'Country will rip itself apart' over social divisions
Labour leader says Cowen's sabre rattling may reap a bitter harvest as Ireland faces into abyss
Sunday November 15 2009
The Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore has issued a chilling warning that Ireland may "rip itself apart'' if the country doesn't work together to resolve its economic crisis.
In a speech at the Labour Party pre-Budget seminar, Mr Gilmore warned the Government that its current "sabre rattling bouncer'' mentality could reap a bitter harvest of "division and conflict''.
Speaking separately to the Sunday Independent, Mr Gilmore noted that the level of public anger "is far wider than the template set by the miners strike in Britain''.
In a stark analysis of the Irish political scene, he said: "Unless we as a people pull together, Ireland will be facing a dark abyss of serious social division."
The Labour leader also issued a warning that the current "mixture of anger and despair is creating a deadly cocktail, sapping national morale and energy that was sorely needed".
Mr Gilmore made a cautious commitment to support the Government should it take the actions his party believes are required.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, he said that Labour accepts the scale of the crisis. And, in a position which will increase the political isolation of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, he said the party agrees that reform of the public finances can no longer be postponed.
The Labour leader said he would support the Government if it took the correct actions and pledged that the party would not "oppose for the sake of opposition''.
Although Mr Gilmore said he believes the country needs "a national agreement'' on the way forward, he warned the Government that if they approach the issue "in a ham-fisted way, there will be social unrest and division''.
In an implicit rebuke to the planned day of protest on November 24 by the trade union movement, Mr Gilmore told the Sunday Independent that a prolonged period of industrial unrest would send "a very damaging signal to the outside world''.
He also slammed the Government's apparent support for "those hard-line commentators who believe the more howls they hear from class-rooms and the more squeals they hear from hospitals, the better they believe things are''.
The Labour Party leader also agreed that for public sector reform to work, jobs would have to be lost.
In a sombre warning to the trade union movement, he also said "it will serve no one's interest to go down the road of conflict and industrial action''.
However, he also warned Taoiseach Brian Cowen about the need for consensus, saying: "If in bad times you walk all over people, in good times they will get their own back.''
The Labour leader also said that the growing "national nervousness about the possibility of people losing their homes'' is a major problem. Despite rampant "cynicism and division", Mr Gilmore believes "there is a mood out there to sort the crisis out''.
But Mr Gilmore said the fear of repossessions is "sapping morale and confidence, pummelling people and damaging the mood music that is necessary for people to get back out to the shops once again''.
- JOHN DRENNAN
Sunday Independent
