Ask the TDs: Ciaran Lynch on Labour’s leader Eamon Gilmore

Each week in the run up to the General Election, JOE is asking a representitive from each of the main political parties to answer a burning question relevant to Irish men in 2011.

We're not putting any spin on their answers: we ask the question, they give us their answers, and we print what they tell us.

Representing Labour on our virtual panel of Dáil Deputies is the TD for Cork South Central Ciarán Lynch.

Question: "Why is your party leader the right man to lead the country in the years to come and to get us out of the financial mire we’re in? And what qualifies you to represent the young men in your constituency, many of whom will have given up hope in the political elite of Ireland?"

Answered by Labour's Ciarán Lynch TD

While the question asks me to address the loss of hope in Ireland, the loss of faith in our politicians, and how we will get out of the mess that we are currently in, it is important to remember one important thing: Ireland is still a great country.

Yes, we have problems, grave problems. But our abilities are far greater than our problems. There is nothing that the Irish people cannot achieve, nothing that is beyond us. And yes, since the crisis has begun people have lost faith, and feel doubt and foreboding about the future. But we have also found reserves of endurance and energy and patriotism and sheer decency that we didn't realise we had.

I have been struck, since the crisis began, by the number of people who have come up to me with the simple statement. 'I want to help, what can I do?' People whose sense of duty to their country runs deep. People disgusted by what has happened to Ireland, and who want to be part of the solution.

Well now is the time. Now is the time to be part of the solution. None of us can change the country on our own. But together, there is nothing we cannot achieve.

This is the basis on which Eamon Gilmore and the Labour Party is approaching this election. Fundamentally, we see this election as an opportunity for change. To change our country and change its politics. To change from being the victims of change to being the drivers of change.

For the first time ever in the 90 year history of this State, we can elect a Government which is led by neither Fianna Fáil nor Fine Gael. For the first time people have a choice - to elect a Government led by Labour.

This is not simply a choice of party label. It is a choice about the future direction of our country. Our policy platform in this campaign is simple. Labour is the party of jobs. Labour is the party of reform. Labour is the party of fairness. This election is about those issues - jobs, reform and fairness.

Eamon Gilmore is the only party leader in this election who is leading on these issues. He has demonstrated his leadership skills over recent years in opposing the blanket bank guarantee in September 2008 when all other parties in the Dail – Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Green Party, and Sinn Fein – supported it.

He is recognised as being the politician who most articulately and consistently expresses the public mood of anger at the actions of Fianna Fail – whether it be in accusing Brian Cowen of presiding over the economic treason of Ireland, or in forcing the resignation of John O’Donoghue for his extravagance as Minister and Ceann Comhairle. On this basis Eamon Gilmore is consistently ranked as the most popular politician in Ireland.

But Eamon Gilmore and the Labour Party are also proposing a series of reforms to improve the political system on behalf of the people we represent.

We recognise that public confidence in politics and in our system of government and public administration is at an all time low, largely as a result of the abuses that we have experienced during the past 14 years of Fianna Fail led government.

For that reason a priority must also be to reform our institutions and restore public confidence in our democratic system.

To change the broken system we need a new government, but we also need a party in government that can be trusted to deliver on the political reforms that we need.

Labour has an outstanding record in government in the area of political reform. It was Labour that first imposed spending limits for elections; that introduced the Freedom of Information Act and the Ethics in Public Office Act.

One area that is crying out for reform is that of appointments to state boards and agencies. Labour is determined to end the system whereby appointments to state boards are used as a form of political patronage and for rewarding friends and political insiders.

All over Ireland people are hungry for change. Labour alone has the record and experience to ensure that they can deliver the change people want in politics, government and public administration. We have over 140 separate policy proposals to achieve reforms in the way we are governed and we are seeking as strong a mandate as possible in order to change Ireland.

Ciarán Lynch TD is standing for election as a Labour candidate in the Cork South Central constituency. Check out Ciarán's website at ciaranlynch.ie