Sir, – Judging by the recent torrent of correspondence, it appears that we are more interested in discussing the Labour Party than we are in voting for it.
It sometimes seems that Labour politicians still don’t know what hit them.
If the 2011-2016 government were to be judged solely on progress in restoring the national finances it was a considerable success.
Alas, there is more to it.
My two lasting impressions, right or wrong, from that government were that Labour ministers loved being in government for its own sake and that Fine Gael did a far better job at protecting their voters from austerity than Labour did with theirs.
The two biggest spending areas were public pay and social protection, both in Labour’s control. In both cases they did lasting but partly avoidable damage to their electoral future.
A disproportionate share of Labour’s support came from public servants (including refugees from Fianna Fail) who had already taken significant cuts. While further pay reductions were necessary, Labour’s open relish in doing so achieved a degree of alienation beyond that due to the purely financial impact.
Feeling underpaid is one thing; undervalued is another. Lower pay rates for some new entrants and survivor’s guilt among their colleagues ensured that the torch of resentment would be kept alive for years.
Labour was largely successful in defending the overall welfare budget.
However, any credit for this was thrown away by the manner in which those limited reductions that were necessary were carried out.
A small across the board cut in welfare payments would have been both more equitable and more politically astute than hammering small and vulnerable groups with swingeing cuts.
This is in addition to the fact that protecting general welfare payment rates allowed Fine Gael in return to defend high earners from tax hikes.
The wounds inflicted through the water charges debacle were probably post-mortem.
If there is a way back for Labour, a more realistic appraisal of their time in Government might help. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.