Labour Blog

Building an Equal Society: Labour's Alternative Budget 2020

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 09:49:00 GMT

Building an Equal Society - Labour's Alternative Budget 2020

Please share the following images on social media, using the hashtag #AnEqualSociety

You can see Labour's alternative budget in more detail here: https://www.labour.ie/manifesto/building-an-equal-society-labours-alternative-budg/

Labour Youth Honours the Work of the INMO

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 15:00:00 GMT

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The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) are on the front line of trying to make our health services work in impossible circumstances. This weekend Labour Youth awarded the INMO the Jim Kemmy Thirst for Justice Award in recognition of their determination to create a truly fair and universal healthcare system.

The General Secretary of the INMO, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, was welcomed to Galway by Labour Youth to receive the Award on behalf of the INMO, which was presented by the leader of the Labour Party, Brendan Howlin TD.

Speaking at the event, Brendan said:

"Conservatives want to profit from those parts of the health economy that are in private control. If we want to push private profit out of mainstream health services, then we have to take on the vested economic interests that support the building of private clinics in each of our public hospitals.

"It is Labour’s mission to convince the public that stronger democratic control of our hospitals is the best way for us to improve outcomes and to improve equality of outcome.

"The failure of the current system is all too obvious. A near-record 78 patients were on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick in recent days. In University Hospital Galway, there were 3,465 patients on trolleys or chairs between January and the end of June this year. The National Treatment Purchase Fund shows that there are more than 560,000 people waiting for a first public hospital outpatient consultation.

"Of course, those with the means to do so can avail of a private appointment to avoid those long waiting times. That simple fact starkly illustrates the inequality of our health system, and also the economic incentives that exist for those who want to maintain and grow the provision of private medicine. It also underlines the difficulty we face in implementing the SláinteCare Report, when those who are better off are less personally invested in the task of fundamentally changing the inequality in our health system. That is where Labour must build public support for change.

"The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation are on the front line of trying to make our health services work in impossible circumstances. As are health support staff, for whom SIPTU is currently seeking justice in relation to the job evaluation scheme. It is our duty, in the Labour Party, to work closely with the trade unions to seek the transformational change that is needed – and the change of economic policy that is needed.

"This indicates the problem for Labour in entering into coalition government with either of the right-wing parties. We could easily have a Labour Minister for Health after the next general election, but unless we have a left-led government, we are not going to see enough changes to economic policy to deliver a universal, fair health system.

"I welcome Labour Youth’s decision to give this year’s Thirst for Justice Award to the INMO. This is not just recognition of their recent strike action on behalf of their members, but it is recognition of their determination to see the creation of a truly fair and universal healthcare system in this country, which is an ambition fully shared by me and fully shared by the Labour Party."

57 Labour Councillors Elected

Wed, 29 May 2019 16:41:00 GMT

Labour Local Manifesto 2019 web

57 Labour candidates have been elected to serve as local Councillors, in 21 of Ireland's 31 local councils.

Labour's vote share was 9.8% in those areas we contested. Of those elected, 34 were sitting Councillors, 10 had run in the past and 13 were first-time candidates.

Labour had fewer TDs and Senators, and fewer party resources than in 2014. Yet, we increased the Party’s number of elected Councillors, with seat gains in Waterford (+3), Fingal (+2), Wicklow (+2), Cork City (+1), Louth (+1) and Meath (+1). Crucially, we secured a solid vote in a number of areas where we’d hope to win Dáil seats.

Labour fielded 111 candidates in 95 local electoral areas. 41% of our candidates were women, and 42% of our elected Councillors are women.

Labour is now represented on the following councils: Carlow; Cork City; Cork County; Donegal; Dublin City; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown; Fingal; Galway City; Kerry; Kildare; Kilkenny; Laois; Limerick; Louth; Meath; South Dublin; Tipperary; Waterford; Westmeath; Wexford; and Wicklow.

Thanks to everyone who voted Labour in these elections, and a huge thanks to our candidates, members and supporters who ran energetic campaigns all over the country to promote Labour's values and ideals.

Co-living Proposals Show Fine Gael is Out of Touch

Tue, 21 May 2019 16:23:00 GMT

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Brendan Howlin TD, Leader of the Labour Party (Leaders' Question, Dáil, 21 May 2019)

Minister Murphy recently said that professional people should live like students in so-called co-living accommodation, because that is now normal in London or New York. I would point out to the Minister that those are among the most unaffordable housing markets in the world, where prices and rents are out of control.

London and New York have serious problems because housing is now an investment for speculation. Speculative investment in housing is clearly happening in Ireland too.

