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Labour needs to assert itself in Coalition, warns MEP

Nessa Childers warned against “arrogance” in a larger coalition party, and said Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were both parties of big business.

09/04/12 3,090 Views 91 Comments
Nessa Childers
Nessa Childers
Image: Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

THE LABOUR PARTY needs to assert itself in the coalition with Fine Gael as the very survival of the party is at stake, MEP Nessa Childers has warned.

Childers said both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were parties of big business, with an “attachment” to large corporations. She said Labour needed to guard against an “arrogance” that could develop in larger coalition parties.

The MEP was speaking in advance of the party’s annual conference this weekend, where she said she would raise her concerns if given the opportunity. Childers told TheJournal.ie:

At a national level I can see the difficulties for the Labour Party, and we must assert ourselves. What you would see with a large and a small coalition party is that a certain arrogance can creep into the larger party.

She said there were essential differences between Labour’s approach and that of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

There’s certain type of attachment that both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have with large corporations, that Labour don’t have – although we’re not anti-business.

Signs of conflict between the parties had been played out in the media in recent weeks, Childers said.

According to the Irish Independent, Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday urged Cabinet ministers of both parties to dampen down tensions within the Coalition. “I would say to everybody, calm down, we’ve got bigger challenges up ahead,” he said.

His comments came after Fine Gael justice minister Alan Shatter appeared to rebuke his Labour colleague Pat Rabbitte, who had expressed concerns about white collar crime.

Childers said she was particularly concerned that Labour’s voice was not being heard in discussions with the troika, and called for a stronger stance in negotiations.

[I'm concerned that] our voices may not be being heard at a European level. We can’t go on with austerity, I think the economy will eat itself alive. The survival of the country, not only the survival of the Labour party, is at stake.

Childers said as an MEP she was well placed to speak out, as she could not “threaten anybody” in the party’s power structure. “I’d like to think I could contribute by putting my voice out there,” she added.

She said she believed her views would find support among other party members.

More: Shatter admits frustration, but says Anglo probe can’t be rushed>

About the author:

Michael Freeman
@michfreeman
michael@dailyedge.ie

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Comments (91 Comments)

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  • joseph mcgee 09/04/12 #

    Keep talking Nessa, you’re making some sense!

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  • Reginald St Worthing 09/04/12 #

    I too have been a life-long Labour supporter, and I greatly admire Nessa Childers, who, more than most in her party, has the courage of her convictions. She’s absolutely right in saying that Labour needs to assert itself more robustly, particularly when it comes to negotiating with the Troika. I’m hugely disappointed with Labour as it stands, but Nessa and a few others offer some hope that the fire of social-democracy hasn’t completely gone out.

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  • Norman Hunter 09/04/12 #

    Labour the new Green Party,and we all know what happened to the Greens.

    Reply
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  • Gerard Wyer 09/04/12 #

    All that Labour claimed to stand for was put into the bin while they auctioned their arses to the highest bidder. They have no backbone, no genuine beliefs, and have turned themselves into the mudguard of Fine Gael.

    I look forward to their electoral destruction.

    Reply
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  • Niall McLaughlin 09/04/12 #

    She’s completely right, Gilmore used to be a complete bulldog in opposition and wouldn’t let anyone away with anything. Had he retained that spark once getting into government I’d say he would have made a better leader than Enda overall but now it seems to be that whenever there’s a bit of tension between the two parties over anything they’re all told to get back in line and resume being buddy-buddy.

    What’s the use of having two different parties in government if they’re just going to pool and dilute their opinions? Labour should freely pick holes in what the Fine Gael guys are doing and vice versa because it keeps them more grounded in reality. As much as they try to pretend otherwise they don’t live in a world where every decision they make is universally accepted and admired (Hogan, Sherlock et al).

    Reply
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  • Patrick Coffey 09/04/12 #

    Tenner bets that this government won’t last a full term.

    Reply
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  • Susie Chester 09/04/12 #

    Nessa Childers , I admire you ,this is one lady who is fearless in speaking the truth.A lone voice ? I think not , more will be joining hers . The Labour party will be having their Ard fheis next week end … One of two things may happen . They will back FG to the hilt and that will be game over for Labour . OR they wiil come out with some utterances against FG and present ”policies” that will see the beginning of the end for this government.

