Labour in Coalition a contribution from Councillor Cian O’Callaghan
Created on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:22 Written by Councillor Cian O'Callaghan
It is now some 8 months since the Irish Labour Party leaders won the debate at the Special Party Conference and took the party into coalition with Fine Gael. Supporters of Fightback argued that this was a mistake as it tied the Labour leaders to a right wing programme that would essentially represent a continuation of the programme of FF and the Greens.
Nothing that has transpired since then has altered that perspective. We argued on the contrary that Labour should oppose coalition and campaign for Labour and Left Government. The result of the Dublin West By Election indicates that with a proper campaign around a Socialist Programme in opposition to the austerity such a government would be entirely possible.
We spoke recently to Cian O'Callaghan a left Labour Councillor who led the opposition to Labour entering the coalition. We asked him to assess Labour's role in the coalition as for his views on Labour's programme. While Cian does not go as far as we have in calling for Labour to break the coalition the signs are clear that Labour's performance to date is far from offering the protection that Eamon Gilmore offered the Irish workers at the Special Conference. Here is Cian's response:
Labour in Coalition by Cian O’Callaghan
In February of this year for the first time in history the Labour Party became the second largest party in Dáil Eireann. The stranglehold of civil war politics dominated by two parties of the right was broken. The prospect of left led government – once a theoretical concept – became a realistic and feasible option. However the leadership of the Labour Party, used to playing the role of mudguard for Fine Gael propping them up in coalition, failed to grasp the significance of this breakthrough.
If the Labour Party is to grow or even maintain current levels of support it is essential that it makes a break with the neo-liberal consensus which has led to the current crisis.
Before I launch into a critique of Labour’s involvement in government I first want to acknowledge that the Labour Party has implemented some progressive reforms. For a start the cut in the minimum wage was reversed. While this was a policy position also adopted by Fine Gael – we can safely assume they only adopted it following the conclusion of the Mullingar Accord Mark 2. I should clarify that there was no formal Mullingar Accord Mark 2. Instead there was a process whereby the leaderships of Labour and Fine Gael agreed a compatible policy platform in the run up to the last election in secret. The leadership of Labour felt that it was electorally advantageous to make it look like Labour was running as an independent party, while at the same time ensuring a common policy platform to avoid any embarrassing and substantial points of difference that could be seized upon by Fianna Fáil.
There are other reforms on their way. The Government is drawing up plans for a national bin waiver scheme for people on low incomes. The pace of privatisation is been slowed down due to Labour participation in government. It appears that basic social welfare rates may not be reduced by this government. And it appears that Roisin Shorthall is the first Minister in Ireland with the courage to stand up to the multi-national drinks industry which has wreaked havoc on so many Irish communities. There are without any doubt positives to Labour’s participation in government.
However we are currently witnessing one of the greatest transfers of wealth and resources from the ordinary people of Ireland to the global super rich elite. And the Labour leadership is facilitating this outrageous act through their participation in government.
The Labour Party in government is also facilitating privatisation. By implementing and agreeing to two billion euro’s worth of privatisation the Labour Party is laying the ground work for the full scale dismantling of our public services. This attack is well underway.
Last March in the O’Reilly Hall in UCD I was one of four elected Labour reps to argue against entering coalition government with Fine Gael. I specifically stated that the programme for government would facilitate the privatisation of the three remaining publicly run Dublin bin collection services. Eamon Gilmore in his concluding speech to the Labour Party Special Conference directly contradicted me stating that the new Government would protect these services. Unfortunately over the last six months South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council and Dublin City Council have either stopped or signalled their intent to stop running bin collection services.
The Labour Party is behaving like an embarrassed and sober friend holding a drunken Fine Gael back as it engages on an ideological rampage of destruction against our public services. Rather than acting as a weak restraining force on the Irish Tories the Labour Party should stand shoulder to shoulder with the people who use our public services and who work in them leading the fight back.
A promise in the Programme for Government to ensure that our airports are not used in breaches of international law has been blatantly ignored.
Hospitals are being pushed beyond the brink with crude cuts and closures put before patient care and safety. There are now over 2,000 beds closed in our hospitals while record numbers are left on hospital trolleys increasing the risk of the spread of infectious disease. These conditions can and do lead to unnecessary deaths.
The government has issued a record number of gas and oil exploration licenses on terms that were essentially introduced by Ray Burke and estimated by the U.S. government to be the second most generous in the world. Only Cameroon gives away their Oil and Gas for less than Ireland.
Joan Burton has attacked young unemployed people, blaming them for their predicament and stating that they were choosing to be without work “as a lifestyle choice”. This New Right philosophy of blaming the poor for been poor dates back to medieval times and was evident in the thinking which saw the Poor Law system and the hated workhouses introduced to Ireland.
The next couple of months will reveal the true nature of our political elite. The government is hell bent of paying off the unsecured Anglo Irish promissory notes. The Department of Finance has revised its economic projections downwards, showing that the policies of cuts and austerity that we were told would lead us back to prosperity aren’t working. The government is about to publish the Comprehensive Spending Review (borrowed directly from the UK Tories). This will list a long menu of cuts to our public services. The budget in early December will then implement some of these cuts.
The government is deliberately publishing a worst case scenario under the Comprehensive Spending Review. In a twisted attempt to manipulate public opinion, this worst case scenario is intended to soften opinion for the cuts in the budget which will be less severe. The budget itself is likely to tax child benefit, abolish various tax reliefs including tax relief on college fees, slash rent allowance, decimate public services including health and education, while avoiding introducing any tax increases for the rich.
There couldn’t be a clearer divide in the Irish political system. On one side there is a government and political class intent on destroying and undermining our public services, while simultaneously handing our oil and gas reserves and billions in cash over to private speculators and millionaire businessmen. On the other side there is the rest of us. We are the 99%.