Labour leader Ivana Bacik has called on Independent TDs to "step-up" and back her party's no-confidence motion in the Government next week over the lifting of the eviction ban.
She said: "We know that there will be an increased level of homelessness... so we're appealing to them to support the motion... and acknowledge that Government has failed in addressing this housing disaster."
Deputy Bacik made the comments to reporters at the opening of the Labour Party's 72nd national conference in Cork this evening.
Her Cork colleague, deputy Seán Sherlock, contended there is now widespread fear of eviction among renters, as a result of the Government's decision.
He said: "The reason we're so exercised is because we're being contacted by thousands of people who are expressing that fear to us."
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Deputy Sherlock argued there was "no reason" for the Government to lift the ban and said it is only happening because the Coalition is "out of touch".
Asked how long the eviction ban should be extended by, the Labour leader said the Government failed to use the last six months, when the ban was in place, to adopt the necessary emergency measures.
Ivana Bacik added that rather than putting forward an arbitrary date, it would be better to adopt an "evidence based approach" such as four consecutive months in which the homelessness figures go down.
Pressed for an indicative date for extending the ban, Ms Bacik said "an additional period of three or four months could, potentially, have given Government the breathing space to put in place those emergency measures".
The @labour leader @ivanabacik
— Paul Cunningham (@RTENewsPaulC) March 24, 2023
had called on Independent TDs to "step-up" and back her party's no confidence motion in the government next week over the lifting of the eviction ban. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/qwDZVtez1J
Of 86 motions before the Labour conference this weekend, 17 are focused on the housing crisis.
Election choice 'not binary' - Kelly
Former party leader Alan Kelly has said that the next election cannot be defined by an electoral choice between "... the old stale reactionary parties of the right versus the alternative of populist utopian nationalism."
At #LP23 - @alankellylabour says that the next election can't be defined by an electoral choice between "... the old stale reactionary parties of the right versus the alternative of populist utopian nationalism."@rtenews 1/3 pic.twitter.com/WZRoOR33mD
— Paul Cunningham (@RTENewsPaulC) March 24, 2023
He told his party conference that Labour needs to ensure "that this is not a binary choice in any election". "There has to be a third option," he said.
"We absolutely have to be successful to give people that choice."
In his first address since standing down as leader, he said that Labour needed to "return our roots" and focus on the real issue facing people - "economic inequality".
Speaking with a voice that sometimes faltered, the Tipperary TD said that he "loved the Labour Party".
He also noted pointedly that this was "the first national conference we had since I was elected leader by you, the members, in 2020".
"And I want to take this opportunity to obviously thank you - each and every one of you for giving me the most special honour of my life," Mr Kelly.
He said the party has to now "look forward" in a party united under Ms Bacik's leadership, adding that there was now a real opportunity for the party to "flourish".
Deputy Kelly said Labour needed to re-assert itself as the party of those who were "running to stand still".
He said the party could win back the trust of voters by renewing its traditional mandate: "When people are working all week but only working to barely get by, we must realise that as a country we are failing our citizens."
Left-led government
Another theme to be advanced at the national conference is the value in achieving a left-led, green/red government, which can "transform communities, and be a constructive force for progressive change".
The difficulty for the party is that others on the left, like the Social Democrats and Solidarity-People Before Profit, have ruled-out working with Labour due to its record in government between 2011 and 2016.
.@labour leader @ivanabacik throws a 🥊: We are the only party on the left ever to have served in Govt. That has to change. We want to see a left-led Govt. Others might be content to remain in a state of permanent opposition; but we are serious about delivering change. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/e9MD97oJ9T
— Paul Cunningham (@RTENewsPaulC) March 24, 2023
Key policy areas to be discussed this weekend include:
Housing: how to ensure a housing model where the State takes a central role, the common good comes first, and where everyone has a right to housing.
Work: how to continue to deliver real benefits for working people by implementing the party's charter workers' rights.
Climate: how to make Ireland a leader on climate action by overcoming the Government's lack of ambition and political unity.
Care: how to secure universal healthcare, free GP care, and a public childcare scheme with a guaranteed pre-school place for every child.
Labour currently has 56 councillors and there are training sessions this weekend to assist the more than 100 candidates who are running in the Local Elections in May of next year. The party says that number will increase.
The leader's address is an opportunity for Ms Bacik to define what her party stands for, at a time when Sinn Féin is riding high in the polls and the Social Democrats have secured a bounce with the election of its new leader, Holly Cairns.
The leader's speech will be broadcast live on RTÉ One and the RTÉ News channel at 6.30pm tomorrow evening.
