Will Labour leave its Northern Ireland members in limbo?

The Labour Party has taken members from Northern Ireland since 2002 and a Northern Ireland Labour Forum (NILF) came into formal existence to organise those members in December 2003. The Labour Party has now agreed to appoint a Commission to consider whether those members should be allowed to stand in elections there.

It did so on the Saturday afternoon of its Conference in Wexford (17 November 2007), when it had before it a resolution proposed by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party. The operative part of this resolution was as follows:

[Conference] Directs the NEC to appoint a special commission, representative of the NILF, the PLP and the NEC, together with Party members with specialist knowledge and expertise –

1. to invite and receive submissions on and to consider the future role and organisation of the Party in connection with Northern Ireland and its internal affairs, and for that purpose to meet with relevant parties, trade unions and other interest groups,

2. to explore the potential to participate in elections there, and

3. to report its conclusions in sufficient time to enable the recommendations of the NEC, including any proposals to amend the Party Constitution, to be debated at the next following Party Conference.

(The full text of the motion is below).

The NEC motion was a reaction to two events:-

(1) the NILF had proposed a resolution to the Conference asking the NEC to prepare the necessary changes to the Labour Party constitution to permit candidates to stand for election in Northern Ireland, and

(2) Fianna Fail’s announcing its intention to examine the possibility of contesting elections in Northern Ireland.

Before the conference, the new leader, Eamon Gilmore, made it fairly clear where he stood on the issue. The Irish Times reported on 9 November 2007:

“Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore vowed yesterday that his party would do nothing to undermine the position of the SDLP in Northern Ireland. Moreover, he expressed doubts about the wisdom of any party from the Republic attempting to contest an election in the North until powersharing arrangements have had a chance to bed down.” [1]

It’s fairly clear from this that, if Fianna Fail had not made its move, Eamon Gilmore would have got the Conference to veto his party members in the North standing for election. The Fianna Fail move prompted his proposal that the Labour Party set up a Commission. But if the Fianna Fail move comes to nought, then it’s a pound to a penny that he will ensure that the Labour Party doesn’t contest elections in the North either.

* * * *

Former Labour Party leader, Ruairi Quinn, went to the rostrum to propose the resolution on behalf of the NEC. But, he never got around to it. Instead, he delivered a hymn of praise to the SDLP (at whose birth he had assisted in 1970) for its long years of devotion to non-violent politics in Northern Ireland. He also claimed responsibility for getting the SDLP admitted to the Socialist International and had just come back from attending its 25^th annual conference.

This chimed with the leader’s sentiments and with the NEC resolution itself, paragraph 3 of which said:

“Noting and reaffirming our historic relationship with the Social Democratic and Labour Party, as sister parties in the Party of European Socialists, and confirming our belief that all people on these islands owe the SDLP a profound debt of gratitude for its persistent and ultimately successful witness to the non-violent alternative and the power of political engagement;”

One was left wondering why he wasn’t proposing merger with the Labour Party’s fellow member of the Socialist International in the North.

Before Ruairi Quinn had finished praising the SDLP, the chair cut him off and he never got around to proposing the resolution. One of the endearing things about the Conference was that the leadership was treated on a par with ordinary members when it came to speaking rights.

It was left to the seconder of the resolution, Mark Langhammer, the Chair of the Northern Ireland Labour Forum, to propose it (see text below). He said that motion will create a Party Commission on Northern Ireland at a time of political fluidity; it will consider political organization at a time where a measure of political realignment is a practical possibility after years of “freeze”. This is not a time for Labour to wait any longer.

There were three speakers from the floor in the debate. The first was Michael McBrien, who told the conference that he had joined the SDLP when he was 16 and had been involved in many elections for the party. However the conference needed to be clear, the SDLP is not a socialist party and did not have the cross-community support necessary to move politics in the north forward.

The second speaker, Michael Robinson, also spoke for the NILF stating that whilst he didn’t resile from the tributes paid to the SDLP, they were nonetheless a creature of partition, didn’t have trade union affiliation and never would. Indeed Paddy Devlin a founding member of the party had declared them to be “class traitors” when they brought down a Labour Government and ushered in Thatcherism, when they brought Frank Maguire an Independent Nationalist MP with them to Westminster to secure a vote of no confidence. Michael informed the conference he had been at the ICTU Conference at which Bertie Ahern had declared himself to be a “Socialist”. Fianna Fail had “stolen Labour’s clothes”, he said, “don’t let them steal our votes in the North”.

The third speaker was in the unusual position of being a member of the Labour Party in Dublin and a member of the SDLP in Portstewart. He was Ronan Farren, son of Sean Farren, the former SDLP Minister at Stormont. He began by telling the conference of the recent death at an early age of John Fee, former SDLP MLA from South Armagh. He mentioned that John Fee had been severely beaten by republicans and left the conference with the impression that his death was as a consequence of the beating (which took place in 1994). His message to the conference was that the Labour Party shouldn’t do anything to damage the electoral prospects of the non-violent SDLP – and he was enthusiastically applauded by the conference for that message.

Labour Party involvement in Northern Ireland would, he said, damage the emerging moderate centre in Northern Ireland politics – the UUP and the SDLP. Now that they are speaking at each other’s conferences, could merger (with the Alliance Party?) be far off? He ended with the resoundingly partitionist message that Southern parties should stay out of Northern Ireland.

The resolution was then put to conference and was carried without dissent. At the time of writing (7 December 2007), the Commission was yet to be established.

