Labour Youth adopt Starry Plough

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Monday December 01, 2003 14:45 by David

At the Labour Youth conference held in Nenagh over the weekend, delegates voted to re-adopt the starry plough as the official emblem of Labour Youth. The decision was symbolic of a general move towards the left by Labour Youth over the last number of years.

The conference, the largest LY event in many years, was attended by young people and students from all over the country and adopted a number of left wing policy positions. A Pro choice motion was endorsed demanding the availability of free, safe and legal abortion in Ireland. Delegates denounced privatisation in all its forms and the conference unanimously supported the boycott Coke campaign which LY members have already been active in around the country. There were also several positions taken in favour of equal rights for same sex couples with regard to marriage, adoption and state benefits including pensions and taxation.

The conference also condemned any future coalitions with any party of the right, unless Labour was the majority party.

There were two workshops, one on resisting cutbacks in colleges and the other was about the boycott Coke campaign in defence of Colombian trade unionists.