Politics

Labour will have doubled in size by next election, says Howlin

Party written off many times but has always bounced back, leader tells think-in in Dublin

Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin with TDs and Senators at the party’s think-in at the Mansion House. “I think we can double our number of TDs and probably a lot more.” Photograph: Cyril Byrne
Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin with TDs and Senators at the party’s think-in at the Mansion House. “I think we can double our number of TDs and probably a lot more.” Photograph: Cyril Byrne
Sarah Bardon
Sat Sept 24 2016 - 01:00

Labour intends to double its representation at the next general election, party leader Brendan Howlin has said.

Speaking at Labour’s think-in in Dublin yesterday, Mr Howlin said he had set a series of targets ahead of the next election.

The first, he said, would be to double its membership, from 4,000 to 8,000. “I want them to be inclusive members involved in policy formation,” he said.

“In terms of the number of councillors, we have 50 councillors and I think we can have a target in the next local election of 100 council seats,” he said.

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Unlucky election

“In terms of TDs, we were unlucky in the last election,” Mr Howlin said. “A number of colleagues were very close. I think we can double our number of TDs and probably a lot more.”

Labour, which has seven elected TDs and five Senators, gathered for its annual think-in in the Mansion House in Dublin for the past two days.

Mr Howlin said the aim was to rebuild the party after a disastrous election result.

He said Labour has been written off many times before but has always bounced back.

Mr Howlin said 500 members had joined the party in the summer and an additional 300 college students were recruited in Cork last week.

A new generation

In a speech to the Dublin Economic Workshop later, the party leader said he is focused on on building a movement that can inspire another generation of Labour supporters, activists and politicians.

Mr Howlin said the so-called new politics, as well as the lack of debate and decisions, are failing the Irish people.

“Ireland may survive this experiment in ‘no government’ for a while. But in the long term, I believe it will be damaging to our nation’s future.

“There are some that believe that my tenure in government should preclude me from critiquing and opposing the current Government. I disagree.

“In fact, my recent experience in government allows me to critique and oppose from a particularly informed viewpoint,” he said. “And being in Opposition allows me to make a more blunt and honest critique than is sometimes possible for a Minister.”