Liam aims for Labour’s first council seat in Breffni county

A Cavan student has taken on the challenge of increasing Labour’s vote six-fold in order to become their first councillor since local authorities were reconfigured.

Liam van der Spek has recently been appointed as the Labour Party’s representative for Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District and is already targetting a seat at Cavan Council chamber. Fortunately for Liam - whose surname reflects the Dutch heritage of his father, Cavan General consultant paediatrician Dr Nick van der Spek - the next local elections are not scheduled until 2019 as the 22-year-old faces a mammoth task.
Labour came close in 2009 when Liam Hogan was edged out for the final seat having taken a commendable 831 first preference votes, where the quota was 1,105 – however at that time there were seven seats up for grabs. In 2014, Mary Croke took just 187 first preference votes for Labour and was eliminated on the third count with a total of 201 votes; almost 1,100 shy of the quota of 1,296. The sixth and final seat was won by Eugene Greenan (863 first preference votes), giving Sinn Féin, Fine Gael and a resurgent Fianna Fáil each equal spoils.
“Mary Croke ran a good campaign, but it was a very tough year for the party, so it was a really big uphill struggle,” says Liam van der Spek. The Celt interjected to remind him that if he’s to win he'll need to add over 1,000 votes.
 

Different place

“I think the party is in a different place now; especially two years from now that's going to be different again.
“We’re out of government, we’re in opposition and I think we are the most articulate critic of this current government and its failings – like the current budget where it failed to invest in public expenditure, and just focus on small tax cuts and I don’t think that’s what people are interested in now – I think people are interested in building a country that is focussed on actually looking after people and having public services that work – and not the tokenistic horse trading between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, that we've seen time and time again. So I think people will respond to that.
“I know we didn't do everything right in government, I don't think anyone could claim we did, but I think that the party has certainly reflected on that, taken into account where it went wrong and listened to members, and I think the Labour Party is essential for the country and I think it's going to play a big role in the entire country's future.”
 

Impressive

Liam’s a very impressive speaker, which is surprising given his youth and the fact that this is his first interview. A final year degree student, taking Computer Science in UCD, The Anglo-Celt notes it would be hard to turn down a job, say in Dublin after graduation, which may get in the way of his intention to run for election.
“I’m happy to commute if that's the case,” says Liam. “Politics is something I take very seriously; it is certainly something I would consider having a career in.”
A press release announcing Liam’s intention to run could be interpreted as principled or naive, or both, when he writes: “I’m passionate about changing this country for the better. I want to contribute to making Ireland a more modern, just and equal society.”
The party has yet to appoint a representative to County Cavan’s other two municipal districts. The Celt cynically wonders what can one Labour Party representative achieve, even if he does make it to Cavan County Council, which has limited power?
Liam believes the council has a more co-operative ethos than national politics which will permit him to make an impact locally. He lists areas which particularly interest him politically as education, affordable housing, broadband infrastructure, expansion of public healthcare, and public transport initiatives.
“There are a lot of good Labour councillors, who do not have big majorities in their local council, but who still push for a lot of good policies, and work with people to get a little bit of change - and if you get a few things done, that's better than nothing I think.”
So he would be happy with small changes?
“As much [change] as possible, but you have to be realistic of course. I don’t think that just because it's a hard challenge you should give up. I don’t think we should go: ‘Oh well Labour doesn’t have much of a chance of getting many seats, well why not get none at all’ – I don’t think that's a good attitude if you want to make a difference. ”
Liam says he hopes to affect change, yet joined a party in late 2015 which had the chance to affect change while it was in Government.
“I’m not someone who follows trends. I joined the party because I believe in it,” he contends.
He believes the Labour Party has “proper, principled left policies” and crucially for Liam, the party will pursue them by entering government.
“They want to implement them by actually going into government and actually doing it – not just talking about it like other left wing parties tend to.”
 

Middle class

He refutes the assertion that the party suffers in its left wing appeal, because it's perceived as a middle classed party and points to Senator Ged Nash’s work on workers' rights and collective bargaining, and the party’s policies on raising the minimum wage.
“I think we’re the only party who are engaged with people who work – whether that’s someone who you would call middle class, or people earning minimum wage – I think we’re the only party taking those issues seriously.
“Who else are you going to take on the left? The People Before Profit and AAA – they are only interested in talking about issues – they would never want to go into government, never want to work with anyone else, they just talk about a scenario they find ideal but it’s never going to come close to fruition because they are not concerned about actually getting anything done. So for someone on minimum wage, I think Labour is the best party to vote for - by a landslide.

Split

He doesn’t have an answer to why Labour hasn't managed to break through in Cavan politics, but he suspects that the traditional larger parties are not as dominant as they once were.
“We’ve seen a trend of the two major parties declining and with AAA, the Social Democrats and the Green Party there’s now a lot more of a split - we have seen it across Europe, and I think that's good, it’s healthier to have a bit more of a broader discussion, at national level as well as a local level.”