The most recent OECD report warns that the Irish economy is vulnerable to recession due to a disorderly Brexit. But it also warns that the presence of foreign investors in the property market is a particular risk.

More than half of all investment in commercial property is coming from outside the State. And student accommodation and buy-to-let properties are crowding out other housing development for the simple reason that they are more profitable. It is a textbook example of how a free market approach will not deliver affordable housing to meet public needs.

Does Fine Gael understand this?

These kinds of speculative investment are taking construction workers away from our core social need, which is affordable housing. And when housing becomes another investment focused on maximum profit, this forces people to pay more and more in housing costs.

The reliance on financial investment also pushes down standards, as we have seen with the co-living proposal. It attempts to normalise cramped living conditions and erode building standards for public housing.

We should be using regulations and taxation in such a way to ensure that the most profitable investment at this time is to build decent, affordable housing. Instead, the Minister for Housing is an apologist for those seeking to push down housing quality, which we spent so many years trying to improve.

It all shows that this Fine Gael government is out of touch with the reality of people’s working lives. Not everyone is privileged enough to go from college into a well-paid professional job where they can quickly earn enough to put down a deposit for their own home. It seems to be the Minister’s assumption that co-living would be acceptable for someone on that kind of gilded career path.

This shows a complete lack of understanding for the kinds of jobs that are available to most people. One in four workers earns less than two-thirds of median earnings… little over €23,000 a year after tax. Working people need affordable housing, and the obvious gap is the lack of State investment in building decent quality housing that people can afford to rent. Instead, Fine Gael is giving away public land and relying far too much on private investment in the housing sector.

In the three other large projects it has undertaken, this Fine Gael government has lost control: the children’s hospital, broadband and the Metro. We are not getting value for money. A critical IMF report on the hospital spending was ignored. Other investments will be delayed. Why should we have any confidence that the Government knows what it is doing in relation to the massive investment needed in housing?

But will the Government admit failure, and change direction on housing policy in favour of a State-led house building programme, such as Labour has outlined in detail?

The detail of Labour's housing policy is here: https://www.labour.ie/manifesto/affordable-housing-for-all/

We Should Embrace a New, Inclusive Definition of Irishness

Fri, 17 May 2019 08:50:00 GMT

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Brendan Howlin TD, Leader of the Labour Party

Across Europe, populists and extremists are trying to resurrect failed ideas about segregating people by language, religion or the colour of their skin. It is not enough to dismiss these ideas; we have to actively oppose them to ensure social inclusion in Ireland’s diverse society.

We should rightly celebrate our age-old traditions, and migrants should be taught Irish history, culture and language in our schools. But at the same time, we should welcome new cultural contributions from our diverse population, and not supress difference.

This is the first election in my memory where racism and xenophobia have entered the mainstream of our politics. They want us to go backwards to the illusion of some kind of exclusive national identity. To oppose this, we should embrace a vision of inclusive, diverse Irishness.

Every person has equal status as a human being, and everyone living here is equally part of the people of Ireland. It is not a question of holding a passport or the right papers.

It is a fact that one in six people living Ireland was born elsewhere, including being born to Irish parents living abroad. One in twenty people in Ireland has an African or Asian background, including people who have lived in Ireland for generations. In future, our people will never belong to one ethnic group or religion. Ireland’s people will be a mixture of dozens of backgrounds.

What brings us together is our common interest in Ireland’s environment, our society and our economy. We are all in this together. By recognising everyone’s fundamental equality, we can be united as a single people.

We must forge an agreed Ireland that acknowledges the role of immigration and emigration in shaping Ireland. Irish people emigrated over the years and were successful around the world. We cannot deny the same opportunity to those coming here.

The Labour Party itself was co-founded by three migrant workers. James Connolly and Jim Larkin were born in Britain to Irish parents, while Tom Johnson was English. Johnson was no less an Irish patriot for being English-born. His commitment to an independent, socialist Ireland was on the basis that it would better serve working people. In this decade of centenaries, we should dig deeper into the roots of our identities.

One recent report finds that many people who are visibly different have experienced abusive language and behaviour in public places. Another report states that racially-toxic speech and hate is commonplace online, and this may particularly influence younger people in Ireland who rely on social media to access news and information. Another report finds that people who are black are much more likely to experience discrimination in the labour market. How many reports do we need before we recognise that we have a problem?

Much good work has been done to drive racism out of sport, and to educate young people about the social inclusion of people who are different. But more should be done to raise this up the agenda, before we find ourselves in the same situation as those countries now faced with racist political parties.

Labour champions the idea separating religion from politics. But secularism is not anti-religious. Freedom of religion is a basic human right. For most people here, that is Catholicism or another Christian faith, but we have a longstanding Jewish community and now many Muslims, Hindus and others. One in ten people indicated at the last Census that they have no religion.

