Labour struggling to find purpose

Labour has to define its role in government quickly, writes Gerard Howlin

THE Irish people, for all their fascination with Downton Abbey and Britain’s royal family, have never been very good at knowing their place. This is particularly so of a working class who seemingly did not understand their status. Whether Ireland is classless or simply gormless is a matter for debate. It has, however, the distinction of having one of the weakest socialist or social democratic political traditions in Europe.

The catch-all appeal of nationalism, mastered by one of Europe’s most successful political parties, Fianna Fáil, left the Irish left with a perennially peripheral role. Even the darkest hour of that once great machine in the general election of 2011 did not presage a new dawn either for the left in general or for Labour in particular.