--- On Thu, 5/21/09, Wendy Lyon <wendy.lyon at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure whether you're referring to organised labour
> or the
> ordinary proles. The former are now quite clearly social
> democratic
> (albeit with a socialist minority) and while their roots
> may lie in
> nationalism that can't be said to be the case any longer,
> given their
> organic links to the Labour Party which is probably the
> most
> anti-nationalist party of any significance in this part of
> Ireland.
[WS:] Yes, but what is the Labour's share of the parliamentary seats? 12% or so last time I checked.
My point was that national welfare system is, for the most part, a function of the strength of organized labor and its political arms (social democrats and socialists). The weaker the labor the smaller the welfare state or perhaps the more of the public welfare services farmed out to organized religion under the umbrella of "subsidiarity." That seems to be the case in Ireland, no?
Wojtek