Secularism means being a safe and welcoming place for people of all religions, so they can hold festivals and build places of worship and burial grounds to fit the needs of their community.

Ireland’s system of Direct Provision has failed. We need a new, fairer system for asylum seekers. We should have a one-off amnesty for people who have been too long waiting for a judgement, and we should regularise the situation of young people who do not have Irish citizenship despite being raised in Ireland, because of their parent’s residency status.

We need stronger laws to protect migrant workers from exploitation by unscrupulous employers, and to close loopholes that tie a worker’s residency permit to a single employer in cases of exploitation.

More funding should be given to local government to improve social inclusion and integration, and to prevent the social isolation of migrant communities that are clustered in apartment blocks or housing estates at the periphery of our towns and cities.

Labour will fight racism and xenophobic rhetoric in society as well as in politics, and we will oppose any political movement or politician who proposes racist and xenophobic policies that seek to demonise Ireland’s ethnic minorities or migrant communities. We can have a mature discussion about migration policy, but that is not what the racists are calling for.

It is up to all of us to reflect on our language and unconscious biases when it comes to describing Irish identity. We should embrace a new, inclusive definition of Irishness that will make us a stronger, more unified people.

Why we want to restore Town Councils

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 17:36:00 GMT

Brendan Howlin writes below about why the Labour Party wants to restore town councils so that people can have a real democratic say in the future of their local town.

On Thursday 28th March, the Dáil select committee on local government will scrutinise the bill from Brendan Howlin TD that seeks to restore Town Councils.

Towns are at the heart of our community and drive local economies across Ireland. It’s where people meet, do their shopping, go to school, watch a match, and celebrate life’s big moments.

When a local person does something great, or when a big celebrity visits, it’s where we gather to mark those events.

And the local Mayor would be the master of ceremonies. They might not have had a lot of powers, but they were our elected representative, selected by the people of the town, who acted as our contacts to Ireland and the world.

Town councils were abolished by the last government, of which I was a member, and it was a mistake. New models that were brought in then haven’t worked.

While there may have been compelling administrative reasons to consolidate local government at the time, the breaking of that tier of local government focusing on urban centres was a mistake.

For our towns it has meant a loss of status, and a loss of local control. The big decisions are now made elsewhere, and when problems need to be solved they are in a queue with others from across the county.

I have travelled extensively throughout the country and I have seen the compelling arguments for the reintroduction of an urban focus in the traditional towns which had boroughs, like my own in Wexford or those Drogheda, Clonmel and Sligo.

There is a disconnect between the larger areas known as municipal districts, and such towns. In my own area of Wexford, the district makes up a quarter of the county. Citizens in towns no longer have the ready access to the same number of councillors or to what used to be the town hall, and we must restore that. We must bring back civic pride.

Take Ireland’s largest town Drogheda, with a record of local government going back hundreds of years. It has been neglected by the Fine Gael government, and must compete in Louth alongside Dundalk for resources. Both should have their own directly elected town councils for local control and decision making.

Just like Kilkenny, Athy, Ennis, Mullingar, Mallow, Nenagh and dozens of others across Ireland should too.

When we had town councils we knew where to go to get problems solved, from parking spaces, to the upkeep of streets and squares, and upgrades for our parks and cycle paths.

Labour has identified a clear problem, which is that national and regional level public bodies have lost focus on urban development. And whole towns are missing out on opportunities for economic development due to the lack of a local figurehead, such as a mayor and its own home team, to promote the town.

Town-level local government can be more responsive to people's concerns, quicker to react to issues and provides clear accountability in relation to money being invested to address local needs.

That’s why I have proposed new law that would restore Town Councils in areas with a population of at least 5,000 residents, and 1,000 or more dwellings with a clearly defined urban centre.

We want a Local Government Commission to consider and define each qualifying town. Each Council would elect a minimum of 9 town councillors and for towns with a population over 25,000 like Drogheda, 15 Councillors would be elected.

This legislation would reconnect people with the lowest tier of democracy. It would be funded from existing resources.

It could be enacted in time for the next local election as both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have said they want Town Councils restored. Let’s make it happen.

See more here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=305419103583747

Young people’s opinions sought on the future of Ireland

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 09:45:00 GMT

The Labour Party is looking for submissions from young people all over Ireland on our project to rewrite the ‘Democratic Programme’ for the 21 ^st Century.

What are the guiding principles that should steer our nation as we enter our second century?

What do young people today hope Ireland will be like by the time they get to retirement age?

