Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ANOTHER HIGH-PROFILE member of the Labour Party has resigned.
Cian O’Callaghan was the Mayor of Fingal County Council up until June this year, but says that he feels that he had to leave the party because it has ‘strayed from its roots’.
O’Callaghan joins MEP Nessa Childers, who resigned from the party on Tuesday, and Meath councillor Jenny McHugh, who jumped ship to Fianna Fáil on the same day. Former junior minister Róisín Shortall said that she was now “semi-detached” from the party, but would not confirm that she was considering leaving the party.
The Howth-based councillor was one of four Labour representatives to speak out against joining a coalition government with Fine Gael in 2011, but feels that things have turned out worse than he had initially feared.
“I don’t take a black-and-white view of what Labour has done in government. It is contributing, but it has strayed from it’s roots as a centre-left party by imposing taxes and cuts on lower- and middle-class citizens.
I didn’t anticipate that things would be as bad as it has been. Of course, there has to be compromises, but it hasn’t been fair at all.
O’Callaghan rejected the notion that Labour’s slide in the polls is the price of doing business as the junior partner in the coalition.
“It’s inevitable at all. There are plenty of countries in which a left leaning party goes into Government and makes better choices.
“In the past, there was much more backbone in the Labour Party in government.
I do feel that the party is lacking backbone in government now.
“The future is grim enough”
As for the future of the party, O’Callaghan says that a change of attitude from leadership is necessary.
“[The future] is grim enough if the leadership can’t engage with the criticism that it is facing, rather than ignoring it.
“There is an authoritarian leadership that won’t engage with members of the party or representatives. They simply say that they are right.
“There is nothing to be feared from discourse if you truly believe what you are doing is right and necessary.
I was at a meeting with Eamon Gilmore about 18 months ago, where he came out to meet party members in North Dublin and he shouted down members who raised issues and criticisms.
“The party leadership is trying to shut down debate.”
O’Callaghan says that while he believes a new party for the mainstream left could work, he has not spoken to any other public representatives who have left the Labour Party.
Ultimately, he says it was a ‘reluctant decision’ to walk away.
“My doubts started over the last two budgets, because the party increased income inequality.
“I have tried to work to reform the party, but it hasn’t worked.
I have no more positive energy to give, it was like banging your head off a brick wall.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Gilmore must now hold the record for losing members of any party? He must be proud of at least one success.
Eamon Gilmore: ‘I thought he had left already’
Obviously, members of Labour are reading the comments on this site and taking the hint. Pity Gilmore, Rabbite and co couldn’t do the same.
Who is Eamon Gilmore?
He doesn’t care. between him and his wife they now net €300K a year and golden million euro pensions.
Labour -wonderful news joining the greens and the P Ds
After the cull,
the PDs, the Greens and Labour could join and call themselves the
Green Tea Party.
He’s not wrong, no backbone and no credibility.
Fair play to him.
Can’t believe I’m defending Labour here but they’re a junior coalition partner and torn between identity and relevance – what do people expect them to do exactly? Folks jumping ship on them is not going to help anyone and it’s not good for democracy if you can’t join a coalition without losing half your support.
Tim they lied, broke promises, helped introduce two of the most regressive budgets in the last 15 years, need I say more?
Yes, do.
how can they break promises they don’t have the power to keep? the same thing happened to the Greens who got steamrolled by FF. If the majority doesn’t want your (Labour) policies, then failure to implement those policies is hardly a crime is it? The alternative at this stage is unthinkable, some sort of weird minority government (although this worked well in Canada)
That’s the thing. They broke promises. They shouldn’t have made promises they knew they wouldn’t have the power to keep. Labour made promises even after negotiating the programme for government. Obviously fine gael did too and they’ve broken most of theirs too but for some bizarre reason the lemmings still support them. Labour have been made to look like fools over things like labour’s way or Frankfurt way. They have abandoned any principles that are the backbone of a leftist party. They will get swallowed up as did the greens.
Tim, before the election Labour identified child benefit as a red line issue for them.They are a pack of craven liars, Pat Rabbitte on the Week in Politics uttered prehaps the single most damaging remark to his own party.
Well done sir, the Labour Party was formed to help the most genuine vunerable people in our society and to ensure that fairness is sought in our society. The Labour Party have let its voters down very badly and it’s leadership is behaving in a very negative manner. Eamon Gilmore is not a good leader.
Nobody ever mentions Howlin – we need to fix that. I reckon he’s just as bad as the worst of them.
