(
Political Party in the
Republic Of Ireland . Founded by
James Connolly in
1912 as the political wing of the
Irish Trade Union Congress , it claims to be the country's oldest continuous political party. It holds 20 of the 166 seats in
Dáil Éireann and is the third-largest political party in the State. In the
2007 General Election , it gained 10.1% of the popular vote. The Labour Party has served in government for a total of nineteen years, six times in coalition either with
Fine Gael alone or with Fine Gael and other smaller parties, and once with
Fianna Fáil . It is currently the second most successfull party of all the parties in Dail Eireann in terms of time served in government (one year more than Fine Gael). It is currently in opposition.
Eamon Gilmore was elected party leader, following the resignation of
Pat Rabbitte .
''See Also:
History Of The Irish Labour Party ''
In 1912,
James Connolly ,
James Larkin and
William X. O'Brien established the Irish Labour party as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. This party would represent the workers in the expected Dublin Parliament under the Third
Home Rule Act 1914 . However, after the defeat of the trade unions in the
Dublin Lockout of 1913 the labour movement was weakened, and the emigration of James Larkin in 1914 and the execution of James Connolly in 1916 further damaged it.
The
British Labour Party had previously organised in Ireland but agreed to withdraw in favour of the Irish party. A group of trade unionists in Belfast objected and the
Belfast Labour Party , which later became the nucleus of the
Northern Ireland Labour Party , remained outside the new party.
In Larkin's absence,
William X. O'Brien became the dominant figure in the
Irish Transport And General Workers' Union and wielded considerable influence in the Labour Party. O'Brien also dominated the Irish Trade Union Congress. The Labour party, now led by
Thomas Johnson , as successor to such organisations as
D. D. Sheehan 's (independent Labour MP's)
Irish Land And Labour Association (ILLA), declined to contest the
1918 General Election , in order to allow the election to take the form of a plebiscite on Ireland's constitutional status. It also refrained from contesting the
1921 Elections . As a result the party was left out of the
Dáil during the vital years of the independence struggle, though Johnson sat in the First Dáil.
The
Anglo-Irish Treaty divided the Labour party. Some members sided with the Irregulars in the
Irish Civil War that quickly followed. O'Brien and Johnson encouraged its members to support the Treaty. In the
1922 General Election the party won 17 seats. However there were a number of strikes during the first year and a loss in support for the party. In the
1923 General Election the Labour Party only won 14 seats. From 1922 until
Fianna Fáil TD s took their seats in 1927, the Labour Party was the major opposition party in the
Dáil . It attacked the lack of social reform by the
Cumann Na NGaedhael government.
In 1923 Larkin returned to Ireland. He hoped to take over the leadership role he had left, but O'Brien resisted him. Larkin sided with the more radical elements of the party and in September that year he established the
Irish Worker League .
In 1932 the Labour Party supported
Éamon De Valera 's first Fianna Fáil government, which had proposed a programme of social reform with which the party was in sympathy. In the 1940's it looked for a while as if the Labour Party would replace
Fine Gael as the main opposition party. In the
1943 General Election the party won 17 seats, its best result since 1927.
The Larkin-O'Brien feud still continued, and worsened over time. In the 1940s the hatred caused a split in the Labour party and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. In 1944 O'Brien left and founded the
National Labour Party . O'Brien also withdrew the ITGWU from the Irish Trade Unions Congress and set up his own congress. The split damaged the Labour movement in the
1944 General Election . It was only after Larkin's death in 1947 that an attempt at unity could be made.
During this period the party also occasionally stood for election in
Northern Ireland , on occasion winning the odd seat at both the
Westminster Parliament and
Stormont Parliament in the
Belfast area. However the party is not known to have contested an election in the region since
Gerry Fitt , then the party's sole Stormont MP, left the party to form the
Republican Labour Party in 1964.
From 1948–1951 and from 1954–1957 the Labour Party was the second-largest partner in the two inter-party governments.
William Norton , the Labour Party leader, became
Tánaiste and
Minister For Social Welfare on both occasions. See
First Inter-Party Government and
Second Inter-Party Government .
In 1960
Brendan Corish became the new Labour Party leader. As leader he advocated and introduced more socialist policies to the party. Between 1973 and 1977 the Labour Party formed a coalition government with
Fine Gael . The coalition partners lost the subsequent
1977 General Election . Corish resigned immediately after the defeat.
From 1981 to 1982 and from 1982 to 1987, the Labour Party participated in coalition governments with
Fine Gael . In the later part of the second of these coalition terms, the country's poor economic and fiscal situation required strict curtailing of government spending, and the Labour Party bore much of the blame for unpopular cutbacks in health and other social services. In the
1987 General Election it received only 6.4% of the vote, and its vote was increasingly threatened by the growth of the Marxist and more radical '
Workers Party '. Fianna Fáil formed a minority government from 1987 to 1989 and then a coalition with the
Progressive Democrats .
The
1980s saw fierce disagreements between left and right wings of the party. The more radical elements, led by figures including
Emmet Stagg , opposed the idea of going into coalition government with either of the major
Centre-right parties. At the 1989 Labour Party conference in
Tralee a number of socialist and Marxist activists, organised around the
Militant newspaper, were expelled. These expulsions continued during the early
1990s and those expelled, including
Joe Higgins , went on to found the
Socialist Party .
