The Tánaiste says the country can now look to the future with hope for the first time since the economic crisis.

Eamon Gilmore told the Labour party conference in Killarney last night that we were now back on our feet and must take a step forward.

He re-iterated his pledge to try and introduce an income tax cut in the lifetime of the coalition.

And he warned that the future would be one, very different from the past: