Howlin under pressure from councillors

UNHAPPY Labour councillors have warned that the party lacks a ‘brand’ and said that a number of representatives may abandon them if there isn’t a leadership change.

Some 14 councillors sent a letter to leader Brendan Howlin seeking an ‘urgent meeting’.

And separately, Alan Kelly TD wrote in a Sunday newspaper about a lack or ‘absence of visible leadership’ on economic inequalities.

One of Labour’s 50 councillors yesterday told the Mail they had received a number of phone calls from people within the party who spoke of a need for change. The councillor, who is one of the 14 who signed the recent letter, said there are now ‘definitely more than 14’.

This councillor said they were ‘neither pro nor anti’ Mr Howlin, but that they ‘want the opportunity to talk to him’ in order to establish how they will proceed into the future.

IT is the party of James Connolly but also of Mary Robinson and Michael D Higgins, the party which helped transform Ireland from a still-conservative country in thrall to the Catholic Church and with a stuffy two-party system, to an open, progressive and secular republic.

A party, indeed that finally honoured Wolfe Tone’s promise in 1798 of an Irish Republic that would be for Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter. Many would feel, in the run-up to the Pope’s visit this weekend, that there is still more to be done on the separation of Church and State, and if there is, it will be the likes of the Labour party’s Aodhán Ó Riordáin and Ruairi Quinn who will be leading that particular charge.

Labour is also the party that, in recent decades, went into coalition governments to sort out a crisis in the country and get legislation and measures which could move the country on. Indeed, you could say the Labour Party did this three times in recent decades: in 1981, after Fianna Fáil bankrupted the economy, in 1992 when the country needed social modernising, and again in 2011, after Fianna Fáil bankrupted the country again. In all cases, it was the junior partner in cabinet but in many ways, it was the driving force in these governments and the one that set the agenda.

Battles

However, in all these cases, Labour suffered for their heroism and came out of the battles of government with their support reduced. These are the consequences of making hard decisions which governing requires. These impurities are easier for the bigger parties to absorb, but for the smaller Labour Party, it is harder, as their supporters are always going to be more sensitive about the compromises that other more pragmatic parties take in their stride.

However, Labour always seem to bounce back. The party that has been there since 1913, longer even than Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, always seem to find a way to have a new purpose and a new public demand. This has been going on for decades.

But now it is in the doldrums again and so much so that it is considering changing leaders. This time it will be harder to come back. Why? Because the overall political landscape has changed.

Before, when Labour lost support it was to either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. We had a ‘two and half’ party system, and things were kept tight. Now, however, the whole landscape is different, and Labour has lost support to a resurgent Sinn Féin which has been especially aggressive about attacking Labour and seeking to supplant them. Likewise, the attacks from the far left of the Socialist party and People Before Profit, who have been especially critical at what they see as various Labour party sell-outs have also proved damaging. Indeed, the rows on the Left make those between Right and Left look like a picnic!

As if this wasn’t challenging enough, Irish society has changed in a progressive way that no longer suits Labour. This is a good thing, of course, but now the other parties have stolen Labour’s clothes and everyone is on board for a modern secular Ireland. Fine Gael has totally kicked away any social conservative or traditional values and led the way on marriage equality and abortion legislation. Fianna Fáil, despite the wishes of its more traditional members, has done the same.

So what can Labour do? Well, the positive thing is that it still there, with a strong national organisation and a substantial number of TDs and senators, despite the huge plethora of choice and competition on the Left and from a variety of Independents. It has good representatives who are forceful on many issues. But the leadership has come into sharp focus again with the low visibility and impact of Brendan Howlin.

Howlin has energy and experience, but he is not compelling enough as an Opposition party leader, especially as he was at the forefront of government for the years of recovery. Quite simply, Howlin is too familiar, too indistinguishable from the Fine Gael ministers he shared power with, and he is not a fresh face.

Now with growing pressure for him to be replaced, the name most mentioned is that of Alan Kelly. I totally agree with this and even felt it was a missed opportunity not to have put him in at the last leadership contest when Joan Burton stood down.

At that time, Kelly had been singularly impressive in calling out the hypocrisy of the two big parties in abandoning Irish Water. Granted it was a controversial system, which he was involved in trying to introduce, but that made his criticism all the more biting as Fine Gael cynically abandoned water charges so that they could do a grubby deal with Fianna Fáil to stay in power.

Sham

It was a cowardly sham which means we still have leaks, polluted rivers and, most crucially, the ordinary middle-income taxpayers will have to pick up the tab for others. It was a powerful attack by Kelly. And he was on his own: no one from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael was going to criticise this fudge and the far Left sensed a ‘victory’.

Kelly’s persuasive attack was delivered in the tough, no-nonsense voice of rural Ireland (where people pay for their water). And he was the same on the scandals within the Garda, with his forensic analysis. He is a midlands bruiser. Not for nothing is he nicknamed ‘AK-47’ after the famous rifle.

Yes, Kelly annoys many people, but isn’t that part of his appeal? Better to provoke a reaction than to be ignored. Like him or loathe him, he’s box office.

Most importantly, however, is the fact that Kelly represents the moderate progressive values that the Labour party has always stood for, and last weekend he gave an interview in which he said he supported work over welfare and wanted to continue supporting small business and citizen entrepreneurs. This is a welcome change from the ‘dependency culture’ advocated by the far Left – and now by Fianna Fáil.

By contrast, Brendan Howlin sounds insipid, and too much still like the insider he has been for so long. Kelly is most definitely an outsider, someone prepared to rock the establishment but without being just another shrill leftist with glib answers. He is hardworking and expects others to be the same – his AK-47 nickname arose because of the demands he places on civil servants.

Kelly is a strong centrist and rightly called out Fianna Fáil opportunism over the Irish Water abandonment. He could do the same with Sinn Féin’s policy of having it both ways in terms of spending and charges, and he could get back the votes from them which deserted Labour. And he would relish the challenge.

Labour has been, and still is, an important force in Irish society, going right back to its great modernisers, and those who stood up for decency and fair play. Alan Kelly could be just the man to revive that spirit and make the party relevant once again.