Why I'm Voting for Labour in #ge16

Back in 2011 the current government took office less than three months after Ireland entered a troika bailout. It was a sobering time for the Irish economy. We were unable to borrow at anywhere near market rates to fund ongoing public finance commitments. The rate of unemployment was 14.3% in February 2011 and rising. Ireland's debt/GDP was 111% in 2011 and 120% in 2012. There were over 444.000 people on the live register in February 2011. In short, the economy had been ruined by a combination of an inept government, inept regulation, international financial crisis, and domestic fiscal irresponsibility.

As we elect a new government, the situation has undoubtedly improved. Unemployment is 8.8% (a 42% decline in the rate from a high of 15.2%). The number of people on the live register is just under 322,000 (a decline of almost 30% from it's February 2011 level). The debt/GDP ratio was 98% in 2015. This has been, without question, a significant achievement. 

There have been suggestions recently that the government cannot claim credit for the economic recovery, since they hid behind the troika in implementing the spending cuts, pay freezes, and increased charges. The implication of this is that really it doesn't matter who is in government, since the recovery would have happened anyway. I am not convinced. Several of the parties doing well in the current opinion polls suggested that we should have told the troika to keep their money and played hardball with other eurozone and EU countries on writing down our debt. This would have been economic suicide. The recovery is evidence that the right, difficult course of action was taken on the economy. We do not face decades of decline and isolation that such a default would have produced.

Of course it is the case that some have not benefited fully from the recovery. Unemployment is still at 8.8%, which means many (including lots of young people) are still out of work. Many more had to emigrate to find work. However, was it ever realistic that the problems, which took almost a decade to create and caused such a deep crash, could be resolved fully in 5 years? 

The choice it seems now is between a government that has overseen a remarkable reversal in the fortunes of the economy and financial positions of a majority of our people, or the party that oversaw the crisis, a cabal of independents, or parties that opposed every single economic policy that produced the turnaround and proposed we adopt a Syriza-approach. The opposition to this government has intensified around the issue of water charges. Water charges are €160 per year for a household. The approach to the economy proposed by Sinn Fein and the Anti-Austerity Alliance would've cost households far more than €160 a year.

It isn't just for economic reasons I find myself supporting Labour. This government has proposed and successfully negotiated a referendum on marriage equality and it legislated for the X case. I do not believe these would have been done by a Fine Gael majority government. I want the next government to repeal the eight amendment and then to legislate on a woman's right to choose, and Labour are the only party with a record on this.

The most vocal criticism of Labour in this campaign is that they broke their promises from the 2011 election. How many of those criticizing Labour for broken promises actually voted for them in the last election. Labour took 19% of the vote and won 37 seats. Their government partners had more than double the number of seats (at 76). How a party is to implement all of its policies and promises while holding a third of the seats in government is hard to fathom? In any event, the most important promise was to fix the economy, something which is obviously in train.

There are still problems, such as homelessness and housing crises, the health system's perennial difficulties, and youth unemployment. There has to be a realization of just how broken our economy was at the start of this decade. I sense we have forgotten how close we came to going under.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a member of Labour or involved with their campaign. Like all public sector workers my pay was reduced during the recession, and I've seen continued cuts to resources for third-level institution.)