* * * *

The Northern Ireland Labour Forum had organised a fringe meeting to take place late on the Saturday afternoon of conference, by which time the decision to establish a Commission had been taken. The meeting, entitled “Should Labour wait again?”, had an impressive lineup of Labour Party figures on the platform. It was chaired by Joe Costello TD from Dublin and two other TDs, Jan O’Sullivan from Limerick and Kathleen Lynch from Cork were on the platform, along with Senator Dominic Hannigan and Councillor Gerald Nash, former Mayor of Drogheda. From that lineup, it was clear that contesting elections in the North was firmly on the agenda of the Labour Party.

Senior SDLP figures were present at the Conference, including North Belfast MLA, Alban Maguiness, and South Belfast MP, Alisdair McDonnell. I wondered if they would come to the meeting and, if they did, what attitude would they adopt towards the prospect of the Labour Party standing for election in Northern Ireland. They did come and both Alban Maguiness and Alisdair McDonnell spoke – and both were wholly conciliatory towards the Labour Party entering Northern Ireland politics, in marked contrast to what had just been said on the SDLP’s behalf in the Conference hall.

There was a straightforward acceptance that the possibility of Fianna Fail contesting elections in Northern Ireland posed a serious problem for the SDLP, a problem that might be fatal. (An SDLP person at the meeting was overheard predicting to the person sitting next to him that the party would lose 60% of its vote to Fianna Fail). Yet, as an avowedly anti-partitionist party, the SDLP couldn’t resist Fianna Fail or the Labour Party operating on an all-Ireland basis and survive electorally against Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland (even if they managed to repel the Southern parties).

Neither Alban Maguiness and Alisdair McDonnell expressed any antagonism towards the Labour Party contesting elections in Northern Ireland. Both said that this was a question the SDLP and the Labour Party should address together in a comradely fashion. At their conference a couple of weeks earlier the SDLP had set up an internal working party to consider how the SDLP should react to the possibility of all-Ireland politics.

* * * *

Seamus Skelly, who was the Labour Party General Secretary in 1970 when the SDLP was formed, was present at the meeting and made an interesting contribution. He recounted how he dissolved the Labour Party in Northern Ireland in 1970 in order to assist with the formation of the SDLP. At the time, the party had branches in Derry and in Newry and Warrenpoint and a number of elected representatives in local government. He was very keen that the Labour Party should re-establish itself in Northern Ireland.

Text of NEC motion (No 79) on Labour in Northern Ireland

Conference –

1. Welcoming the eventual establishment and functioning of the institutions for power-sharing within Northern Ireland, together with North/South and British-Irish institutions, and looking forward to a period of reconstruction, reconciliation and constitutional stability in Northern Ireland and to a deepening of friendly social, economic and cultural links across the island of Ireland and between Britain and Ireland;

2. Considering that peaceful and stable conditions allow for new developments in politics and politcal relations across these islands and enable a form of party politics that reaches across the sectarian divide, on a genuinely cross-community basis;

3. Noting and reaffirming our historic relationship with the Social Democratic and Labour Party, as sister parties in the Party of European Socialists, and confirming our belief that all people on these islands owe the SDLP a profound debt of gratitude for its persistent and ultimately successful witness to the non-violent alternative and the power of political engagement;

4. Further noting that membership of the Northern Ireland Labour Forum is open to Party members living in Northen Ireland; that the NILF may hold meetings, elect officers and elect delegates to the Party Conference; that its principal function is to support the activities of the Party within this State; and that the Party Constitution does not at present permit it to put forward candidates to contest elections in Northern Ireland and requires it to support in such elections the candidates of the SDLP;

Directs the NEC to appoint a special commission, representative of the NILF, the PLP and the NEC, together with Party members with specialist knowledge and expertise –

2. to explore the potential to participate in elections there, and

National Executive Committee

Speech by Mark Langhammer seconding the NEC motion

Mark Langhammer, Labour Forum, Belfast – seconding Motion 79 on behalf of the N.E.C

Colleagues, this motion will create a Party Commission on Northern Ireland at a time of political fluidity; it will consider political organization at a time where a measure of political realignment is a practical possibility after years of “freeze”.

It starts with no pre-conceived outcome for or against contesting elections.

The Commission will take submissions; it will meet political parties, trade unions and other interests; I trust it will take evidence in session in Northern Ireland.

We’re familiar with de Valera’s edict in 1918 that “Labour must wait”. This is not a time for Labour to wait any longer.

A parallel Commission is underway within Fianna Fail, led by Dermot Ahern – to report by next Easter. It is important that Labour makes the political weather on this. No other Party is better placed to so – Labour is the only Party that can conceivably have appeal across all communities; the only Party that can appeal to people as citizens.

A strong Labour Party in Northern Ireland can give political coherence to the trade union movement; and the structure of trade union organization may provide a template for Labour organization in the North.

Delegates, the Northern Ireland administration is up and running. And let’s be clear, the Stormont administration is better than unelected Direct Rule. But the fact remains that Stormont is an administration – it is not a Government. It is made up of 4 communal parties, two Catholic and 2 Protestant. If we’re honest, current trends indicate that this might soon be only 1 Catholic and 1 Protestant party.

The Labour Party is a governmental Party; it is a party of critical mass with over 6000 members, 20 TDs, 6 Senators, over a hundred councillors; we are bigger than Sinn Fein and bigger than the DUP; we are a Party of ‘gravitas’; a Party capable of formulating reasoned, practical policies in the interests of working people. There is no Party like us in Northern Ireland.

Finally, the Commission will be cognizant that an island wide economic dynamic is underway.

The Republic of Ireland invests, through the National Development Plan, in infrastructure in Northern Ireland; it invests in the 6 Cross Border implementation bodies; it invests, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, in a myriad of community and reconciliation projects in Northern Ireland.

As sure as night follows day, an island wide polity will follow. It’s incumbent on Labour to lead that development – there is no better Party to do so. Support Motion 79

David Morrison

Irish Political Review

14 December 2007

References

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