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LABOUR LOOKS SET to lose a number of seats in a shocking general election result for the party.
Former leader Eamon Gilmore has said that the issues started in 2011, when the party came to power as the minority player in a coalition with Fine Gael.
“It’s clear that the electorate did not want to re-elect the present government and there is going to be a new government,” he told RTÉ radio today.
Meanwhile, communications Minister Alex White lost his seat in Dublin-Rathdown and said he hasn’t made up his mind as to whether he will return to politics.
Shell-shock
Labour activists in the RDS are said to be “visibly shell-shocked” at the outcome.
Labour now believes it will take between just 7 and 10 seats nationwide, losing a number of high-profile TDs including Derek Nolan in Galway West and Emmet Stagg in Kildare North.
Asked when he thought the party’s problems began, Gilmore said:
I think it started in 2011 when Fine Gael and Labour formed a government together and had a very difficult job to do, to take the country out of the bailout.
He said the party “had to do a lot of unpopular things” and that today is the electoral consequence of that.
Gilmore said there “are occasions when you have to make a choice between doing the right thing and doing the popular thing - that is the choice we had to make in 2011″.
He said that in 2011, Labour “knew we were taking a political risk”.
He said his thoughts were with those who will lose their seats today.
“It’s not a good day for the party but it is a day we can recover from,” said Gilmore, adding that when the election is over there will be time to reflect.
A “difficult day” for labour
Meanwhile, Alex White has lost his seat. “It’s not a great feeling, but that’s the way it goes,” he told RTÉ afterwards.
Asked what went wrong for the Labour Party, White said:
…a lot of things went wrong – principally the economy of our country collapsed and I think it will be a long time before it fully recovers and I think that is having an impact on our political system.
“It’s a difficult day for the Labour Party, a difficult day for me,” he said, adding that it has been an honour to be Minister.
“I think my party will recover from this as we have from previous episodes like the one we’re experiencing today,” said White. “I think the Labour Party will survive and thrive in the future.”
Asked if this is the end of politics for him, White said: “I don’t know the answer to that – I haven’t decided.”
“I want to remain as a strong active supporter of my party, the party that I love and want to see thrive again in the future.”
Have the UK Government consulted the DUP on this plan yet? I can already see the pained look on Paisley Jr’s face…
@Ruairi Gagarin: They’ll be raging even more when they find out she was Protestant when she fought against the empire…converted after the rising at some stage I believe.
@Dead Mousche: she’d pop back now if she was around and saw what her new flock did !
@Ruairi Gagarin: imagine the British governments dismay when they discovered that the first female elected member was an abstentionist shinner lol
Arlene will soon put a stop to that!
I’d say it’s fair to presume that this is a shining example of what little brittish people know about irish history. I’d say Teresa may just doesn’t know who she is. This could come back to bite her
@domas1507: Haha that’s what’s great about it, it’s like an eternal FU to the British Parliament from an Irish republican. I hope the most staunch conservatives don’t find out who she is until their at the commemoration speech, it’ll be gut wrenching experience for the old goats.
@domas1507: oh the usual mistake of underestimation, and the inability to take a compliment …
The main reason they spared Countess Markievicz life was because they were busy making political capital from the execution of the Nurse Edith Cavell by the Germans on the 12th October 1915.
@Jarlath Murphy: ah I’d say the fact she wasn’t from Thomas Street helped a bit too!
She killed a British policeman.
I’m sure, back in the days, the Irish Independent would’ve labelled her a terrorist!
Michael Latiff was Irish member of the RIC killed by the countess….We did not have British police in Dublin in 1916….
@John003: Were we not all British then?
@Paul Kelly: you’re right, we were.
And pre-1776, Americans were British.
@John003:
The RIC were British.
@Paul Kelly:
No.
@Fran Lonergan: Yes
@Franklin Roosevelt: oh you’re using the Countess now to excuse all the dirtbags that murdered policemen in this country now, and are walking around free as birds.. at lest they are using their own names I suppose !
