'Out of touch' Govt can lose election - Rabbitte
The Government is out of touch with voters and can be beaten at the next General Election, the Labour Party claimed tonight.
Leader Pat Rabbitte told his annual conference that the Fianna Fáil-led coalition had unlimited resources and was able to secure votes with false promises.
Mr Rabbitte, who will tomorrow ask delegates to back an electoral pact with Fine Gael, said he aims to substantially increase the party’s 21 TDs at the polls.
He told the 61st conference: “From this point on, we are in general election mode. We have a major task on hand. We have to confront a Government that is discredited, arrogant and out-of-touch.
“But it is also a Government that has unlimited resources at its disposal. A Government, as we know only too well, that is willing to make any promise to buy any vote they can.
“They can be beaten, and we are determined that they will be beaten. So the hard work starts this weekend.”
“Let’s get on with the work of beating this Government, and winning a bigger mandate for Labour.”
More than 11,000 delegates are registered to this weekend’s conference and the party now claims 7,225 members.
Almost half of new recruits are women and the party broke through the 100-seat barrier in local government elections last year.
Mr Rabbitte also used his opening address to criticise the Government’s dithering over Dublin Airport’s expansion and the future of Aer Lingus.
“Because of the incredibly stupid row that has taken place between different half-baked ideologies, there will be no additional capacity for years to come,” he said.
He described the sell-off of Aer Lingus as “a shameful decision” and another example of the “monumental incompetence and arrogance” of the Government.
On the subject of Northern Ireland, the Dublin TD accused the Irish Government of pandering to political hard-liners which has led to a more divided and polarised society.
He said the stubborn and bigoted utterings of some members of the DUP and cynical manoeuvring of Sinn Fein had driven a deep wedge into the peace process.
“They have used the process as a tool to increase their own influence, and in an endeavour to establish primacy in certain communities,” he said.
He said Labour will continue to back the Good Friday Agreement but the talks process needed to be inclusive of all other political parties.
The Labour Party agreed to the EU Constitution Bill, Mr Rabbitte said, but only after it got assurances on the triple-lock mechanism on defence policy and that major changes in the Treaty would need the backing of a national referendum.
Guests invited to speak at the conference include new SDLP MP Dr Alastair McDonnell, Frank McBrearty Jnr and Adi Roche of the Chernobyl Children’s Project.
Delegates are due to vote on the critical electoral pact motion tomorrow morning even though a competing motion by the ATGWU only wants the party to enter government if it is the largest party.
Party president Michael D Higgins earlier told delegates at the Brandon Hotel that the present Government had damaged Ireland’s image as a country of warmth and kindness to one of greed.
It had created a version of the country as “gushing, brash, manipulative, speculative, ostentatious, and grossly vulgar in its flaunting of wealth,” he said.
Party chairperson and Kerry TD Breeda Moynihan Cronin said people were weary of the Government’s broken promises in the health and social sector despite an unprecedented period of economic prosperity.