    Reply
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    • Desmond O'Toole 09/04/12 #

      Labour does not have an Ard Fheis. Labour has a Party Conference.

      Reply
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    • Susie Chester 09/04/12 #

      FFS Desmond I will go and self flagellate to make up for such an error in comment !
      Take Shatter’s advice and to quote hgim…. ”Get a life ”

      Reply
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    • joseph mcgee 09/04/12 #

      Susie,
      to quote a line from a film

      “Check out the big brain on Brad!” hehe

      Reply
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    • Desmond O'Toole 09/04/12 #

      We’re you this tetchy when you were corrected at school, Susie?

      Reply
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    • Sheila Byrne 09/04/12 #

      @ Susie Chester,

      Hey Susie, I agree with most of what you said, Nessa Childers tells you the way it is! All she’s doing is, is telling Gilmore to get of his arse and speak up, be assertive, fight your corner. Don’t leave it to Joan Burton. If he screws up here it’ll be a bloody long time before Labour get near being in Government again.

      He’s giving Kenny and his gang too much rope. He needs to haul him back a bit and remind him that they are part of a team.

      Reply
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    • Susie Chester 09/04/12 #

      Desmond O ‘Toole
      I am not tetchy …. I am fully fledged bloody angry as I am entitled to be , with this government and it’s minnions ( Thats you btw) .
      Your assertion that I am tetchy is an arrogant expression of a male attitude when you feel like being petty . Now go away and stop pretending that you are so clever , when you have proved that you are no more capable of makiing a decision on your own with out FG telling you, than Enda is capable of being honest with the electorate.

      Reply
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    • Patrick Declan O'Shea 09/04/12 #

      Susie, arrogant yes, but please leave the male bit out. Not all of us males are arrogant or ignorant, like the mentioned!!

      Reply
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    • Susie Chester 09/04/12 #

      Patrick Declan O’Shea
      Apoloogies to you and most other men :)

      Reply
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    • Desmond O'Toole 09/04/12 #

      We’re all angry, Sally. But some of us are trying to do something about the condition in which this country was left by FF. It’s all very well to be angry at the debt, the bank bailouts, the cuts in public services and the pain that is being felt in households right across Ireland, but unless you address the failings of this republic, then you’re just blowing so much hot air. If you think Labour are doing such a bad job, how would you stabilise the public finances and put people back to work?

      Reply
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    • Patrick Declan O'Shea 09/04/12 #

      No problem Susie!!

      Reply
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    • John Murphy 09/04/12 #

      For my part apology accepted Suzie! In fact, I don’t mind in the least being an item of collateral damage when your on a roll such as that. Good work keep it up!

      Reply
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    • Patrick Declan O'Shea 09/04/12 #

      This has nothing to do with solving the country’s debts or getting people back to work. It’s about paying the Fat Cats money, they lost through their own greed. Taxing, cutting and asset stripping the country, to pay them, instead of reinvesting in the country, and putting the economy to rights. Anyone who thinks these actions are to help Ireland need to look at this closer, that’s if you want to know what is really going on!!

      Reply
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    • Susie Chester 09/04/12 #

      Desmond O’Toole
      What exactly are you (personally) doing to rectify the situation , except praise the idiots who are perpetrating the crisis. Yes FF left us in this state ,but it is getting a bit lame now to continue blaming them 14 months later . FG /Lab are not improving it , where are the jobs they promised ? Where are the improvements in the Health service? Emmigration ? Education ? Roads ? This government is a joke and inept. I will protest its existance until I see them gone or improve our lot . There is scope for new jobs , not imported jobs within major corporations. Self made ordinary jobs that will take little retraining . Start from scratch and I GUARANTEE we will all see an improvement .

      Reply
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    • Patrick Declan O'Shea 09/04/12 #

      Well said again Susie.

