Gilmore has high hopes for Labour

IT is the oldest Irish political party but Labour, despite some occasional qualified successes, generally hasn’t been a serious contender for power, unlike its left-leaning equivalents in most European countries.

But its time as a relatively marginal party could be about to end, according to the party’s leader Eamon Gilmore, who was in Ennis last Friday. He believes the party could be on the cusp of becoming the country’s largest party and could take seats in Clare and other rural constituencies around the country.
“You can look through history and find all sorts of reasons why things happened or didn’t happen. I think this is a moment when that change is going to take place.
“I think we’re going to see a big advance for the Labour party in rural areas. In the last couple of months we have attracted prospective candidates. This time last year we had no public representatives in County Donegal and we have three county councillors now. New people have come to us in Roscommon, Mayo, Longford, right throughout the West.”
The party have been riding high in the polls and he feels it is possible that Labour will emerge from the next general election, whenever it is held, holding the most seats in Leinster House.
“My stated objective is to be the largest party and to lead the next Government. We will field enough candidates to enable people to make that choice, if that’s what they want to do. I don’t think anyone can predict what the outcome of the next election will be, except that it’ll be very different from what we’ve seen before. If you look at the last set of opinion polls, the three main parties now account for 80% of electoral support but there’s only 8% between the three of them. It’s very much a three-way contest.”
Even if the Government, which has already seen its majority decline and which has to introduce yet another hairshirt budget in a few months, doesn’t fall, the country will go to the polls within 23 months.
Mr Gilmore’s visit to the Mid-West, during which he visited Limerick, Ennis and Shannon, was clearly the beginning of the party’s campaign in the Mid-West and he said that the party will be well prepared for the election, whenever it comes.
“We are ready for an election, whenever it’s called. I suppose it’s more accurate to say that we’re on a pre-election footing. The purpose of my visit to Limerick and Clare is first of all to support what our local public representatives are doing. Secondly, it’s an opportunity to get a feel for the issues that are on the ground and I do that by talking with our public representatives, with members of the Labour party, with representatives of local organisations, chambers of commerce, business people, different voluntary organisations and talking with people on the street.
“What has me in Clare particularly is that there has been a very substantial increase in membership of the party. We’re rebuilding in the county and our objective is to win a seat here in the general election.”
The Banner County hasn’t come close to returning a Labour TD since the ‘spring tide’ of 1992 swept Dr Bhamjee into the Dáil but activists will be hoping that will change soon, as standing for Labour in the county is now much more attractive than it was for the 2007 ballot.
Mr Gilmore said there are contests for slots on the party ticket in some constituencies and there is more enthusiasm within the party.
“We are finding in a number of constituencies, where in other elections it was hard to find a candidate at all, that we’re now having contests for the nomination. That’s a very healthy thing. It’s too early to say whether it’ll happen in Clare or not. Until the selection board gets to work and establishes who’s genuinely interested and available to be a candidate, we won’t be in a position to say.
“If there is a contest, the procedure is that the names of the prospective candidates go before a selection convention and every individual member has a vote in that selection convention.”
Something that might help a Labour candidate with Clare voters is the party leader’s views on Limerick City’s push for a boundary extension.
“I think Clare identity and county identity is important. From my understanding of the boundary issues, it is possible to deal with the issue without crossing into Clare. I know there’s a commission looking at it and obviously we have to wait for their report but we would be very mindful of the identity that people have with their county or with their city,” he concluded.