‘Hawaiian’ Labour contemplates an uncertain future

“It’s a Hawaiian barbecue,” said the Labour thinker-in, just a trifle too enthusiastically. A what? “A Hawaiian barbecue.”As if it was the most natural thing in the world for a gang of Irish politicians to be sitting down to of an evening after a busy few hours of thinking in.The wind howled outside and the rain pelted against the windows of the Galway Bay Hotel as the squalls whipped in from a restless Atlantic. READ MORE“A Hawaiian barbecue?” “YES.”Right.Well, there were burgers and chicken and beef and prawns, and a turnip burger or something for the veggies, and salads of medium complexity, along with boiled potatoes. It was just grand. Only it didn’t seem all that... Hawaiian.[ Left-wing parties round on Sinn Féin over policy directionOpens in new window ]“IT’S VERY HAWAIIAN.”Party leader Ivana Bacik was upbeat, as she always is, proclaiming the party in good health and raring to go for the new political term. The cost of living will be the party’s big priority, she said. “We’ve seen rising energy prices, rising housing costs, rising grocery prices, and we’re seeing people who are really strapped.”No one doubts it. In fact, it is everyone else’s priority, too, including the Government, which has a distinct advantage over Labour (and the rest of the Opposition) in that it has control over €125 billion or so to run the country next year. Of that, about €8.5 – or more, the way things are going – will be announced as new measures in next month’s budget. This will be not enough, or too much, depending on your point of view. Labour’s big – well, medium-sized – idea is a €100 “shopping supplement” for families in receipt of Child Benefit to help with cost-of-living increases. The party’s finance spokesman Ged Nash later elaborated – €100 for each child, each month, for the three months of winter. We have moved quickly to the promising-to-throw-money-at-voters stage. Who wouldn’t like a little extra money for shopping?Michael D and Sabina arrived to say aloha, and there was much gushing. One of the things Labour loves doing most is telling Michael D how wonderful he is. Michael D (looking well, but older, since you ask) seems to like it too. But you can’t help feeling it’s all a bit backward looking.Because Labour, squeezed by the rise of the Social Democrats, faces an uncertain future. The older party has deep organisational roots and a countrywide network, built over decades, that the Social Democrats does not. But Holly Cairns and Co have been flavour of the month for some time now, typically polling at 10-12 per cent, while Labour is stuck at 3-4 per cent. Bacik brushed it off, but she knows if that trend continued towards an election, she would be cannibalised by her rivals/allies.[ ‘Sinn Féin were never left’: Inside the political splits that threaten the Catherine Connolly coalitionOpens in new window ]Bacik also talked about her ambitions for a left-led Government, which would mean a Sinn Féin-led Government. But she also wants the Social Democrats and the Greens to join with Labour and negotiate as a bloc after the election. The only rationale for that could be to play Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin off each other for the best deal. That could all get a bit complicated. But Labour needs to get into Government – and the party understands that in a way the Social Democrats, maybe, do not. Bacik has to plot a route there. Early on Friday morning, the weather having calmed down a bit, Bacik (an enthusiastic sea swimmer) led a group across the road in Salthill for a bracing dip in Galway Bay. On a beach that was more rocks than sand, with murky seas and bouncy waves, it was tricky underfoot. Getting in and out of the sea was a bit difficult. But once you were in, sure it was only grand. A bit like Government.