      Reply
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    • Réada Quinn 09/04/12 #

      Desmond! Labour Party Árd Fheis or Labour Party Conference? I don’t know what made you decide to join Labour. It couldn’t have been the ethos of its founding fathers. What a snobby way to correct Suzie on an easily made error. Just as well you’re in bed with Fine Gael!

      Reply
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    • joseph mcgee 09/04/12 #

      poor aul Dessie boy,
      the FG party machine has its flute so rammed up ya,
      jasus, yis don’t know if yis are whistlin dixie,
      the EU anthem or Amhran na bhFiann.

      to be pitied really

      Reply
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  • Rachel Walsh 09/04/12 #

    The morals and ethics of the Labour party are being lost. The party is being absorbed by Fine Gael.

    Reply
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  • Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh 09/04/12 #

    This could be the first Ard Fheis where party members are outside protesting against their own party. That’s what some friends of Nulty, Penrose et al. seem to be suggesting. It probably is overdramatised spin, but the fact that they’re even TALKING about it is suggestive enough.

    Reply
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  • LeeKelly 09/04/12 #

    She’s right. Nessa the only member of Labour that has half a brain. I used to believe in Labour. I thought they stood for something. Now all they stand for (probably unsuccessfully) will be re-election. Gilmore and Co seem to have become subservient selective elective mutes in government in the ‘making up the numbers’ role that FG have assigned their coalition partners. I’ve withdrawn my support and vote from them.

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  • Ciarán Ferrie 09/04/12 #

    Unfortunately, Labour’s attachment to, and dependence on, big unions is just as damaging.

    Reply
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  • James Dunne 09/04/12 #

    Governing is never easy, you’re dealing with competing interests all the time but you just have to get on and do it! There’s give and take in any coalition government but there’s also collective responsibility.

    Reply
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  • Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh 09/04/12 #

    Childers said both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were parties of big business, with an “attachment” to large corporations.

    And Labour attaches itself to unions that represent only 34% of workers in the country (including the very privileged public service). Two sides of the same coin there.

    Ban all CORPORATE and TRADE UNION donations.

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    • Desmond O'Toole 09/04/12 #

      How much do you think TU donations contribute to the finances of the Labour Party? A rough percent will suffice. Go on, guess!

      Reply
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    • Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh 09/04/12 #

      SIPTU had a political warchest of €117k in 2008, most (but not all) of it went to Labour. My guess is that the overall ICTU figure is quite substantial.

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    • Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh 09/04/12 #

      To add to that, the figure is in the region of €69k, making Labour the recipient of just under 59% of SIPTU’s funding to political parties.

      Reply
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    • Desmond O'Toole 09/04/12 #

      Wrong. TU contributions to the Labour Party amount to less than 10% of the party’s income.

      Reply
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    • Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh 09/04/12 #

      I’ve heard some say that it’s as low as 5%. But it’s the principle that’s at stake. If SIPTU is handing out donations in the region of €70k every year to the Labour Party, that’s bound to be influencing them. Labour also took a stance against John Gormley’s legislation to ban on donations from organisations, because it affected their fundraising.

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    • Evan 09/04/12 #

      It’s pure silliness to believe that trade unions have any way near as much political power as corporations, second of all they are not the same thing.

      Unions are part of civil society, wherein people can access the democratic system through, Corporations are largely anti-society, and work for profit, and not in the interests of people most of the time.

      It’s unfortunate that only 34 percent of the workers in this country are in unions, there would be a lot more in them if it wasn’t for all the large multinational corporations (mostly american), that have a de facto ban on joining unions, and incentivise keeping people out of them.

      Also public sector workers are mostly not so privledged. Their lucky in that the croke park argreement protects them from unemployment (but don’t we want to keep the unemployment rates down if we want to keep the economy afloat?), but other than a few at the very top most earn quite modest incomes, regadless of what you read in the indom etc.

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    • Desmond O'Toole 09/04/12 #

      Trade union donations to Labour amount to about 6% of annual income. Hardly a significant sum.

