TÁNAISTE JOAN BURTON has said she “firmly” expects the Labour party will be returned to power after the general election.

Speaking at a party policy forum, Burton told members “it’s essential to begin planning now for the next term” as “I firmly expect that Labour will be returned to government”.

The Social Protection Minister said she didn’t want her comments to “sound presumptive or over-confident”.

It will ultimately be for the voters to decide, but I absolutely believe that when the time comes, and the people assess our record over the fullness of our term, their verdict will be a positive one.

We promised to fix an economy which was broken. And we did. It wasn’t easy. But after four years of relentless effort on the part of the Irish people, I think we can say with confidence that the job is nearly done. We have brought about recovery.

“The challenge now is securing the recovery and spreading the benefits. Things could still go wrong. Events beyond our control could blow us off track. And it is still possible for us to destroy the progress made by moving away from the prudent policies of this Government.

“So at the election, the Labour Party will present a distinctive programme to the people. But we will also stand over our record in government. And this means the entirety of our record in government.”

Burton noted that Labour makes up one-third of the government, and “things would have been done differently if we were in government alone”.

“We introduced a lot of reforming measures and lot of painful measures. And ultimately we succeeded in getting Ireland out of the abyss dug by Fianna Fail and the Greens.”

She said she did not wish to “claim credit for the reforms and disown the painful measures” as that would be “disingenuous”.

‘Opportunity’ 

Burton noted the government’s record on job creation, saying it has “already exceeded its target of creating 100,000 additional jobs”.

She added that since the economy began to recover, Fine Gael and Labour also cut income tax and took 410,00 out of the universal social charge net.

The Tánaiste said that by reversing pay cuts in the public sector, the coalition is “continuing with our programme of reform in the public service”.

She finished her speech by saying “2016 is about opportunity”.

“The opportunity of the next five years will be to secure the recovery, spread the benefits and make up for the lost years. Together, we can – and must – take that opportunity. And with Labour in Government, I am absolutely confident that we will.”

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