BACK PAGES:The youngest and least experienced member of the Labour Party, Dick Spring, found himself leading it on the eve of a general election in November 1982 when he was selected to succeed Michael O'Leary who had resigned from the party after losing a critical vote on coalition at a party conference. The general election gave Fine Gael and Labour enough seats to form a government, and Olivia O'Leary assessed the state of their negotiations ahead of a Labour conference to ratify coalition.
AT THE beginning of the week, Fine Gael finished a day of negotiations with a firm “no” to Labour’s proposal for a property tax. Labour remained adamant. They didn’t have to wait long. Fine Gael soon changes its mind: the property tax was on.
It took Labour about three days to make it clear to Fine Gael that they meant business. By the time Dr FitzGerald found it necessary to cancel his planned visit to a meeting of the European Peoples’ Party in Paris, they felt the talks were becoming more than a matter of form, than the usual rubber stamp for Coalition.
But the present economic circumstances, and with a 70-strong Fine Gael parliamentary party, Labour’s best efforts to introduce a tougher line on capital taxation, and to guarantee some real investment in job creation, may not still provide an acceptable deal.
The deal to be presented on Sunday will show a Labour determination to tackle the low yield from capital taxation. The property tax will, it is believed, apply to houses of £60,000 and over, owned by those earning £20,000 and over. The amount of revenue it generates, however, depends on the rate at which the tax is charged.
The low yield of existing capital taxes was reviewed during the discussions with a view to increasing revenue, to block up evasion loopholes and exemptions. Discussions on profits from land speculation proved easier ground, because rezoning scandals have heightened Fine Gael’s sensitivities on the matter.
It remains to be seen, however, whether these measures, if applied, will bring in the extra £200 million which the Labour Party argues should be available to the Exchequer.
The negotiations also looked into the relief of the PRSI burden on lower-paid workers.
The Sunday conference will be looking for reference to issues of social reform – what, for instance, about the anti-abortion referendum ?
A section of the delegates at that conference, the unions, may well be looking for concessions, not only on jobs, but also on the virtual pay and recruitment freeze in the public sector. The unions now account for 10 per cent of the vote and the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union at its last conference voted against Labour participation in a Coalition government.
The party will be looking for a firm recommendation from Mr Spring. His star is riding high. If he can in conscience recommend Coalition then there’s little doubt that the delegates will buy it, and trust him to do what no other Labour leader has ever really been able to do: maintain a distinctive Labour Party profile in the shadow of Fine Gael and within the restrictions of collective Cabinet responsibility.
His other option is to maintain the party right to point up its criticisms of government measures by giving voting support only to a Fine Gael minority government. It’s an easier decision for Mr Spring to make on his own 32-year-old behalf than for more experienced members of the party, who feel genuinely that they have something to contribute to the actual business of governing.
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