      Reply
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    • Desmond O'Toole 09/04/12 #

      The Labour Party has a deep and abiding historical relationship with the Irish trade union movement. We were both founded on the idea that working people need to combine in order to secure social justice. The TUs do this in the workplace and the LP does this in the Oireachtas and on local councils. Indeed, Labour was founded by the ITUC almost 100 years ago. TUs and the LP are open and democratic organisations. TUs are obliged to maintain a political fund from which TU members are able to opt out. Compare that with the corporations and business interests that support FF and FG financially. They are neither open nor democratic. They pay donations out of their general accounts and no employee, customer or shareholder is able to opt out from those donations. Furthermore, in all of the corruption findings that have beenmade there has never been any credible allegation of influence-peddling made of the LP/TU relationship, unlike that of FF, FG and the corporate sector.

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    • Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh 10/04/12 #

      Evan, the fact that they’re protected from unemployment is quite a substantial advantage they have over any worker in the private sector. They’re also protected from pay reductions (although they agreed not to take a pay rise). Now I’m not some rabid right winger – I believe in equality. Two of my closest relatives are/were employed in the public sector, and I’m not inclined to believe the sort of rubbish spewed about public sector workers in the Indo. However the fact that all public sector workers are exposed to SIGNIFICANTLY lower quantities of financial risk than private sector workers is appalling. The public sector is also the most unionised sector in Ireland, which makes it more or less unclear who’s running it – the government or the unions.

      Desmond & Evan, if Labour Party funding is similar to Fianna Fáil funding (the party I have the most experience with), then the majority of funding comes from cash donations under 100% from its own members, and members of the public. If TUs alone constitute 6% of its funding, then logically they must be the single largest net contributors to the Labour party (if that should not be the case, then I would deduce that you are getting a serious quantity of cash from another source, which would be quite suspicious). Thus to suggest that Labour is in no way compromised from getting 6% of its funding from organisations equipped with their own lobbying apparatuses is naive.

      Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have had their names both tarnished by receiving moneys from businessmen. This is partly because the businessmen were willing to give that money, but also because the parties in question wished the money to conduct expensive campaigns (and some people clearly wanted to fill their own pockets to). That is not to say that such money is genuinely necessary. Social media offers quite a number of services free of charge – you just have to hire someone to operate it. Television advertising, which never quite caught on in Ireland, is no longer necessary. If parties agreed on legislation (in the guise of protecting the environment) to ban campaign posters, then a substantial amount of the cost would be wiped out. It’s dubious as to the extent that posters do anything anyway – Seán Gallagher came second in the Presidential election (and for some time seemed tipped to win), despite running a poster free campaign.

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  • Chris Bewildered 09/04/12 #

    She can see the signs. The writing is on the wall. Destiny = the greens and now Labour. The same fate.

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  • Eugene O'Rourke 09/04/12 #

    so unions are not big business. you wouldn’t have taught so but looking at beggs and o’connor wages they are. for socialist movements I have not seen them drop there subscription rates which shows no solidarity with there members. unions sold out years ago and are puppets in the big picture. there has been virtually no strikes in the country showing they are bought. childers on about other parties should look in the mirror as who does her big business (unions) support too.

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  • Réada Quinn 09/04/12 #

    Labour is dead. The only people keeping the life support machine are people like Nessa Childers, Tommy Broughan, Willie Penrose and Patrick Nulty. Pull the plug!

    As a lifelong Labour voter. I want my vote back!!!

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  • Frank2521 09/04/12 #

    Nessa – you are dead right but Raoire Quinn, his nephew Oisin and his father Lochlan Quinn are not exactly working class or socialists. They are like the Haughey clan as Lochlan is one of Ireland’s wealthiest men. Iisin a property man himself isn’t exactly socialist with his properties either so maybe Nessa you could start cleaning the labour house first.

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  • Vinnie Mulvihill 09/04/12 #

    as long as the scum keep getting their 2k a week they will tag along for the free ride

    Reply
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  • Niall Sheridan 09/04/12 #

    Too late Nessa! Labour have made the same mistake as the Greens – they lusted after the levers of power! Like the Greens, they will be annialiated at the next election! Not helped by Joan Burton criminalising by association all those who are on social security. They will be finished!!