The Democratic Programme was written by Tom Johnson, Labour Party leader at the time, and ratified by the meeting of the First Dáil in January 1919. It was a vision for the kind of Ireland he and the other members of the Labour Party at the time wanted the new Ireland to become, based on the principles of ‘Liberty, Equality, and Justice for all’. Unfortunately over the years that followed, many of the aspirations contained in it did not become reality. However for many decades it provided a vision for people to aim towards.

Reading it now, in the 21 ^st century, many of the phrases and references in it are old-fashioned, but it still contains principles that most Irish people would sign up to today. Instead of ‘it shall be the duty of the Republic to take such measures as will safeguard the health of the people’, these days we might say ‘The right to the highest attainable level of health for all citizens should be written into the constitution’ for example. But there are also some things missing from the original document which we would need to add today – our membership of the European Union, environmental protection and the fight against climate change, and the digital revolution are some of the topics which stand out which couldn’t have been foreseen in 1919.

You can read the original text of the Democratic Programme in Irish and English on our website at www.labour.ie/anewrepublic and learn more about the history and context of the time it was written. There is a form there where you can make a submission to the project. Teachers of History, CSPE and Politics and Society may be interested in exploring the topic in more depth and some teaching resources are available. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions on the project or if you would be interested in having a speaker come and visit your school.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Labour Party spokesperson on Education

Time to separate Church and State in Education

Fri, 27 Jul 2018 10:49:00 GMT

Originally published on the Journal.ie, Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin writes asking, if the constitution is the problem, then the models previously used such as the Citizens' Assembly should be utilised to address how we end religious control of education in Ireland

You can take action here by signing our petition calling for the Citizens' Assembly to be reconvened.

https://www.labour.ie/act

After the resounding success of the ‘Repeal the 8th’ campaign, the question is already being asked: what next?

Housing, education, poverty and health are constant struggles for Irish political life to get to grips with. For me the cause of overhauling our drug policy is central to how we show compassion and end stigma for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

But these issues do not require constitutional change to be dealt with effectively. The next constitutional cause must be to break religious influence over education, and I feel the Citizens Assembly model is the best way to address it.

Religious patronage

The vast majority of our schools are under religious patronage, with approximately 98% at primary level. Various attempts have been made over the years to address this including the Labour Party’s establishment of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in 2011.

While soundings from Church authorities have been positive, the actual rate of divestment of schools from religious control to multi-denominational models has been painfully slow. The constitution is the problem.

As Minister of State in the Department of Justice I tackled the infamous Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act which effectively exempted schools from legislation outlawing discriminating against those who might ‘undermine their ethos’ including LGBT teachers, unmarried parents who were teachers and divorced teachers.

When addressing the ‘baptism barrier’ which bars children who aren’t baptised from entering their local schools, Departmental officials are keen to impress on political representatives the limits that to which their efforts we can go. Legislation being debated this week is suspected to face a court challenge. The constitution is the problem.

Baptism barrier

When Louise O’Keeffe, a victim of sexual abuse by a teacher, took her case through the European courts she was chased at every turn by the Department of Education because they refused to accept that they were ultimately responsible. The constitution is the problem.

When trying to drive through initiatives such as anti-homophobic and transphobic bullying policies, free book schemes, uniform policy or the thorny issue of sex education – they have a more difficult path because of the power of patrons. The constitution is the problem.

The reality is that the patrons run the show in Irish education, not the Department and not the Minister. We do not have a State education system – we have a State funded education system which farms out responsibility for the running of schools to patron bodies. They are empowered by various articles in the constitution which have been interpreted as affirming the right of parents to have their children educated through the ethos of their choice.

The offending language in Articles 42 and 44 relating to Education and to Religion are depressingly outdated but they are all the churches need to maintain their influence. Even the article guaranteeing free primary education is deliberately ambiguous – it says the State shall provide ‘for’ free primary education. That word ‘for’ means that someone else can provide it – not necessarily the State.

Why?

So why is it that the overarching principle that underpins our education system is religious? Why are we still separating children on the basis of religion? Is it really worth all of the undermining of employment rights of teachers, and educational rights of parents and children to maintain the status quo?

It is also the reason why so many of our schools are separated by gender, and why competition between schools remains so prevalent which leaves inevitably to inequality in our system.

So if the constitution is the problem, then the models previously used such as the Constitutional Convention and the Citizens Assembly should be utilised to address the issue. The problematic articles are overlapping and complex which potentially conflict with property rights and to freedom of religion. But the conversation is worthy of us because our education system is not fit for the society we live in, and thousands of parents want change.

If the Constitutional Convention helped to deliver Marriage Equality, and the Citizens Assembly helped to Repeal the 8th amendment, then a similar body could help point the way to a modern, secular and equality-based education system for a modern Ireland.