Has the Labour Party forgotten its roots?

A long term Labour supporter in conversation last night was discussing what he felt was wrong with Labour. Labour was set up and has its roots in the working class and trade unions within Ireland but has now been taken over by the D4 intelligensia (sic) and other factions and its original roots have been sidelined. James Larkin and Co originally set up Labour as a part of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions but now nearly a hundred years later Labour seems vastly different from what is was originally set up for. We are seeing attacks on the working class in terms of cuts to social welfare and cuts to other benefits from the Minister for Misery, Joan Burton and then we have the rest of the Labour brigade who rightly are fighting for civil rights for the gay community (of which I fight for aswell) but they seem to have completely forgotten that there is other areas where they are to meant to be fighting. There is household charges, wage cuts, job losses, USC , income tax being potentially raised and other numerous issues and Labour has stood idly by while all these have been brought in. Social issues have taken precedence , Im behind them in their support for gay marriage and abortion but alone is not enough to fight for the rights of the working class whom they have abandoned. In the next election, if they get savaged they have no one to blame but themselves. Gilmore and Co better buck up and fight for working class rights. The issues they are fighting for are across class but they need to remember there is other issues too.

How held back is Ireland due to the church?

Irelands religious have their fingers in a lot of pies and while the church does not play a big role now in terms of legislation a lot of groups with ties to the church still hold a strong lobbying position. As was detailed in the Turn off the Blue lights site(http://www.turnoffthebluelight.ie/the-opposition/organisations/) on prostitution on the links between the various religious groups, we see more and more religious influenced faith groups now voicing their objection to things such as abortion, same sex marriage etc. With this in mind how far would we have come if these groups did not exist and how far would be socially without the church and other faith based organisations? Thanks to the church condoms would not be legal for years until there was ruling that we had a right to contraception and family planning (remember the pill train?).

Should the IRA apologise for past atrocoties?

http://www.thejournal.ie/mcguinness-...05871-Jul2012/

Maguinness has effectively said that there is not going to be an apology . But should there be for the crimes that were carried out or should we just forgive and forget? It is a contentious issue. If an issue like this was raised on other forums it would descend into trolling and sniping so at least I know on PW the topic will be treated with respect

If you cant beat them, join them...

This was an idea I bandied about on other political forums a few years back and was met with derision but to me its unconventional but outside the box thinking. Orange marches are marches in which the marchers are celebrating the Battle of the Boyne and seek to further alienate nationalist tenants in estates in Northern Ireland every July 12th. We being the fighting Irish tend to protest and year in year out there is always clashes of sorts with fighting and bottle throwing and other sorts of trouble. Could we not change all that and have a joint Orange/Nationalist march. The lodges do not allow Catholics to join I understand but if we cannot beat them then why not join them? Nationalists ask be allowed to join the parade but under the banner of celebrating all things Irish . This is extending a hand of friendship to the Orange order and Unionist community and is essentially love bombing them . The end result will be that the tenets of the organisation will essentially be undermined so much so that they are killed with love. Im well aware of the animosity between the Orange Order and the Nationalist community so perhaps this unorthodox thinking outside the box method may actually work?