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  • Sheila Byrne 09/04/12 #

    @Patrick Coffey

    I said on journal.ie two months that it may collapse by end of Summer this year. If Labour is not careful and get of their bloody arses and speak up it will collapse. Kenny’s days are numbered anyway. Varadkar and his team are going to f . . k ‘aul ones’ out as soon as their backs are turned. He did it once, he’ll do it again!

    That is why Gilmore has to be more assertive NOW! If the Government did collapse, not sure what would really happen the country then. It’s scary to think of.

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  • Barry McSweeney 09/04/12 #

    Labour lost it soul long ago.

    In the last Dáil, it abandoned its long opposition to blood sports to support the Ward Union stag hunt “The Labour party’s position on the [staghunting] bill suggests it doesn’t stand for anything anymore, apart from the pursuit of power,” was Michael Clifford’s comment.

    Ironically, the only TD who stayed faithful to the party’s manifesto – Tommy Broughan – was expelled for doing so.

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    • Jay Warner 09/04/12 #

      What does hunting have to do with anything important? Hunting is generally a country pursuit and has nothing to do with urban city life. Rural people do not tell urban dwellers how to control their crime rates, drug problems, general snobbery innate feelings of being better than everyone else so they should not presume to try and impose their dies towards hunting on anyone.. they do not understand the heritage or community nature of it. They should stay in the urban squalor and fix their own problems.

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  • sean smith 09/04/12 #

    This woman’s name is Childers. That’s all you need to know. Respect!

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  • Aodhan O Cuana 09/04/12 #

    I have a theory; based on FG history on governing and the state above the party. Has their reaction to the public’s refusal to pay the household charge seen as an episode of PTSD. As like their predecessors, their only response was not listen to the opposition but treat them as hostile like FF and Dev in the civil war. Therefore a no view was seen as a rejection of the state and therefore the state needed to flex their muscles. When in fact the FG government at present is an extension of a federal/banking movement in EU and will ensure the Irish pay regardless. So FG has betrayed its emphasis on the Irish State and has in fact secured us, like FF did, to a colonial reality that no Irish party can break free from!

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  • Samantha Long 09/04/12 #

    Why doesn’t Nessa Childers just go it alone as an independent? She only comments in the negative about her party

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    • Unitedpeople Ireland 09/04/12 #

      What? She is now allowed now eve to point out something essential that might be rotting away within the Labour party now?
      So if she cares about her org, she should just shut up till it becomes further ruined – causing by effect further pain and suffering upon the public?

      I don’t care for Labour myself – but I DO believe that people should have the right to speak up when they see something it wrong and thus voice concern, if only to have the matter looked at and addressed if need be – or are people only allowed to speak up when their views must be the same as your own Samantha!

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    • Unitedpeople Ireland 09/04/12 #

      What? She is not allowed speak up and voice concern about what she cares about?
      I don’t care for the Labour party – they have sold out – but I DO believe in the peoples right to speak up and voice any concerns they might have.

      …Or are people only allowed speak up when they only share opinions such as your own Samantha?
      In other times shut-up and behave like a good little lapdog, letting the possible inner rot continue?

      Kop yourself on!

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    • Ryan oneill 09/04/12 #

      That’s a good thing!!

      Reply
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    • Susie Chester 09/04/12 #

      Samantha Long
      You are the party before country type of man . Well done . ! I hope Nessa Childers continues to speak out loud and clear , Respect !

      Reply
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    • Sheila Byrne 09/04/12 #

      @Samantha Long,

      I don’t think it’s a negative report/interview that Nessa Childers has done, I agreed with her the last time she spoke out a couple of weeks ago. I feel that her opinion in this interview is good, she’s giving Gilmore a b . . . . cking, telling him to see up and be more assertive. He spoke what he thought before he was elected, Speak now. Don’t just be leaving it up to Joan Burton.

      Gilmore is giving the impression that Kenny/F Gael are in charge. Well, they’re not! They wouldn’t be there only for Labour. Stand up and be counted for christ sake Eamonn Gilmore!