Howlin manages to keep a suspiciously low profile – I wonder how he can get away with having such a nicely feathered nest and successfully remain out of public view – I don’t hear too many people ever giving out about him, even though he’s just as sneaky as the rest of the Labour shower behind the scenes [i.e. orchestrating stealth cuts, devising "gentle" and "easy" ways to take more money out our paypackets, etc.,].
…and let us not forget the day Howlin’s mask slipped:
Clicking his fingers at an unsuspecting Garda like he was a dog.
Then strutting off like a jumped-up-mini-Napoleon as if someone had just pissed on his foie-gras.
Don’t worry, Monsieur Howlin – we are waiting in the long grass for you too!
I hope this our Sen.John Kelly
The rats are well and truly deserting the sinking ship. Of course the old fat cats will still get their pensions so they’ll stay on till the end and safely float away.
Blimey…thats three in a week! I wonder who will be next?
Me, I’m going to join the Labour party just so I can leave!
It does beg the question if it is all being deliberately done. Is one departure emboldening others or is it a case of seeking to do the maximum damage?
I wonder if Roisin Shorthall will seek to establish a new party, something like Democratic Left. Apart from traditional Labour supporters who are disenchanted with the party, it could also tap former FF supporters who voted Labour at the last election and who may still not have forgiven FF. Not to mention those who are now leaning towards SF but are unsure about that. Given the number of councillors quitting recently, as well as Nessa Childers, Shorthall could very quickly have representation in not just the Dáil but also at a local level and at European level. Quite tempting I’d think…
An interesting few months ahead for the left side of Irish politics I think.
@ Ryan Ash, the EUSSR pot of gold must be clouding their judgement, they are has-beens, not the future
Ryan Ash,
Shortall would be an excellent leader of any new party, I would imagine.
I don’t think she would ever be tempted to turn on her own voters/party like Gilmore/Rabbitte/Quinn/Howlin/etc..
I believe she would make tough decisions based on integrity and not based on the croneyism/gombeenery that we see almost daily in the murky dealings between FG and Labour.
Also, there aren’t enough women in politics so it could be a very welcome breath of fresh air – as there would obviously be no ridiculous “old boys’ club” to contend with.
I would be interested to know what Joan Burton’s real feelings are about how she was unceremoniously dumped into the Ministry for Social Protection after the last election.
I suspect she, too, fell foul of the old boys’ club but she wasn’t in a position to comment on it.
So FG/Labour gave the “plum job” to Noonan [he is in the old boys' club, don't you know].
Interesting times ahead alright – I’ll definitely be voting in the next election, that’s for sure..
At the local elections next year
“a hard rain is gonna fall’
and the labour party is gonna drown in it’s own rhetoric.
Labour turnover.
Are you the same Stephen Egan who has in the past run for Fianna Fáil in local elections? If so, you have a neck like a jockeys bollox to be criticising Labour.
Labour a useless lot
The people have been saying that for ages.
Useless shower of *****.
1913: Lockout
2013: Walkout
Excellent comment, Paul – sums it all up perfectly!!
2011: “Gilmore Gale”
2013: “Labour Shower”
Labour should just walk, leave fine Gael to its own devices. I mean, they won the abortion debate within the government. You bet your bottom fine Gael will not.comprise on anything this coming budget cycle.
The Reds are turning into the Greens.
Do you ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?
To reiterate….last person to leave the Labour Party’s GHQ switch the lights off…..
Took him long enough
In October 2010, headlines such as below were common in the national newspapers:
“The political careers of a number of high-profile Fine Gael TDs are in serious jeopardy after the surge in support for the Labour Party. The polling data reveal that the political phenomenon known as the ‘Gilmore Gale’ is evolving into a national phenomenon”.
Then we had Labour’s infamous Election 2011 Slogans:
“One Ireland: Jobs, Reform, Fairness” and “GILMORE FOR TAOISEACH!”.
Oh dear, how times have changed!
So how did Labour end up in this catastrophe?
Greed for ministerial pensions was one of the main reasons Labour went into power, in my opinion.
The “Gilmore for Taoiseach” posters went straight to Happy’s head, only to be taken down from the lampposts a short time later – an embarrassing climb-down in more ways than one..
He surely couldn’t face another miserable term in opposition? Could he? No, of course he couldn’t.
Because, by this stage, he had truly become power hungry – Rabbitte, Noonan and Howlin were probably burning his ear about “the ministerial pensions” too.
Now the “Gilmore Gale” has turned into the “Labour Shower”
Oh yeah, Noonan is FG, but I can surely be forgiven because they’re all the same anyway, aren’t they.
