Labour Party - judge them on actions on power, not promises before the elections

Date:

Here Labour come again, back on our doorsteps to test the waters, to see if we're still mad about the past 5 years of their governance, to find out if we can remember every attack they made against us, probably in the hope that there have been so many that maybe, just maybe, we'll only remember a few.  A party riddled with so much contempt and disdain for us that they genuinely believe they can convince us that things will be different this time. They bombard us with sentences along the lines of "You will get X, Y and Z with Labour in government".

Crudely, they tell us that one of the things we can expect from them is a referendum on the 8th amendment, with top-notch propaganda to go along with that promise, propaganda painting them as pro-woman and pro-choice. There is no propaganda effective enough to cover up the war that they have waged on women for the past 5 years.

Eight separate cuts to lone-parents families (98% of whom are women) have ensured that 56% are in a state of deprivation. Labour then tell these women if their child is over 7 they must "get a job or kiss goodbye to the meagre allowance we bestow upon you", meanwhile childcare facilities are closing down and the state has no interest in providing any assistance.

Labour then, gleefully strip these women and families of their dignity by leaving them to choose between starvation or a visit to the soup kitchen in a throwback to Victorian times.

Those who do manage to get a job can expect to earn 14% less than what a man would in the same role, something of no concern to the so-called "Labour" Party.

They then arrogantly attempt to taunt us further through taking credit for the Marriage Equality referendum - as if we're ignorant enough to believe that the referendum happened through the goodness of their hearts as opposed to the hard work of dedicated activists for nearly a decade.

Daringly, they boast that they Legislated on X. They do this while hoping that no one brings up that Savita Halappanavar was murdered by an abortion law that they upheld, and that if not for her unnecessary death and the outrage that followed they never would have done anything about the X Case.

They tell us they'll Repeal the 8th while in the same breath they sing the praises of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act (PLDPA) which made abortion punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

A law they crafted to be so repelling and complex that only the most desperate would try to use it and when such a situation presented itself Ms Y was given the only care that a misogynistic state can give. They hope we'll forget that the PLDPA allowed for the Irish State to torture Ms Y.

They hope it has slipped our minds that they voted against Clare Daly's bill to allow for abortions in a minority of circumstances. They had an opportunity to give us something after all the hits we took and instead they sent Daly packing.

After five years of this, here we are, covered in scars and battle wounds inflicted upon us by Labour, and here they are, at our doorsteps telling us they will repeal the 8th. How dare they even utter those words.

If there is anything true about politics it is the slogan we have all chanted at rallies we have had to attend to protest their laws: Labour Lie - Women Die.

Words: Fionnghuala Nic Roibeaird