Former Labour leader Brendan Howlin defends party's decisions during economic crash

Mr Howlin, who was minister for public expenditure at the time, claimed if Labour had not gone into government with Fine Gael, the leading party would have made more drastic cuts and people would have been hit much harder

Brendan Howlin: 'A lot of people were hurt, there is no doubt about that and there is no escaping that but would it have been wiser and would it have been better for working people for us to stand away?' Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Labour TD Brendan Howlin has said he has no regrets about the decisions taken in 2011 when the country struggled to claw its way out of the financial crisis.

Mr Howlin, who was minister for public expenditure at the time, said while he understood those who say Labour turned its back on the working class at this time of austerity measures, this perception is "totally wrong".

"A lot of people were hurt, there is no doubt about that and there is no escaping that but would it have been wiser and would it have been better for working people for us to stand away?" he asked.

"I will let history judge that but I have no doubt that it would have been immeasurably worse."

The former Labour leader claimed if Labour had not gone into government with Fine Gael, the leading party would have made more drastic cuts, people would have been hit much harder and the government itself would not have been able to survive. 

He said Labour got "beaten up" about its period in the last government but it fought against Fine Gael's proposal of balancing the books on the basis of three times as many cuts as increased taxes.

The country was in freefall. The Troika were dictating the economic agenda of Ireland. The previous administration had signed an economic agreement with the Troika for funding that was draconian and we had to try and unravel that. 

The financial disaster got progressively worse during their first six months in government, the Wexford TD said, and with enormous economic pressures "we took some very difficult decisions in terms of resisting some of the pressures of the Troika".

"We made decisions that were economically sensible, that built an economy and we were then able to have the capacity to deal with covid when it arrived," Mr Howlin said. "If we hadn't got that capacity, we would have been in dire straits during covid."

Although Labour has only held seven and six seats in the last two Dáil terms, Mr Howlin said he believed there is a path back to government for the party.