InvokeRepeating not executing - recently updated unity

Hi, i recently updated unity from about 3.2 to 3.4 and I just started working on a game i had taken a break from. alot of stuff is broken now. anyway one problem i am having is my ship(player) is not firing bullets.

please note: this and all my code worked perfectly fine when i took a break 3 months ago

through the use of monodevelop debugging and debug.log's i have tracked the problem to

 InvokeRepeating("spawnBullet", firstShotDelay, fireRate);

when this function is executed this class is supposed to repeat

 void spawnBullet() {
         Instantiate(bullet,transform.position,transform.rotation);
 }

however through debugging i have concluded that InvokeRepeating is either being executed and not working, or is being skipped over, however through breakpoints i have watched it execute and do nothing.

MY QUESTION: if anyone knows why i am having these problems please help me out. why is InvokeRepeating not working? what did unity update do to my game?

here is the code for spawning a bullet in my game which i am having this problem, i have some comments in please ask any questions if it is confusing:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class bulletspawner : MonoBehaviour {
 
     public GameObject bullet;
     public GameObject spreadShotBullet;
     public GameObject rapidFireBullet;
     public float firstShotDelay = 0.02f;
     public float fireRate = 0.2f;
     public float rapidFireRate = 0.1f;
     public bool isSpreadShot = false;
     
     private bool spreadShotEnabled = false;
     private bool rapidFireEnabled = false;
     private bool needsUpdate = false;
     
     public static bool rapidFire = false;
     public static bool spreadShot = false;
     
     //spawns a bullet at the ships position and rotation
     void spawnBullet() {
         Instantiate(bullet,transform.position,transform.rotation);
     }
 
     void spawnSpreadBullet() {
         Instantiate(spreadShotBullet,transform.position,transform.rotation);
     }
     
     void spawnRapidFireBullet() {
         Instantiate(rapidFireBullet,transform.position,transform.rotation);
     }
 
     void spawnTheBullets ()
     {
         //this repeats spawning the bullet at a firerate in seconds
         if (!isSpreadShot && !spreadShotEnabled && !rapidFireEnabled)
         {
             InvokeRepeating("spawnBullet", firstShotDelay, fireRate);
         }
         else
         {
             //Debug.Log("ss:" + spreadShotEnabled + " rf:" + rapidFireEnabled);
             if (spreadShotEnabled && !rapidFireEnabled)
             {
                 InvokeRepeating("spawnSpreadBullet", firstShotDelay, fireRate);
             }
             else
             {
                 CancelInvoke("spawnSpreadBullet");
             }
 
             if (rapidFireEnabled && !isSpreadShot && !spreadShotEnabled)
             {
                 InvokeRepeating("spawnRapidFireBullet", firstShotDelay, rapidFireRate);
             }
             else
             {
                 CancelInvoke("spawnRapidFireBullet");
             }
         }
     }
 
     void stopSpawning()
     {
         CancelInvoke("spawnBullet");
         CancelInvoke("spawnSpreadBullet");
         CancelInvoke("spawnRapidFireBullet");
     }
     
     void Awake (){
         spreadShotEnabled = false;
         rapidFireEnabled = false;
 
         rapidFire = false;
         spreadShot = false;
 
         if (globalController.overide)
         {
             fireRate = globalController.gnormalFireRate;
             rapidFireRate = globalController.grapidFireRate;
         }        
     }
     
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update () {
         if (rapidFireEnabled != rapidFire || spreadShotEnabled != spreadShot)
         {
             stopSpawning();
             needsUpdate = true;
         }
 
         rapidFireEnabled = rapidFire;
         spreadShotEnabled = spreadShot;
 
         if (needsUpdate && Input.GetButton("Fire1"))
         {
             needsUpdate = false;
             spawnTheBullets();
             
         }
         //spreadShotEnabled = shipcontrols.globeSpreadShotEnabled;
         //Debug.Log(spreadShotEnabled);
             
             
         //the frame the fire1 input is pressed it starts a repeating function
         //note: that if this is not done multiple instances of a bullet repeatedly spawning will occur.
         // as the repeating will be invoked every frame.
         if(Input.GetButtonDown("Fire1")){
             spawnTheBullets();
         }
         //the frame the button is released the repeated spawning of the bullet is stopped
         if(Input.GetButtonUp("Fire1")){
             stopSpawning();
         }
     }
 }