Back to the drawing board for Labour, says Minister of State Joe Costello

Labour had suffered "a very severe backlash" and "the brunt of the people's anger" in Friday's election the party's Minister of State Joe Costello said today.

He quoted Yeats, “too long a sacrifice makes a stone of the heart.”

The Irish people “have been sacrificing for the last six, seven years ...more was expected of us,” he said.

Speaking this afternoon at Dublin's Farmleigh House, where Africa Day celebrations were taking place, he was "disappointed overall" with the party's performance in the local elections though "it was not quite the surprise expected." He said the party was picking up seats on "down the line on the fifth, sixth, seventh count"and would probably have 10 in Dublin.

He recalled that “when in 1991, the party won 10 seats in Dublin it was seen as a major breakthrough.”

Mr Costello said he was also hopeful the party would win a European seat in Dublin, where his wife Emer Costello is the Labour candidate, but conceded it was unlikely to win any other European seats in the State.

The party would have look again at the programme for government, beginning with the parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, he said.

He indicated the result of Friday’s election might have implications for the budget.

“When the troika left last December many people thought the job was done and went up in the polls,” he said.

Since then there had been controversies over the water charges, medical cards, the gardaí, which “despite the creation of 70,000 jobs last year and another 70,000 this year”, had an impact, he said.

Mr Costello said the party had “not let people know that recovery is in place”.

He did not believe the party's leadership issue had an impact on the outcome of the elections, though he believed party leader Eamon Gilmore should now be appointed to "a ministry at home."

“Leadership issues in Fianna Fail and Sinn Féin did not affect their vote”, he said.

The Tánaiste had done “a great job” as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in rebuilding Ireland’s reputation abroad that was “very important for a country which exports 90 per cent of what it produces.”

Growth in exports had been six per cent annually this past three years, he said, while Ireland’s success in foreign direct investment, “all leading companies”, amazed our EU partners, he said.

“The Tánaiste has done the job. It is now time for him to come home and engage in developing the economy,” Mr Costello said.

He said Mr Gilmore should be appointed to an economic ministry “a combination of existing ministries or a new portfolio”.