Labour was swept into power in 2011 on a tidal wave of public support and dismissed last February in equally dramatic fashion. In a coalition government the minor party often secures a disproportionate share of ministries, but later experiences disproportionate electoral losses if that administration falls out of public favour. If 2011 was the best of times – when Labour secured its largest ever share of Dáil seats – 2016 was the worst of times. The party lost four-fifths of its Dáil representation, won seven seats, and narrowly qualified for speaking rights in parliament. Brendan Howlin could not have become party leader at a more difficult or challenging time. This week, at the party's think-in, Mr Howlin made a sobering and realistic assessment of Labour's successes and failures in government and its future prospects.
Labour was an electoral beneficiary of austerity and also its ultimate victim. In 2011, the party boosted public support by making too many unrealistic pre-election promises about mitigating the impact of austerity; by controlling third-level fees, by burning bondholders and by generally doing things Labour's – rather than Frankfurt's – way. Five years later, voters, despite evidence of economic recovery, had not forgotten the broken promises. And as former party leader Pat Rabbitte has noted, Labour found itself blamed for the banking crisis, the property crash, and the bailout that it inherited rather than caused. As Mr Howlin said: "In 2011 we were handed an economy that had hit an iceberg, and we steered it back to safety." Politics is a cruel trade.
For the Labour leader, the challenge now is to rebuild the party and to chart a credible course in doing so. This will mean resisting the temptation to adopt populist policies in order to boost opinion poll ratings and achieve short-term electoral gain. Labour, rightly, has maintained its stance on Irish Water, accepting the need for some charges. Political recovery from such a low electoral base will, however, take time. Invoking Winston Churchill, the Labour leader also acknowledged that it would involve “blood, toil, tears and sweat”.