Ireland

Union calls for Labour to reject coalition deal

The Labour Party should only enter government if it is the biggest party and can elect its own Taoiseach, it was claimed today…

Fri May 27 2005 - 01:00

The Labour Party should only enter government if it is the biggest party and can elect its own Taoiseach, it was claimed today.

The ATGWU, which is an affiliated member of Labour, has tabled a motion at this weekend's annual party conference to reject any coalition deals with 'civil war parties' like Fianna Fail or Fine Gael.

The faces change but the choice remains the same. It's like a broken record
ATGWU's John Bolger

John Bolger, Republic of Ireland secretary of the 50,000-member ATGWU said alliances with bigger groups will compromise Labour's left-of-centre policies and erode its support at the polls.

"We believe the Labour Party can become the main opposition to Fianna Fail and, through building alliances in politics and society, strive to lead an alternative government," he said.

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Labour leader Pat Rabbitte is due to recommend to delegates at the Tralee conference that they back an electoral pact with Fine Gael to form an alternative government after the next General Election.

But Mr Bolger said the time has come for the Labour Party to strive for power in its own right and to break the stranglehold that Fine Fail and Fine Gael hold over Irish politics.

"It's time Labour takes its future into its own hands. It's time to expose the myth that somehow the two civil war parties represent a substantial choice to the electorate.

"We must show that this is not a vague aspiration but a concrete and realisable objective. The motion we are putting forward is not a short-term exercise but a long-term strategy to modernise and transform Irish politics and put Labour's agenda at the top.

"Ever since 1932 politics has boiled down to two choices - a government led by Fianna Fail or one led by Fine Gael - two parties rooted in a civil war fought in the early part of the last century."

Mr Bolger said parties like Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have been allowed to monopolise governments.

"The faces change but the choice remains the same. It's like a broken record," he said. Mr Bolger said that people across Europe have had the opportunity to elect a government that is led by a left-of-centre, social democratic party.

PA