These rows ended with the defeat of the anti-coalition left. In the period since, there have been further discussions about coalitions in the party but these disagreements have primarily been over the merits of different coalition partners rather than over the principle of coalition. Related arguments have taken place from time to time over the wisdom of entering into pre-election voting pacts with other parties. Indeed former radicals like Stagg now themselves support coalition.
In 1990
Mary Robinson became the first
President Of Ireland to have been proposed by the Labour Party, although she contested the election as an independent candidate. Not only was it the first time a woman held the office but it was the first time, apart from
Douglas Hyde , that a non-
Fianna Fáil candidate was elected. In 1990 the Party merged with the
Limerick East TD Jim Kemmy 's
Democratic Socialist Party and in 1992 it merged with
Sligo-Leitrim TD
Declan Bree 's Independent Socialist Party.
At the
1992 General Election the Labour Party won a record 19.3% of the first-preference votes, more than twice its share in the
1989 General Election . The party's representation in
The Dáil doubled to 33 seats and, after a period of negotiations, the Labour Party formed a coalition with
Fianna Fáil , taking office in January 1993 as the
23rd Government Of Ireland . Fianna Fáil leader
Albert Reynolds remained as
Taoiseach , and Labour Party leader
Dick Spring became
Tánaiste and
Minister For Foreign Affairs .
After less than two years the government fell in a controversy over the appointment of
Attorney-General ,
Harry Whelehan , as president of the
High Court . The parliamentary arithmetic had changed as a result of Fianna Fáil's loss of two seats in
By-elections In June , where the Labour Party itself had performed disastrously. On the pretext that the Labour Party voters were not happy with involvement with Fianna Fáil,
Dick Spring withdrew his support for Reynolds as Taoiseach. The Labour Party negotiated a new coalition, the first time in Irish political history that one coalition replaced another without a general election. Between 1994 and 1997
Fine Gael , the Labour Party, and
Democratic Left governed in the ''Rainbow Coalition''.
Dick Spring of the Labour Party became
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs again.
The Labour Party presented the
1997 General Election , held just weeks after spectacular victories for the French
Parti Socialiste and Tony Blair's
New Labour , as the first ever choice between a government of the left and one of the right, but the party, as had often been the case following its participation in coalitions, lost support and failed to retain some of its Dáil seats. A poor performance by Labour Party candidate
Adi Roche in the subsequent election for
President Of Ireland led to Spring's resignation as party leader.
In 1997
Ruairi Quinn became the new Labour Party leader. Negotiations started almost immediately and in 1999 the Labour Party merged with Democratic Left, keeping the name of the larger partner.
Quinn resigned as leader in 2002 following the poor results for the Labour Party in the
2002 General Election . Former Democratic Left
TD Pat Rabbitte became the new leader, the first to be elected directly by the members of the party.
In the
2004 Elections to the
European Parliament ,
Proinsias De Rossa retained his seat for the Labour Party in the
Dublin constituency. This was the Labour Party's only success in the election. In the
Local Elections held the same day, the Labour Party won over 100 county council seats, the first time ever in its history, and emerged as the largest party in Dublin City and Galway city.
Prior to the 2004 local elections, Party Leader Pat Rabbitte had endorsed a mutual transfer pact with Fine Gael leader
Enda Kenny . Rabbitte proposed the extension of this strategy, named "the
Mullingar Accord" after a meeting between Rabbitte and Kenny in the
County Westmeath town, at the 2005 Labour Party National Conference.
Rabbitte's strategy was favoured by most TD's, notably Deputy Leader
Liz McManus ,
Eamon Gilmore , who had proposed a different electoral strategy in the 2002 leadership election, and former opponent of coalition
Emmet Stagg . Opposition to the strategy was identified with
Brendan Howlin , who was perceived to be in favour of coalition with Fianna Fáil, and
Kathleen Lynch and
Tommy Broughan , who opposed the boost that would be given to Fine Gael in such a strategy. Outside the PLP, organised opposition to the pact came from
Labour Youth and the
ATGWU , who opposed the pact on political and tactical grounds. Nevertheless, the strategy proposed by Rabbitte was supported by approximately 80% of members.
In the
2007 General Election the Labour Party failed to increase its seat total and had a net loss of 1 seat, returning with 20 seats. Fine Gael, the Labour Party, the
Green Party and independents did not have enough seats to form a government. Pat Rabbitte resisted calls to enter negotiations with
Fianna Fáil on forming a government. Eventually, Fianna Fáil entered government with the
Progressive Democrats and the Green Party with the support of independents.
On
23 August ,
2007 , Pat Rabbitte resigned as Labour Party leader. He stated that he took responsibility for the outcome of the recent general election, in which his party failed to gain new seats and failed to replace the outgoing government.
On
6 September ,
2007 , Eamon Gilmore was unanimously elected leader of the Labour Party, being the only nominee after Pat Rabbitte's resignation.
Within the Labour Party there are different sections:
- Labour Youth
- Labour Women
- Labour Trade Unionists
- Labour Councillors
- Labour Equality (this section also includes groups such as Labour LGBT and Labour Disability)
Like its counter-part the UK
Labour Party (UK) , the Irish Labour Party constitution makes provision for both Trade Unions and Socialist Societies to affiliate to the party. There are currently twelve Trade Unions affiliated to the Party:
Socialist Societies Affiliated to the Party:
- Labour Party Lawyers Group
- Association of Labour Teachers
- Labour Social Services Group
