TWO MEMBERS of the 37-strong Labour parliamentary party voted against going into coalition with Fine Gael, it has emerged.
In addition to Dublin North-East TD Tommy Broughan, who spoke trenchantly against adopting the programme for government, Dublin Mid-West TD Joanna Tuffy also voted no.
The programme was overwhelmingly endorsed at a special delegate conference of the party last Sunday.
Ms Tuffy said yesterday she voted against the deal because she was unhappy with the number of public service job cuts proposed, the plans to privatise some State agencies and proposals to set up a national water authority and introduce water metering. She also said the commitment on third-level fees did not go far enough to protect the principle of free tuition.
“The electorate voted for two opposing alternatives; Fine Gael voters for one, and Labour voters for the ideological opposite,” she said. “The result points just as much in the direction of a Labour-led opposition as to a Fine Gael-led government.”
Ms Tuffy said she accepted the conference’s democratic decision and would do all she could to help the party deliver “a social democratic outcome” in government.
Mr Broughan said yesterday the prospects for Labour were “bleak” unless its economic and fiscal policies started to work quickly.
Unlike Fine Gael, the party could not afford to lose 20-25 seats in the next election and it was also being attacked by the United Left Alliance on its left flank.
At Sunday’s conference, party leader Eamon Gilmore likened the party’s position to the US Democrats under Roosevelt or the British Labour Party after the second World War, but Mr Broughan said these comparisons were “historically crazy” because Irish Labour was not the majority party. He said he hoped to play a leading role in the Dáil, but promised to adopt an independent stance.
Meanwhile, Siptu president Jack O’Connor confirmed that he and the rest of the union delegation voted in favour of coalition.
In his speech to the conference, Mr O’Connor sought clarification on proposals to contract out waste collection services in local authorities before giving his approval.
A spokesman said yesterday that as Mr Gilmore provided the clarification, Mr O’Connor and his delegation had voted yes.