Party still on course to win over 50 seats, says Gilmore

LABOUR PARTY:LABOUR LEADER Eamon Gilmore has said the party is still capable of securing more than 50 seats and to emerge as the largest party in the Dáil.

Mr Gilmore said yesterday that the election would be a watershed as it would be the first time in the history of the State that there was an alternative to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael as the lead government party.

“It is our objective to bring about a government led by Labour after the election,” he said.

The Labour leader denied that changes in policy positions by the party over the past week had been influenced by fears that it was being “outflanked” by smaller left-wing parties, including Sinn Féin.

In the past week Labour has said it will no longer press for a new 48 per cent tax rate for those earning more than €100,000 because the universal social charge had effected that change already. The party also announced changes in its commitment to budget deficit reduction, saying it would cut €2 billion less and seek an extra year to achieve the goal.

“We have been consistent on what we have been saying. Austerity measures that are too deep would damage the country’s recovery prospects for growth and for jobs,” Mr Gilmore said.

The party is running 68 candidates in the 43 constituencies and is aiming for a minimum of one TD in each, he added.

“It’s about more than political parties. This is about the people of the country making a decision. We have 25 days really to decide the future of this country, probably for the next 25 years because the decision we will all make as voters on polling day will be a decision which is about change. We’re going to reform our political system . . . and our public services because we believe in public service. We respect public servants.”

The Labour leader said people no longer wanted politics of the past.

“The change will be a new government led by the Labour Party,” he added. “We are setting out on this mission because this country has to change . . . This election is not just one for a government of four to five years. It is about the direction that the country will take for the next quarter of a century.”