ANALYSIS:THE LABOUR Party is like one of the less-prominent hurling counties which wakes up one day to a mixture of good and bad news.
The good news is it is in the All-Ireland final. The bad news is the other team is Kilkenny.
Like Kilkenny, Fine Gael is going through a phase where it seems it can do no wrong.
Even worse, from Labour’s point of view, is the fact that Fine Gael’s good fortune is at the expense of the smaller party in Government.
Nothing new in that of course and internal opponents of coalition have argued for decades there is no long-term percentage in propping up a Fine Gael-led administration.
Nevertheless, Labour chose by an overwhelming majority to enter this Government and, having made its bed, must lie in it for the foreseeable future.
Eamon Gilmore warned at the time of “forests of placards” protesting at future decisions but there were no demonstrators in evidence at the Mount Wolseley hotel in Tullow, Co Carlow, over the last few days.
The atmosphere at these annual “think-ins” has changed utterly since Brian Cowen’s self-destructive party-piece at the Fianna Fáil gathering in Galway exactly a year ago now.
But in addition to the restraint introduced by the need for political self-preservation, there was a further degree of sobriety entirely due to the sombre state of the economy and the extremely challenging decisions to be faced.
Gilmore spelt it out starkly in his opening address. No social democratic party in Europe has ever had to confront a crisis quite like this.
The old solutions no longer work and pragmatic new thinking is required. Social welfare is, of course, the big test for Labour.
Historically, the party has always sought to protect this area but now it is trapped in a corner from which there is no obvious escape.
There is irony in the fact that one of the more left-wing members of the parliamentary party, Joan Burton, is the Minister for Social Protection.
One is reminded of Churchill’s wartime choice of left-winger Stafford Cripps as minister of aircraft production, supposedly to teach him the facts of political life. Right-wingers, both in and out of Government, are no doubt rubbing their hands at the prospect of the outspoken Burton having to bite the social welfare bullet in coming months.
It is a huge test for her. The Minister is trying to promote the concept of social welfare as a temporary respite prior to rejoining the workforce, with possible penalties for those who make no serious effort to get off it.
This approach may come as a culture shock in some quarters.
At the same time she has signalled, in a detailed speech to the MacGill Summer School, that she expects reciprocal sacrifices from elements such as tax exiles.
As Gilmore likes to point out, Labour is now the second-largest party in the State. It has twice as many TDs as Fianna Fáil. But Fine Gael’s Dáil presence is four times greater than that of the Soldiers of Destiny, which leaves Labour with only one-third of the 15 Cabinet positions.
Inevitably, there is some grumbling in the parliamentary party from those who would have seen themselves as potential ministers or junior ministers.
A newspaper report that Gilmore was insufficiently assertive at Cabinet also struck a chord with some Labourites.
Nevertheless, there is no sign of incipient revolt against the leadership or of a move to distance the party from Fine Gael. Indeed, Gilmore has been at pains to stress the unity of the Government.
However, the recent Sunday Times/Behaviour and Attitudes poll showing Fine Gael gaining in popularity at Labour's expense did not go unmarked by the TDs and Senators in Tullow this week. For now, however, they are constrained by the reality that if they do not hang together they will assuredly hang separately.
