Colleagues, this past year has proved, once again, what we can achieve when we work together as a union. At our conference in 2014 we emphasised the need to achieve income recovery. This year, we took the first steps toward achieving that goal, and now the Lansdowne Road Agreement will begin to deliver pay restoration for the first time since before the economic crisis.

Throughout our 2015 campaign for pay restoration, we emphasised that it was essential that all workers - public, private and in the community and voluntary sector – should experience the economic recovery through improvements in their income. Happily, we are seeing this happen, including a recent breakthrough in the community and voluntary sector, but a lot of work still needs to be done before the fruits of economic recovery become more universal.

We know, all too well, that many of our citizens have been left behind, and nowhere is this more evident than in the national housing and homelessness crisis. IMPACT is continuing to campaign on the need to introduce both emergency and long-term measures to address this crisis.

In a post-crisis environment, as we look at the challenges facing the country in housing, health, education and other public services, it’s important to remember that we have choices. The country and the union have a new found freedom to make choices for the first time in eight years. Making responsible choices is crucial if we are to ensure that the economic recovery is both equitable and sustainable. That means we must get the balance right between taxation and expenditure.

With a general election taking place quite early in 2016, many of the political parties will use the promise of tax cuts to attract voters. It’s a well-worn strategy and it has been successful in the past. However, there is now an increased understanding that it is not possible to continue cutting taxes and still deliver quality public services to everyone who needs them.

As a union we stand together, unashamedly, on the side of efficient, organised and well-funded public services. In 2016 we must focus our attention on rebuilding those services in the wake of the economic crisis.

The incoming Government has a choice. It can squander the recovery by eroding the tax base and force the contraction of our public services. However, it can instead choose to ensure the sustainability of the economic recovery with a broadly based, progressive system of taxation, and deliver European levels of public services to a growing and ageing population.

As we face into a year of new challenges, we must continue to exert our collective influence and champion the right choices. The future of our public services will depend upon our success.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your work colleagues and families, a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

Shay Cody, general secretary, IMPACT.