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12 March 2015
NEWS SF/LABOUR
T
HE megaphone diplomacy involv-
ing prominent voices on the Left
has brought some clarity to the
task of preparing a common platform
around which progressive parties, inde-
pendent TDs, trade unions and other
organisations and groups could unite in
the months before a general election.
At the Labour conference in Killar-
ney there was a not unexpected but
unhelpful and open hostility from the
leadership towards Sinn Féin, the party
most likely to dominate any such left
formation or alliance in the next Dáil.
The presentation of the James Larkin
‘Thirst for Justice’ Award to Belfast
woman and rape victim, Mairia Cahill,
was cringe-inducing, according to many
of those in attendance, because of the
overt politicisation of her trauma. Her
case has been a cause celebre for many
months for Independent Newspapers in
its less than subtle political campaign
against Gerry Adams, an irony not lost
on many of those present.
However, the overt criticism of Syriza
by some Labour cabinet members was
even more confusing for many dele-
gates who might have thought that its
historic election victory and forceful
engagement with the EU over bank-debt
restructuring could only be in Ireland’s
long-term interests. Instead, prominent
party figures have joined forces with the
European centre-right as they seek to
make domestic political capital out of
the Greek crisis.
The Labour Party appears to be in
denial about its election prospects
and is desperately clinging to the life-
raft of potential Fine Gael transfers to
save itself from oblivion. That may be
the only strategy it has to emerge with
more than 10 seats (from 34) but it has
managed to alienate a large swathe of its
left-wing support, internally and other-
wise, in the process.
In a wide-ranging speech to a fringe
conference meeting SIPTU President,
Jack O’Connor, enthusiastically wel-
comed the Syriza victory and suggested
that its political agenda was not unlike
that of Labour in Ireland over the past
four years in government.
O’Connor called on the party, of which
he is a member, to pursue a progressive
agenda for a society “in which all the
services that are essential for the main-
tenance of a decent life, from healthcare
to eldercare to childcare, through edu-
cation, training, housing and the quality
of the environment are available to citi-
zens free at the point of use and funded
through collective endeavour”.
He called for the replacement of the
Universal Social Charge with a social
solidarity contribution that is spent on
necessary health services, free third-
level tuition, a greater role for public
enterprise in job creation, and a refer-
endum to prevent the privatisation of
water, among other measures. He also
called for dialogue with the Right2-
Water campaign, hundreds of whom
protested in the rain outside the con-
ference venue, an accelerated housing
programme and a re-distribution of the
burden of taxation from the lower paid
to the wealthy.
A day after the conference adjourned,
Reform Minister Brendan Howlin pro-
posed a new, public forum to consider
proposals for pay, tax and spending
as the economy recovers and prepara-
tions begin on Budget 2016 and for “an
inclusive, societal debate about what
a functioning modern economy looks
like”.
However, the outcome will be dictated
by negotiations within cabinet and by
what Fine Gael, and the wealthy people
it represents, will seek in terms of tax
cuts. Labour will be hoping that con-
tinuing economic recovery will allow
for significant concessions to lower and
middle income groups in the run in to
the election.
Either way, its leadership will have no
truck with calls by O’Connor and Gerry
Adams, as well as other voices on the
Left, for a common anti-austerity plat-
form, at least this side of the election.
But for many members and support-
ers a return to the traditional values of
Connolly and Larkin may be the only
guarantee of the long-term survival of
the party.
As Sinn Féin delegates assemble in
Derry this weekend (6th/8th March)
they will also be tempted to reciprocate
the attacks on their party in Killar-
ney. For its leaders, the challenge of the
coming months is the most significant
since it opened the way to parliamentary
participation in the south in the mid-
eighties. To achieve their stated aim
of a left-wing, or left-led, government
Sinn Féin needs allies among the other
independent left TDs, smaller parties,
trade unions and progressive economic,
cultural and non-governmental organi-
sations. Time is pressing.
Those who recognise the responsibil-
ity of the Left to provide an alternative
to 90 plus years of centre-right-led
administrations know that radical pol-
icies must also be credible ones, that
every spending plan requires a source
of revenue. It would be helpful if these
could be worked out in a spirit of co-op-
eration and dialogue among those who
are serious and up for the challenge.
Let’s see what happens. •
Frank Connolly is Head of Communications
for SIPTU
SF and Labour should co-operate in pursuit of the values of Connolly and Larkin.
By Frank Connolly
Enough!
Labour is in
denial about
its election
prospects,
clinging to
the liferaft of
potential Fine
Gael transfers
but it has
alienated a
large swathe
of its left-wing
support in the
process
“
Labour should talk
to them
March 2015 13
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