Labour Party says it is 'serious' about going into Government

The Labour Party was holding its annual pre-Dáil think-in in the Grand Hotel in Malahide on Thursday.

By: irishmirror.ie

Sep 05 2024
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Labour Party says it is 'serio

The Labour Party is "serious" about going into Government but will not do so for the "sake of it", leader Ivana Bacik has said.

She said that while her party will speak to any and all parties about forming a Government, she has "serious policy differences with the three biggest parties" - Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.

The Labour Party was holding its annual pre-Dáil think-in at the Grand Hotel in Malahide on Thursday.

Ms Bacik stated that the party will run 30 candidates in the general election. It currently has six TDs in the Dáil, down from seven following the election of Aodhán Ó Ríordáin to Europe in June.

Following the dissemination of Labour after its coalition with Fine Gael between 2011 and 2016, Ms Bacik said that her party would go back into Government.

She said: "We've always been serious about delivering change and that does mean going into government. Of course it does.

"I think any party that's serious about delivering on change must be serious about going into government.

"But the reality is, there's many [parties] that aren't serious. We're the only party now in opposition that has ever served in government.

"Of course, we're ambitious to make change, but we don't go into government for the sake of it.

"We want to deliver change for communities, for people that we represent, for communities that are crying out for more homes, for the people facing eviction that I meet every week facing eviction, for whom the tenant in situ scheme is simply not working, for children who can't get places from schools, special needs for children who can't get buses to schools or can't get assessments of needs.

"We're fighting for support for Labour values and Labour vision to tackle those issues."

Ms Bacik said that the party has 16 general election candidates selected and will run 30. She hopes to have "as many as possible returned".

"We're going into this election with a really clear vision, a Labour purpose, to put forward a clear set of programs on housing, on health care, on climate, on work, because we want to build a better Ireland together," she added.

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