Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore today said there is now a real prospect of a Labour-led government being formed in Ireland.
In a speech to the Siptu conference in Tralee, he said that in the 100-year history of the labour movement there was never a realistic prospect of the Labour Party leading a government. He said the party had that prospect now.
However, he said a Labour Government would not be a “trade union government”.
Mr Gilmore repeated that his party would oppose across-the-board cuts in public pay. However, he said it was necessary to reduce the size of the public pay bill.
“I believe that can be achieved through a process of major public reform. To get reform you have to talk, which is why I support the call for a resumption of real talks between the government, employers and trade unions”.
Mr Gilmore condemned what he said was the scapegoating of public sector workers and called for a major reform of public services. He said "all sides and sections" of the country had to come together to tackle the State's economic difficulties.
"But instead of encouraging people to work together, there are some who only want to sow division," he said. "It’s the oldest trick in the book: to divide working people against each other. Whether it’s on the basis of race, or religion, or ethnicity; blue collar or white collar: in an economic crisis, some of the powerful will seek to set worker against worker.
“Today, it’s a scurrilous campaign to scapegoat workers in the public sector. For months, there has been a belittling of the work of gardaí, teachers and nurses, and hospital workers, and council road workers, as if they were the cause of the economic downturn," the Labour leader told the conference.
“If you had just arrived in Ireland, and didn’t know what has happened here, you would be forgiven for believing that it was the nurses from A&E departments who borrowed all the money to speculate on development land. That it was the local authority librarians who lent them the money, and not the bankers. That it must have been the Garda who were running the banks. There are gardaí in the banks now, and for very good reason.
“Nor was it workers in the private sector who brought our country so low. The building worker on the site did not profit from high house prices. Indeed, they were the first to go when the downturn happened. The workers in industry, or in retail, and throughout the private sector are paying for the crisis with their jobs, their earnings, and their pension benefits - that is if they have access to a pension in the first place.
Mr Gilmore said: “I have already said publicly that the Labour Party is opposed to further across the board cuts in pay, because we recognise that workers in both the private and public sectors have already had their pay reduced. But I do believe that it is necessary to reduce the size of the public pay bill, and I believe that that can be achieved through a process of major public service reform."
He said it was necessary to talk to achieve this reform, "which is why I support the call for a resumption of real talks between Government, employers and trade unions".
“Reform however is not confined to the shop floor. It must begin at, and be led from the top. And that is why I want action taken on the issue of the Ceann Comhairle’s expenses and why I want reform of the entire system of expenses paid to all those who hold public office.
“Nobody should underestimate my determination to have this issue dealth with”.
He said it was now time to build a “New Republic” governed on “real republican principles. "We have to end the connection between big business and politics. No more special favours for special friends. We have to establish new rules of corporate governance - ending the practice where you sit on my board and I’m on your audit committee.
He also repeated his commitment to delegates that Labour in government would legislate for collective bargaining rights, giving expression in law to the contents of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Mr Gilmore condemned the failure of the Government to deliver on nine further pieces of legislation that had been promised.
“A Labour Government will not be a trade union Government. It cannot be. It must be a Government of all the people. But Labour in Government will engage with the trade union movement, in the knowledge that we share common origins an common values, and that the instincts of a Labour-led government will always strive for fairness and greater equality."
Last night, Jack O’Connor, head of the Siptu, told the conference the stage was set for a confrontation because of the Government’s Thatcherite and “slash-and burn” strategy.
Siptu, the State's largest trade union, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions will not suspend their campaign to renew a mandate for strike action unless new terms “worthy of consideration” for a national partnership agreement emerge, the general president said.
Mr O’Connor said he was not suggesting for a moment there was “some kind of pain-free or risk-free formula” for overcoming current difficulties. Indeed, we believe there is no viable alternative to an agreement between all parties on a fairer, better way.
“However, we are not talking about woolly words and cuddly concepts like the myth of social partnership which has been shown to provide a surplus of access and a deficit of influence," he said.
“It is past time to call a spade a spade. We are talking about a clear and transparent agreement between parties representing different interests in the economy and in society. Moreover, we do not envisage a framework for sacrifice to facilitate a return to business as usual. There must be a clear and transparent sharing of the burden on the basis of ability to contribute, and that means those who have most must contribute most.”