Labour needs to compete on its own terms

Labour should not seek to compete with the ultra-left or permit itself to be written out of the economic recovery

The oldest democratic party in the state will convene for its 69th annual conference in Wexford next weekend. Ever since the then party leader, Tom Johnson, drafted the democratic programme for the first Dáil in 1919, the Labour party, more than most, has experienced the vicissitudes of political and electoral fortunes.

Labour meets in Wexford for the first time since its worst-ever electoral performance in last year’s general election. After five blistering years ...