LABOUR-FG PACT:LABOUR OPPONENTS of a coalition agreement with Fine Gael have promised a vigorous debate when, as expected,the proposal comes before a special party conference.
The regional secretary of Unite, Jimmy Kelly, two Labour councillors and the chairman of the party’s youth wing expressed their joint opposition to a deal in a press conference at a Dublin hotel yesterday. Unite is the second largest union affiliated to the party
“Unite has campaigned during this general election for a Labour-led left government,” Mr Kelly said. “We were promoting that our members would vote for the Labour Party; we wanted Eamon Gilmore as taoiseach.”
The election had delivered a “historic” result and Labour, combined with Sinn Féin, the United Left Alliance and left-wing Independents amounted to a potential 60-strong bloc in opposition.
“We’ll undo that fantastic result by getting into government with Fine Gael,” Mr Kelly said. “The policies of Fine Gael are anti-worker, they are on the side of big business.”
He posed the question: “If the motive for going into government with Fine Gael is that you ameliorate the worst aspects of Fine Gael, well is that equal to Fianna Fáil?”
Fingal county councillor Patrick Nulty from Blanchardstown said the election had brought a “huge breakthrough” for the party. “I do not believe that entering a government dominated by Fine Gael is in the best interests of the country or of the people who voted Labour,” he added.
Labour should mount a strong opposition to the policy of austerity, cuts and privatisation favoured by Fine Gael, he said.
“If a programme for government is put to Labour members, I believe we should reject it and instead put the country first and push for . . . transformation in our political system,” Mr Nulty said.
Fingal councillor Cian O’Callaghan from the Howth-Malahide electoral area said a number of TDs in the party as well as other members had “strong reservations” about the prospect of coalition with Fine Gael.
Chairman of Labour Youth Colm Lawless said a coalition led by Fine Gael with 76 TDs would not allow “leverage” for Labour policies to be implemented.
“Compare it to 1994 when the Labour Party, combined with Democratic Left, were nearly equal partners with Fine Gael . . . I don’t believe this time round that the Labour Party’s role in government will bring about any real change . . . and I think it is a betrayal of our own electorate and the nation’s interests to serve in a government dominated by Fine Gael,” he said.
This would allow the “discredited” Fianna Fáil to lead the opposition, Mr Lawless said.