Madam, – Alongside the usual partisan caricatures of Labour, Sarah Carey’s column (Opinion, May 19th) contained a simple message for the Labour Party. Know your place. For Ms Carey, the natural order of things is that the political structures that emerged from the Civil War must always dominate Ireland, and people with other ideas should mind their manners.
I have absolutely no intention of doing so. Since becoming leader of the Labour Party, my goal has been to shake up the “two-and-a-half-party” system, and to offer the Irish people a real alternative. I want to position Labour to lead a Government.
Now is when politics really matters. We must have the right policies to repair the economy. We must offer hope and opportunity to those losing their jobs. And we must make sure that this mess does not happen again.
All of these demand a vision of our country, not as it is now, but as it can be. So that people will come together as One Ireland to get through the economic crisis.
Like other progressive parties around the world, Labour’s focus throughout has been on jobs and the real economy. To this end, Labour has put forward proposal after proposal, and numerous policy documents. We are the only party to have brought forward serious proposals on how to provide training and work experience for those on the live register – a graduate training scheme, an “earn and learn” scheme, tax-back for people who want to study, more places in further education.
We were the first to advance the idea of a medium-term fiscal strategy, and we have brought forward a series of costed proposals on sorting out the public finances fairly.
Labour has a long-standing record of bringing forward radical ideas to build a fairer Ireland. These have often been opposed by the conservative parties, only to then become mainstream. This was true of the battle to make Ireland a more liberal and tolerant society. And the process continues.
In times of crisis, there can be substantial shifts in the political system. My goal is to continue building Labour into a party that contends with both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In 1918, Labour stood aside in the national interest. Now is the time, in the same national interest, for Labour to step forward. – Yours, etc,