Water and link with FG did for Labour, says internal report

A report into the Labour general election result has said the party's decision to link with Fine Gael left them exposed.

The review, compiled for leader Brendan Howlin, cites water charges as one of the main reasons for their poor performance.

It says the party struggled to shift the perception that they broke a series of promises when in government.

The party also lists changes to lone parent payments and reduced jobseekers' payments to people under 26 as damaging. Both were introduced by the former tánaiste, Joan Burton.

Postpone charges

However, it adds: “These views are reflected in our survey of the Labour Party membership, which saw 27 per cent identify Irish Water as the most damaging issue to the party, with one member suggesting that the outcome indicated that Labour placed ’too much emphasis on the value of the coalition and not enough emphasis on Labour’s core values’.”

The review quotes both Eamon Gilmore and Brendan Howlin as stating charges should not have been introduced in 2014 and instead postponed until metering was advanced.

Mr Howlin is reported to have said: “We should have [postponed], even if it meant taking down the government at that stage, held our ground on that.”

The review does not lay blame with any one person for the poor election performance and said doing so would be “futile and self-defeating”.

It says the decision to remain linked with Fine Gael in hindsight “left the party exposed”.

But it also insists an alternative strategy was difficult to imagine, that it could not have aligned itself to Fianna Fáil or Sinn Féin, who the review describes as toxic to many voters.

The review says: “There are those who argue that we should have campaigned on a platform of opposition to any continuation of a Fine Gael-led government. Having served in such a government for the previous five years, this too would have been a challenging position to maintain.

“While the rationale for Labour’s overall electoral strategy is evident, feedback from members was that going as far as agreeing a voting pact with Fine Gael may have been unwise, and that the adoption of a differing approach in the closing days of the campaign might have been considered.

“The review group is conscious that such a changed approach might have been difficult to deploy or to explain.”

Core commitments

A series of recommendations are made, including doubling the membership, establishing a fundraising committee and developing a distinct identity.

It calls for the party to reinvigorate relations with the trade union movement and proposes that the Labour lawyers group be re-established, with similar groups such as Labour doctors, Labour teachers to be considered.

It also warns the party to be cognisant of the commitments it makes. “Negotiating a programme for Government will always require compromise, but such core commitments must be just that – not open to compromise.”