The youth no the way to go. Its a pity about the old coldgers like gilmore and rabbite quinn and burton!
Labour and FG TD’s at the top will be substantially rewarded financially for implementing banking policy.
IMF are the economic hitmen here to bleed the country dry
New political party in the making…. G.PD.L….. All these jumped ship the closer they got to the finish line…. Keep walking lads & lassies….
Sinking ship comes to mind. Bit late for discovery of conscience!
When your members are leaving to join Fianna Fáil you know your in big bother.
They should have let FG and FF form a coalition to continue the FF policies pursued by FG
Well said, Gilmore’s ambition for a ministerial position came ahead of the interests of the party.Had they gone into opposition they could have formed the next government as the majority party.
Instead the party us looking at a loss of over half its present TDs.
Take notice of how entrenched the labour hierarchy 6 (Quinn, Rabbite, Burton, Reilly, Gilmore Bruton) have dug themselves in with the policies of Fine Gael ,no room for debate or discussion. This is because these cretins are holding on to power sharing at all costs to see their Dáil pensions take fruit (They are all of pensionable age, and this is their common agenda) and woe betide anyone who gets in their way. When they have driven away the Labour votes everywhere in the country that won’t matter because they will float away in their big pension balloons and leave us plebs to pick up the pieces.
Bruton and Reilly are FG – good point though.
I forgot about that mouthpiece howler howlin aswell he must be on holidays as not much howlin this week
They have a pretty rigid backbone when it comes to getting what they want for themselves. Look at Mrs Gilmore and Rory Quinn handing her a big job without interviewing anyone else.
Labour let the workers party moles into their house and now they complain that the little stalinists are authoritarians?
Some suprise there lads
Gilmore is shameless and will enter the history books as the man who sold d workers party , democratic left ,the labour party out must be looking for a job as an E U commisioner maybe
Only lacking backbone. ? What about lacking intelligence,integrity, and other essential qualities. ?
Is the FG propaganda machine that good or are people just stupid that they are causing all the grief
Well FG claim Labour wanted the property tax as a price for entering government.
Property tax was out of the hands of any political party it was a condition of the ECB loan…so blame hitler(er I mean Merkel)
Labour stands for; property tax, water tax,increases year on year of car tax all to fund bailing out of private financial investment banks. Labour lied in order to secure lucrative salaries and pensions worth millions to the leadership.
Its time they got Gilmore out ASAP. The fact is we did’nt need this insight from Cian O’Callaghan, its obvious to all of us that Gilmore is a pompous dictatorial little windbag. I recall talking to a Green Councillor at the last local elections who had left Labour because of the authorative hierarchy in the party. Its an absolute disgrace and there should be even more resignations by now.
Too late young man. Everyone knows that those leaving at this stage are doing so in the mistaken belief that they might save seats….too late….too little…..too obvious !
It appears that the few genuine Labour party representatives are now heading for the political lifeboats.
And who can blame them given what the party has become since the 1980′s ?
I think the worst thing they ever did was to participate in the reverse takeover by the reconstructed Stickies.
Time for a well thought through left wing alliance ? As DeValera said, ” Labour ( the movement that is, not the party of that name) can wait” and
it seems to be the mindset of many in this failed state of ours’.
If I was younger again I would not hesitate to emigrate…..
And now Rabbitte busily hammering another nail into Labours coffin with his broadcasting tax, to prop up another cosy golden circle.
In fairness a TD, Senator or Minister is high profile. 2 county councillors? Hardly.
So grassroots are of no importance, wonder how many current TDs in Labour will still be around after the next election.Care to guess?
Labour are losing councillors right left and center they should have never have gone into government with fg they could have been a proper alternative to fg, instead ff crawl their weasel way back up the polls
Less than 10!
Living in Fingal & never heard or seen him before now !!!
Sinn Fein are the only Party big enough to challenge the unholy Troika of FF/FG & LAB!
they say a good run now is better than a bad stand . lick arse to fg
Labours biggest problem is FG have positioned themselves in a manner that Labour colleagues are seen to be the front for austerity!
Howlin a basket case and will do what he thinks is needed to meet these targets.
It’s funny how the international investors and institutions think we should stick our course of cuts; yet once they have their pound of flesh, it’s off to another poor sod of a nation.
FF got us into this mess and Labour, whom should have been more skeptical, should have bargained more.
Gilmore doesn’t surprise me; he believes in Thatcherism and Tory politics! Blue Labour autocrat!
Gilmore for Taoiseach !
have your say