'New phase' for Labour

LABOUR leader Eamon Gilmore warned the party would have to govern through a “forest of placards”.

He was probably relieved then that there were little or no protests at Labour’s annual party conference in Killarney over the weekend. It is 18 months since party ministers were effectively locked into college buildings in Galway when protesters overpowered gardaí and “infiltrated” a wall of steel around the delegates at the last party conference.

This time round, the Labour conference was a little more peaceful, both inside and outside the doors. There was a feeling among delegates over the weekend inside the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney, Co Kerry, that the party has passed the worst period in government.