Labour has still not grasped the message

Will the Labour Party ever learn? This must be the question uppermost in the minds of supporters following the humiliating and devastating losses in the European, and local elections.

It seems on every occasion, when the Labour gets a taste of power, they become arrogant, and completely abandon their core values and the principles on which the party was founded.

In the 1973-77 Coalition, we had similar displays of dismissiveness, and disconnect from the people who supported them. Following on the “Spring Tide” of 1992, we had a repeat performance, and those of us with reasonable memories, well recall the appointment of the many programme managers immediately after attaining power on that occasion.

Who can forget, when they formed a Government with Fianna Fáil — and for this they got their just rewards at the next election.

They still do not appear to have grasped the message, that on this occasion, they were punished not so much for the austere measures, which they implemented as part of the Government, but because of the lies, which they pedalled to the electorate prior to the 2011.

Perhaps it is now time for those prominent trade union leaders who prior to the 2011 General Election exhorted, and to an extent pressurised many of their members to vote for Labour, that Labour in Government would curb the excesses of Fine Gael, to finally admit that Labour has let itself down, but more importantly, and more tragically, let the ordinary people of this country down.

Nicholas Parker,

Lackaroe,

Youghal,

Co Cork