TÁNAISTE EAMON GILMORE has told delegates at the Labour conference in  Galway that the party will help build a better Ireland by getting through the current economic crisis.

Gilmore used his opening speech at the party’s conference to focus on Labour’s history over the past hundred years. He also used the speech to criticise opposition politicians advocating alternative policies to those put forward by the government.

Gilmore told delegates that Labour had been at the heart of democracy and progress in Ireland for one hundred years.

All too often, the Labour movement has been written out of the official historical script by those who prefer to take a simple Celtic-Rangers view of Irish history.

“This year, we have the opportunity to redress that balance,” said Gilmore. He told delegates that Ireland is a better place because of Labour’s work and Labour’s struggle.

The Tánaiste said that Labour had been at the heart of every moment of crisis in shaping modern Ireland.

The lockout in 1913. The Easter Rising, in 1916. Labour was there during the struggle for independence, when the Labour movement led a general strike against conscription uniting the country, and laying the foundations for the first Dáil.

The video about 100 years of Labour shown at the conference tonight. Video: IrishLabourParty/YouTube

He praised the work done by Labour politicians on social change and progressive thinking on issues such as liberalising divorce and contraception laws, decriminalising homosexuality, fighting for women’s rights and working on the peace process.

There are many here in this hall who are veterans of those campaigns who know what it was like when Labour was attacked from the pulip. Who know the aggression that we faced because we stood for a peaceful and inclusive Ireland.

The conference is the first in fifteen years that has been held while Labour is in government.  The party is due to debate 159 motions across different areas of policy and party issues over the weekend.

Labour is also using the conference to celebrate its centenary, having been founded in 1912 by James Connolly and Jim Larkin.