      Reply
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    • Patrick Declan O'Shea 09/04/12 #

      United, it looks like no one is allowed to say anything in Ireland now, unless it is what the goverment, or certain other organisations/people want to hear. Democracy???

      Reply
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    • Gay Pea McManus 09/04/12 #

      Labour voted against the bank bailout, they should have stuck to their guns when and refused to enter government, let FG hang by their own petard in preparation for government next time out. I blame Gilmore’s poor leadership and that of the neoliberal wing of the party. Nessa Childers has an intellect and talent like her father Erskine, we need people like here at home in government, not stuck out on the margins. It’s time those principled socialists who remain within the Labour party made their voices heard, if a new party is necessary to fight the next election then so be it.

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  • seamus o tighearnaig 09/04/12 #

    Ta gach cheart ag an cailin – is iontach ar fad i.

    Reply
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  • David Higgins 09/04/12 #

    To those calling on Labour to pull out, I’d be careful what you wish for. The “left” in Ireland does not yet have the numbers to form a government. It means that if Labour is gone then it’s only Fine Gael left running the country either on their own or with the support of independents or Fianna Fail. And let’s be honest, none of ye want that.

    The best thing Labour can do is stick with the coalition and push for what they can as Childers has called for.
    To leave now would be nothing but a cynical move to help their electability.

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  • Eamon Gilmore TD 10/04/12 #

    The Labour party are being very successful in governments. They are funded by and represent unionsed workers, mainly in the public sector. They got an extra 8-9% of the vote in the last election but these voters will go back to SF whoever and they will be left with their core 10-13% that works for (or is retired from) the public sector. The labour party represent the wealthiest group of voters with the MOST political access.
    So far they have been 100% successful in protecting their supporters.

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  • Adam Magari 09/04/12 #

    Yawn… Obviously time for a regular slot on rte.

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  • Samantha Long 10/04/12 #

    @unitedpeopleireland I forgot why I don’t often comment on these forums,where 2 innocuous sentences are stretched out,deliberately misinterpreted and result in paragraphs of vitriolic replies. I certainly didn’t suggest that Nessa Childers should tow any line or be afraid to speak up,merely that she might be better off as an independent.I don’t think that anyone should be quiet unless they share my views. You think that I’m trying to stop Nessa expressing opinions and don’t like that,so why are you shouting down my very reasonable opinion. Many representatives have become independents and felt less stifled. I’m all for free speech,I don’t need to insult people I’ve never met. Oh,and I even use my real name.

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  • Michael J Hartnett 09/04/12 #

    What do the Labour party stand for & ff & fg are the friends of big business. What does that mean. We have nearly half a million people unemployed & I think all people in this country would believe thats a huge problem. Now if we want to solve it the public sector is not going to solve it so that leaves the private sector ie big business small business & so on. So where is the problem with ff fg system & big business except the coruption. That has to be resolved. The labour party has no idea how to fix the issues of this country. It never had nor will it ever have the solutions. Their thinking is too closed. Ask anyone from labour about big business & they use the old them & us routine. If they start to accept a more pro business attitude I could be persuaded to change my view but I dont see that happening & by changeing this view they would not have to change their social & political policies

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  • Paddy O Donnell 09/04/12 #

    her name got her elected, she should concentrate on her own job, representing the people of leinster in europe.

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    • stephen corrigan 09/04/12 #

      O voted for her because i read her policies, ideas and listened to what she believed in and she has done everything she said she would, not only that, she is one of the few in the labour party who isnt pussy footing around fine gael. Her name has little to do with anything.

      Reply
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  • Sid Cassidy 09/04/12 #

    Fianna fail left the country in a terrible state ,fine Gael are picking up the pieces labour are keeping fine Gael in check , sinn Fein would fix it all over night the independents are doing their best whatever it’s all drivel like the bailing out of failed banks like the imposing of the property tax like the selling off of state assets you can justify it all if that is your want but truthfully it’s self serving waffle they all had the opportunity to do the right thing none have .

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  • Eoin Joyce 09/04/12 #

    I thought she resigned from labour, so why is she speaking for them?

    Reply
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