

We are a party that believes everyone should have the opportunity to progress irrespective of their background.

We believe there should be a safety net for everyone that needs it.

For us, social supports, investing in education, providing a secure home, and having a pro-enterprise economy that ensures employment opportunities, is the essence of what we believe in.

These policies have served Ireland well, and Fianna Fáil is deeply committed to them.

Ireland is not a perfect country - such a country doesn't exist. But by any yardstick, Ireland is one of the best countries in the world. Our party should be proud of our role in the development of modern Ireland, while always striving to do better.

When we returned to Government almost 4 years ago, it was an incredibly dark time for our country. Unemployment stood at nearly 17% with over half a million people out of work because of the pandemic, and thousands of businesses were facing collapse.

Under the exceptional leadership of Micheál Martin, we responded - supporting households and businesses - and doing all we could to save lives. The worst of times brought out the best in the country.

Since we took office, we have worked tirelessly at building a fairer society based a strong economy, where hard work and initiative is rewarded, where those who need the most receive the most, and where investment in housing is once again being prioritised.

We have delivered stable and responsible budgets, with strong surpluses and a reducing national debt. Our Budgets have been fair and progressive, with the most gains for those with lower incomes.

We have significantly increased investment in our public services.

We have reduced the tax burden for all income earners by making the first cut in the rate of USC in five years and substantially increasing tax credits.

We have assisted households with the cost of living, increasing social welfare payments and reducing household bills in areas such as in childcare, transport, health and education.

We have provided assistance to small businesses, improving their access to funding and helping them to meet the costs of doing business.

We have rapidly increased public capital investment to build more homes, schools, roads, hospitals and better public transport.

And now we are safeguarding the future prosperity of the country by creating the Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure Climate and Nature Fund.

Today, we have an economy that is among the best performing in the EU. Unemployment is at record low levels and the number of people in work is higher than it ever has been at over 2.7 million.

Delegates, we cannot afford to take the economy for granted. A growing economy that supports high quality and secure jobs does not just happen - it is about implementing pro enterprise policies that attracts investment from abroad and supports businesses at home.

Some of the policies of the opposition would put that at risk, and it is ordinary people the length and breadth of Ireland who would pay the price.

We should be proud of the enormous role we have played, over successive generations, in building the economy we have today.

When we speak about the economy, I think it is also important to remind ourselves what having a vibrant economy and good public finances does for us.

A successful economy is not an end in itself. It is an enabler. It gives us the capacity to invest in our society, in our communities, in the services provided by our healthcare professionals, our Gardaí, our fire service, our educators, our defence forces - and many more - all those who we rely on every day.

It also gives us the capacity help those in our society who are struggling, to put money back in their pockets.

The last few years have been tough for many people, with inflation eroding the standard of living of many households.

We are winning the battle with inflation. From a high of almost 10% in the autumn of 2022, it is falling quickly, and this will enable the ECB to reduce interest rates in the months ahead.

As wages and incomes again rise by more than the rate of inflation, living standards will improve this year. We will ensure that this progress is felt across society and not by just the few.

This is a core value of Fianna Fáil and in last year's Budget - my first as Minister for Finance - we took action to protect people's living standards, particularly those feeling the most pressure from rising prices.

We put in place a comprehensive set of one off and permanent measures to help households with the cost of living.

The social welfare and income tax packages helped people to manage the impact of inflation. In the next Budget, we will again priortise carers, pensioners, families and people with a disability.

In the last Budget, we reduced the tax burden for low and middle-income earners and we accomplished this by implementing the first cut in USC rates in 5 years, increasing tax credits and lifting the entry point to the higher rate of income tax.

In this autumn's Budget, we will again have a substantial income tax package. This is vital for individuals and families, but it is also important for our economy that Ireland has a competitive personal tax system.

We also focussed on reducing household bills in Budget 2024.

From September, parents will see a further reduction in childcare costs and next term, parents will see the implementation of the expanded free school book programme under Minister Norma Foley's leadership.

We have just recently seen the changes made to the SUSI grants, which will make further education more affordable for students and families in the next academic year.

A longstanding priority for our party has been to support and promote our indigenous SME sector, including start-ups and micro enterprises.

Ireland has a reputation for having a world-class business environment, and I want to ensure small and growing indigenous businesses can participate in this highly competitive climate.

