Joan Burton TD Speaks Out

We do like these speeches by Joan Burton TD. The Irish have a way with words and at the ABC we find these speeches very enlightening as we can compare them with what’s happening in the UK and the rest of Europe. 

SPEECH BY JOAN BURTON TD 

An Tánaiste / Leader of the Labour Party 

Friday, 27^th November 2015 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCKLANDS MUST HAVE REGENERATION AT ITS HEART - BURTON 

Speaking at the Development of the Dublin Docklands Seminar Programme:

I’m delighted to open this morning’s seminar, and I want to thank Joe Costello for organising the event.

Joe has been working hard representing the concerns of communities in the Docklands area for a long time now.

The report that Joe has produced highlights a number of priorities: 

· The need for development of the Docklands to have regeneration at its heart;

• The need for a focus on social dividend for the local community; and
• The need to ensure the voices of the community are included.

Not purely as a means of consultation, but as an oversight body too.

This Government decided in 2013 to wind up the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

The legislation to dissolve that Authority is completing its passage through the Dáil. 

It was also decided that Dublin City Council would be the authority to oversee the continued regeneration of the Dublin Docklands.

I know that Dublin City Council is anxious to ensure that the voices of the Docklands communities will be represented in the future development of the area. 

To that end, the Docklands Consultative Forum was proposed, with a structure, membership and remit broadly similar to its predecessor. 

However, I know that at Committee Stage in the Dáil, several deputies expressed specific concerns regarding that Forum.

They felt that as defined, the Forum is consultative only in nature, and that its remit should be broadened to include an oversight function.

They also felt that submitting its annual report only to Dublin City Council did not subject it to the scrutiny of the Oireachtas.

Recognising these concerns, and subject to tweaking of language with the Attorney General’s Office, it is proposed to strengthen the legislation in two key ways. 

Firstly, to amend the Bill early next month to change the name of the Forum to the “Docklands Oversight and Consultative Forum”.

Secondly, that the Minister will be required to lay the Forum’s annual report before the Oireachtas each year.   

This will ensure that the report can be examined by Joint Oireachtas Committees thereafter. 

The legislation is anticipated to go to final stages in the Dail next week, and it is hoped to be passed before Christmas.

I know this is something Joe and others have been pushing for, and I’m glad to say that we can strengthen the legislation in this way.

I know the new forum will be an invaluable resource.

I want to return more broadly to the theme of social dividend I mentioned earlier.

Since I became Tánaiste and Labour Leader, I’ve been talking about the need for the economic recovery to be accompanied by a social recovery.

This means ensuring the recovery is felt in the life of every person, every family and every community, including in the Docklands.

And it’s driven everything Labour have done in government since then.

Our economy is projected to be the fastest-growing in Europe this year. 

And unemployment has fallen below 9%, from a crisis peak of 15.1%. 

We want to use this recovery to create more opportunities for people, particularly those in disadvantaged areas.

That means opportunities for people to find employment that pays a living wage, so they can build a better financial future for themselves and their families. 

It means the opportunity to get a good education in good schools.

On that note, I’m delighted that the St Laurence O’Toole national schools were included in the €2.8billion school building programme which we announced last week.

And it means the opportunity for young people to access quality training and apprenticeships.   

This year already, more than 3,000 people are expected to begin apprenticeships, twice as many as in 2012. 

And in the recent Budget we’ve invested an additional €10million in the national training fund to boost spending on apprenticeships.

It will mean more numbers on the existing apprenticeships, and help fund the rollout of 25 new programmes.

All in sectors where there will be significant career opportunities in the coming years. 

One of those new apprenticeships programmes is in financial services.

It will help make careers in places like the IFSC more accessible for people who may not have gone to college. 

The IFSC has helped to transform the Docklands.

It’s an iconic example of urban economic regeneration.

Earlier this year the Taoiseach and I launched a new strategy for the financial services sector. 

It aims grow and develop the sector in a very targeted way.

In doing so, it will help create an additional 10,000 jobs by 2020 in financial services firms. 

But in focusing on creating jobs, we must also ensure that people are ready to take up these jobs.

Since I became Social Protection Minister, my Department has transformed into a service that both helps jobseekers find work, training and education - and helps employers meet their recruitment needs. 

One such way is the JobsPlus scheme. 

It subsidises wage costs for employers when they hire someone who has been unemployed for 12 months or more, and it’s proven particularly successful. 

To build on that success, we introduced a dedicated JobsPlus Youth for young people under the age of 25.

Under this, the qualifying period for employing such young people has been reduced from 12 months to four months. 

It’s one of the innovative ways we’re looking to drive down youth unemployment.

Continuing to help people find work; supporting small and large enterprises here in the Docklands; providing more apprenticeship opportunities; and investing in new schools.

These are just some of the ways in which we are working to bring about a social recovery.

For communities in the Docklands and across Ireland. 

Thanks again for inviting me and I hope you have a very productive and interesting discussion this morning.