@Paul Kelly: Irish people were never British.
@Paul Kelly: I’m sure all the kids lying under priests and Christian brothers , and abused by nuns , under what freedom brought , under Dev and Mc Quaid’s watch were proud to be Irish too ?
@Gerry Campbell: I think she should be commentated, but we should not forget that the was an absolute nut job that was the most trigger happy spanner back in the day. At least Pearse and Connolly had a bit of romance – she was a nutcase!
@Franklin Roosevelt: That was more for the way the RIC treated the people of dublin during the lockout strike of 1913. they illegally aimed for peoples skulls instead of the shoulders. attempted murder more like.
@Gulliver Foyle: Connolly wasn’t simple either, he wanted to shoot the RIC man on duty in the GPO that day, execute a prisoner, a fellow Irishman trying to feed his family, and unfortunately in the worst post in Dublin that day, fortunately Connollys orders were countermanded by his CO The O’ Rahilly.
Did she take the scenic route to the Dail, so she could claim expenses, too?
@Eyepopper: She took the scenic route to Glasnevin cemetery, one of the largest funerals Dublin ever saw.
And who will be the real heroes of the present and the near future?
Who will inspire better times, kinder times, fairer times and more egalitarian times?
Will we be defined in the 21st century only by success in the pursuit of money.
@Fiona deFreyne: Your posts are so cryptic, i cannot understand them, what country are you from?
The absolute hypocrisy of FF eulogising this heroine for her abstentionism from Westminster while repeatedly trying to condemn SF for their abstentionism from Westminster. Pathetic stuff from ‘The Republican Party’.
@Tír Eoghain Gael: no I think you will find ”twas all the bodies with plastic bags over their heads in ditches gave us the distaste for ye ?
@Gerry Campbell: Back in the day of the old IRA, the murders committed by members of what is now the FF party were no different than the murders committed by SF. Murder is murder, and yet you glorify and honor those that fought and died to free the South, but condemn those who fought and died to free the North.
Would Sinn Féin reciprocate and take their seats in Westminster? This would destabilise the pact between the DUP and the Tories and further the road to unification. Why not? It would be an empty gesture like FF taking the oath of allegiance to oust Cumann na nGael?
FG will be delighted.
She’s the spit of Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto
@Stephen: Do not be so disrespectful to a woman who did not have to, but sacrificed her privileged life for a cause she believed in.
@Tom&Gerry: you need to chill super paddy, he can say what he likes, that’s Ireland of long ago we have long since sold our souls
@Eddie Nugent: You are so right, Thanks for the super paddy tag, i really like it and will wear it with pride.
The Polish Community in Ireland will be pleased that she was married to a Polish Count.
Great auld lad that fella….
More huffing and door slamming now from comb over republicans who can’t get their heads around why Britain neither knows or cares about Irish history. Why should they? Your not that important lads
@Kevin Slater: Well they must be very uneducated if they don’t know or care anything about a country they invaded and ruled for centuries.
@Tom&Gerry: totally agree with Kevin . They couldn’t care less about Irish history . I don’t think they really care about their own history either . They don’t seem to be hung up on the history thing like us Irish . WW1 and WW2 seems to the only part of history they care about .
She’s my hero a leading lady in irish history .
The original pussy-pass?
@Liam Mac Roibin: Shame on you, you are insulting a person of honour who sacrificed her privileged life for the cause of freedom for the Irish people. Please show some respect.
@Tom&Gerry: handing out the shame on you badges, look around at all the Irish that shame and show no respect everyday, do you really think those who have sacrificed there lives back then would really think it was worth it now, I doubt it.
@Eddie Nugent: If you are talking about the way this country was sold over to The E.U. and being flooded with migrants of a dangerous persuasion, i agree with you. Otherwise i don’t understand what you mean.
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