Since taking office as Minister for Finance, I have introduced a number of initiatives and measures to assist the indigenous enterprise sector including a new low rate of capital gains tax for angel investors in innovative SMEs, I introduced major improvements in the Research and Development Tax Credit, and I significantly enhanced the film tax credit relief to support Ireland's thriving creative sectors.

Delegates, we all recognise the impact rising costs are having on small businesses throughout the country. This is why I reduced to 0% the interest charged on warehoused tax debt.

We also allocated over a quarter of a billion euro to the Increased Cost of Business Support Grant - a grant that businesses can now apply for.

We have also committed to reforming Employers PRSI, which is a direct cost on businesses employing staff.

We are increasing the energy efficiency grant for businesses, and embedding an SME test in all policy decisions across government.

Delegates, while we are working to make Ireland a fair and vibrant economy today, we also have to think about the future.

We have record levels of corporate tax receipts. Last year, we took in nearly €24 billion in corporation tax. These receipts are very welcome and are a reflection of Ireland's successful enterprise model.

The irony should not be lost on the Irish people that our political opponents are very quick to tell us how to spend this money, having opposed the very policies that allowed Ireland to benefit from these corporation tax payments in the first place.

Some of these receipts could prove temporary in nature, and so we have to be careful in the choices we make.

We will invest more in capital now - we've added a further €2 ¼ billion to our National Development Plan across the next three years - but we will also provide for the future.

This is why we are setting up two new funds, the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund.

The Future Ireland Fund will take a long term investment approach. 0.8% of GDP will be invested each year for the next 10 Years. With the money invested along with the returns generated, the Future Ireland Fund could potentially reach €100 billion by 2035.

This is not a rainy day fund because it will cover future costs we know will arise in the decades ahead in areas such as pensions and healthcare and the climate and digital transition.

The core purpose of this fund is to ensure good living standards across the generations.

The Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund is primarily a counter cyclical fund.

It will ensure that in a downturn, we can maintain a consistent high level of public capital investment, in housing, transport infrastructure, education, healthcare, renewable energy and much more.

This will not only ensure that capital projects are delivered in a timely manner, it will also support employment at a time when our economy will really need it.

This kind of long-term planning of our public finances and our economy is what responsible, grown up politics looks like.

Together, these funds will help to ensure we are in the strongest possible position to meet future expenditure needs in an increasingly uncertain world. They will make the future safer and more secure for all.

Before I finish up, I want to mention an important initiative that I am working on and one that I know is important to a lot of people around the country and that is Access to Cash.

While its role in the economy is diminishing, many people still prefer availing of cash in their day to day activities, and their preference must be respected.

I am currently working on legislation that will for the first time place an obligation on the banking sector to maintain access to cash and crucially for businesses, cash lodgement services.

In addition to maintaining the cash infrastructure at December 2022 levels, it is equally important that these facilities operate efficiently and in a manner that serves the citizen's needs.

There is little benefit to citizens in implementing a framework for access to cash if the machines don't work.

How many times have you had to go to a number of ATMs to find one that works, or find that only large denominations of notes are available?

The availability of only large value notes in machines may be of annoyance or inconvenience to many but we must remember the person who may not have €50 in their current account and is waiting for pay-day at the end of the week or to receive their next social welfare payment.

This legislation will require, for the first time, independent ATM operators to register with the Central Bank of Ireland. It will enable the Central Bank to impose requirements on ATM operators such as service standards, hours of operations, maximum downtimes and denomination stocking.

Delegates, Fianna Fáil has played an enormous role at the heart of Government since 2020.

We have delivered a strong economy, with record levels of employment.

We have supported households and businesses through a pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

We have reduced the burden of tax for people at all income levels.

We have invested heavily in vital public services and put in place the largest capital investment plan in the history of the State.

And we have done all this in a prudent manner delivering strong budget surpluses, reducing our national debt and securing your future prosperity.

When I was young growing up in Cork, I thought that politics mattered. I now know it does.

I decided to join Fianna Fáil because I recognised it as the party that had done most to change Ireland for the better and to give people like me an opportunity.

Today we reaffirm our commitment to the service of the Irish people, to building a fair and decent society where no one is left behind, and to make sure there is an opportunity for all.

We must now spend the next 8 weeks making the case for our fantastic candidates all over Ireland in the Local and European elections.

Go raibh mile maith agaibh go léir.

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