Why is the Irish Labour party such a failure ?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118860060#Comment_118860060

Well, did it really matter who took the helm??? Ivana keeps 'sidestepping' the fact that when Labour did have a taste of power the austerity ( hardship isn't too strong a word) inflicted by them on the Irish people was unprecedented. I had been a Labour supporter most of my voting life.....canvassed hard at every election but their actions 2011_2016 turned me totally against them. Let's be honest...the party needs a total re-branding, new blood & new ideas.....She is a throwback to the past ( FAILED LABOUR) representing nothing the party hung it's hat on in the 70s,80s &90s. I honestly cant see how or who she & labour are supposed to be 'pitching' to.....when a big song&dance was made of ivana grabbing the affluent South Dublin vote the dogs on the street knew it was purely a protest vote..... when she got that seat a neme quickly went viral of the " last Labour leader"..... many a true word spoken in jest

crossman47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118860162#Comment_118860162

Like you I used to vote Labour but 2011 is not the reason I stopped. I can't agree with your analysis although I know it is widely shared. Their alternative in 2011 was to stay out of government. How would that have helped? They took on responsibility and , yes, the measures may have been unprecedented (I don't agree) but the crash definitely was. Then, as Colm McCarthy famously said, the government weren't lacking compassion, they lacked money. We were broke. Labour were not party to breaking us but they get all the flak for trying to rescue the country.

whisky_galore

She was on the radio the other day, I don't think she answered any question with a straight answer, or even an answer that meant anything, just pre prepared word salad.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118862352#Comment_118862352

Her mate on the ultimate gravy train ( seanad) got eliminated in that seanead byelection.

Obviously, ivana's been doing the rounds on all media last few days.........she doesn't do 'answers' or " off the cuff" .....its all pre prepared ' fluff' ......no substance whatsoever...... might as well just play a tape & save her travelling ....... in fairness to her she DOES make Alan Kelly quite the orator/ politician

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118862430#Comment_118862430

My cat would make a better politician than her tbh.

Danzy

Ivana could only win in South Dublin.

Brucie Bonus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118760947#Comment_118760947

So is it "vote for me, my mates need new BMW's and expenses paid trips and if we get caught, sure lessons learned" being the alternative?

petronius

I always feel Labour, don't represent the ordinary working people of Ireland. Most of Rural Ireland ignores them! Even though it once had candidates in the North it has long since walked away from that part of the country, since its take over by the OSF/Worker's Party in the 1990s, it is even more partitionist. The west of the Shannon is also a Labour free zone. Up until recent years if you went into working-class areas of the Northside of Dublin who were they voting for? Fianna Fail, now they vote for Sinn Fein or more extreme left or independents.

They are fishing in a small pond, now even out "woked" by the SocDems, out moaned by the PBP/SP/SWP/AAA/Sol... and Sinn Fein just run rings around them!

Brucie Bonus

They really forgot what they were supposed to represent; working, tax paying people on low to middling income. Supporting the right to protest and calling out cronyism.

They should be were SF is support wise but all they are is a poor man's 'new labour'.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119019874#Comment_119019874

Who’s mates get BMWs when their mate is elected?

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119020138#Comment_119020138

You can blame their leader, and indeed a succession of poor leaders.. Rabbite, Gilmore, Howlin and now Bacik…? Nobody communicating a coherent message or showing any relatability to and with the Irish electorate…

Brucie Bonus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119026456#Comment_119026456

Well Joan made a complete arse of Labour values IMO.

I agree, its the middle class backroom boys and girls in HQ who decided what Labour should be. Their vision is the problem. I think they tried go all 'new labour' and ignored the grass roots and floaters who might have given them a vote from time to time. The new leader tells us they are just doubling down on their vision.