Opening remarks by leader Ivana Bacik TD at the Labour Party Think In in Nenagh

Comrades and friends

I would like to welcome you all here to Nenagh.

To our great local representatives, Cllr Louise Morgan Walsh. Fiona Bonfield, Michael Chicken Brennan, Deputy Alan Kelly – thank you for having us here.

Thanks also to those of you who’ve made the journey today.

I stand here as Leader of our Party – in the fantastic position of having a Parliamentary Party of fourteen; with eleven TDs, two Senators and an MEP.

Seven of our TDs are new to the Dail – and our great new lineup is representative both of the Deep Roots and of the Green Shoots within our Party.

Along with our 56 wonderful Councillors, many of whom are joining us later, we have a refreshed and dynamic team.

Not bad for a Party that was written off by so many pundits this time a year ago.

Labour is back!

We have real momentum.

So it is timely now to reflect on how we are continuing to grow.

We are growing the party through careful, committed hard work on the ground across our communities, demonstrating every day that Labour represents a vision of constructive, positive change.

Change that people can trust.

We also grew by asserting a clear vision for the growth of the Left in Ireland.

The constructive left.

We have been articulating our strong Labour vision for an Active State – a State that takes responsibility for ensuring the welfare of its people.

A State that can provide for those in need.

To build homes, tackle poverty and address the cost-of-living crisis.

A State that provides public services – in health, childcare, education – services that leave no one behind, regardless of class, gender, ethnicity or postcode.

A State that provides homes for all.

And that takes necessary climate action measures to secure a future for our children and grandchildren.

That harnesses new technologies to guarantee decency, equality and respect for all workers.

Housing, Care, Climate and Work.

That’s our vision.

Building an Ireland for All – with a clear vision for the Future.

 

Our growth project means articulating the need for a common Left platform to achieve this vision.

And our project delivered in the last election.

Our fantastic crop of new TDs was elected with a real groundswell of support – and transfers from across the progressive spectrum.

And all this was made possible by a careful strategy and committed, disciplined campaigning by a great team of staff and volunteers.

We offered – and continue to offer – an alternative vision for Ireland’s future.

We offer an alternative to the Politics of the Past, the politics of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

They have governed together for the past ten years, relying on policies that assume the private market will deliver solutions to housing, to childcare, to public services.

Their policies have resulted in:

• the commodification of housing,
• the privatisation of public services,
• And surging household costs.

Labour offers an alternative to private market policies.

And since the election, we have hit the ground running.

Since the election, we have taken every opportunity to hold this conservative coalition of chaos to account; on their failures on cost of living, housing, disability and healthcare; on childcare and education.

Over the coming Dáil term, we’ll continue to build for the goal of achieving a left-led government after the next General Election.

We have key strategic campaign priorities for the term ahead.

We’ll continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, as they undergo sustained attack from Russia’s brutal dictator Putin.

We’ll continue to press for stronger action to end the horrific genocide in Gaza.

To ensure effective sanctions on Israel and to pass the Occupied Territories Bill in full.

We’ll be pressing the Government to act at international level to deliver a UN peacekeeping force for Gaza, as called for in our Labour Dail motion which passed in May.

On campaigning priorities here at home, of course we will continue to push the Government to ensure pension parity for our amazing school secretaries and caretakers.

We have been to the fore in supporting their picket lines over the past week.

And we have called for Labour Court intervention to address their terms and conditions of work.

We’ll also be focussing on our Charter for Children’s rights.

With 5,000 children in homelessness, the Government must take on Labour’s proposals to tackle child poverty and ensure a roof over every child’s head.

We will be running campaigns to tackle vacancy and dereliction; and for innovations to avert climate catastrophe.

In our Alternative Budget, we will be putting forward ambitious and radical proposals, to deliver on the provision of affordable homes.

To provide greater incentives on public transport.

To reduce childcare costs for struggling families;

To ensure energy supports for the thousands of households in arrears with their bills.

At every opportunity, we will put forward constructive and positive policies and programmes for change as we build further towards that crucial goal – to achieve a Left-Led Government after the next General Election.

 

And that brings me to the most immediate election – the next Presidential Election.

We have had two incredible Labour Presidents, Mary Robinson and Michael D. Higgins – they have done us proud.

They have done the country proud – as beacons for our values of equality and compassion. Of Meitheal; solidarity.

Uachtarán na hÉireann has a crucial role in reflecting our nation’s values.

Of reflecting the best version of ourselves to the outside world.

Following last year’s General Election, this autumn will mark our only opportunity for some years before we can vote again to endorse our Left-Wing values of equality, of solidarity, of fairness and compassion.

That’s why Labour must be involved in this year’s Presidential Election.

Because no Left-Wing president has ever won an election without us.

We are supporting Catherine Connolly as the standard bearer for the Left, in the spirit of promoting the development of the Left across the country.

In doing so, we are demonstrating that an alternative politics is possible, a cause which we have led on over recent years.

We are offering an alternative vision for the future of Ireland – a vision of an Ireland with an Active State to provide for communities now and for future generations.

That’s what Catherine stands for.

Of course, there are issues where we have differed with Catherine.

And not everyone in the Party supported the decision.

But we are a democratic party.

We made a democratic decision to support her – by an 86% majority of our Executive Board and PLP.

And we are solidly behind her.

 

Catherine has a formidable track record.

We supported her for Leas Ceann Comhairle, a post she held with distinction during the last Dail term.

She has been a strong voice on the Public Accounts Committee.

And of course, Catherine has been a powerful voice on Gaza.

An outstanding advocate for the rights of the Palestinian people as they undergo a genocide.

Catherine has been a strong and clear voice on the Irish language; on disability rights, on LGBT and women’s rights campaigns.

A voice for those who are marginalised, disadvantaged in our society.

On the Mother and Baby homes scandal, on abuse against children in institutions; on the Tuam Babies; she has been an outstanding voice.

We are backing Catherine because she represents our alternative vision for an Active State, a politics for the future of our country.

Labour members around Ireland are mobilising to support her campaign – in particular, our younger and newer members.

They are the future.

 

Comrades,

In its first hundred years, this State was defined by a two-and-a-half party system – with us as the half.

As we move into the next hundred years, that form has been smashed.

We now have three bigger parties. And we have significant ideological differences with each of those.

We are closely aligned in our values with other parties from the Centre-Left and environmental movements.

Albeit fragmented, a left-right divide has emerged in our system.

It gives us the chance for the Left to win – to break the old mould.

A challenge for Labour – but we have never shied away from a challenge.

We have never been content to sit on the sidelines, to be the hurlers on the ditch.

When Fianna Fáil crashed the economy, we showed courage in taking up a role in Government.

In this new reality, we must show the courage to roll up our sleeves and dig in.

To make the changes needed in our society.

Not for us, but for the communities we represent, that have been failed so badly by the conservative market-led policies of this government.

 

As Party Leader, I am relentlessly focused on the future.

On growing our Party and growing our support base.

Our politics are the politics of the future.

And I look forward to working alongside you all on this great endeavour.