Labour Party (Ireland)

The Labour Party (Irish: Páirtí an Lucht Oibre) is the third largest political party in the Republic of Ireland. 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.

Related Topics:
Irish - Republic of Ireland - 1912 - James Connolly - James Larkin - William X. O'Brien - Home Rule Act 1914 - Dublin Lockout - 1913 - 1914 - 1916

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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 general election. As a result the party was left out of the Dáil during the vital years of the independence struggle.

Related Topics:
William X. O'Brien - Irish Transport and General Workers' Union - Thomas Johnson - D.D. Sheehan - 1918 - General election - 1921 - Dáil

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The 'Treaty' divided the Labour party. Some members sided with the Republicans. 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 got the party. In the 1923 election Labour only won 14 seats. From 1922 until Fianna Fáil TDs took their seats in 1927, Labour was the major opposition party in the Dáil. It attacked the lack of social reform by the Cumann na nGaedhael government.

Related Topics:
1922 - 1923 - Fianna Fáil - TD - 1927 - Dáil - Cumann na nGaedhael

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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.

Related Topics:
1923 - Irish Worker League

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In 1932 the Labour Party of Eamon 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 as if Labour was about to replace Fine Gael as the main opposition party. In the 1943 general election the party won 17 seats, its best result since 1927.

Related Topics:
1932 - Eamon de Valera - Fine Gael - 1943 - 1927

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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.

Related Topics:
1944 - National Labour Party - 1947

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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 province since Gerry Fitt, then the party's sole Stormont MP, left the party to form the Republican Labour Party in 1964.

Related Topics:
Northern Ireland - Westminster Parliament - Stormont Parliament - Belfast - Gerry Fitt - Republican Labour Party - 1964

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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 leader, became Tánaiste and Minister for Social Welfare on both occasions. In 1960 Brendan Corish became the new Labour 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 election in 1977. Corish resigned immediately after the defeat.

Related Topics:
1948 - 1951 - 1954 - 1957 - William Norton - Tánaiste - 1960 - Brendan Corish - 1973 - 1977 - Fine Gael

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From 1981 to 1982 and from 1982 to 1987, Labour 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 Labour bore much of the blame for unpopular cutbacks in health and othr 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 Workers Party. Fianna Fail formed a minority government from 1987 to 1989 and then a coalition with the Progressive Democrats.

Related Topics:
Fine Gael - 1987 - Marxist - Workers Party - 1989 - Progressive Democrats

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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 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. From this period onwards there has no longer been any significant body of opinion within Labour opposed on principle to governing as the junior partner of more right wing parties. However tactical disagreements over particular coalition options have arisen from time to time.

Related Topics:
1980s - Emmet Stagg - Centre-right - Tralee - Militant - 1990s - Joe Higgins - Socialist Party

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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. Mary Robinson became one of the most outspoken and active Presidents in the history of the state.

Related Topics:
1990 - Mary Robinson - President of Ireland - Douglas Hyde - Fianna Fáil

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In 1993 the Labour Party returned to government, forming a coalition with Fianna Fáil. Dick Spring of Labour became Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. After less than two years the government fell and Labour engaged in somewhat controversial moves to establish a new coalition (this was 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 so-called 'Rainbow Coalition'. Dick Spring of Labour became Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs again.

Related Topics:
1993 - Fianna Fáil - Dick Spring - Tánaiste - 1994 - 1997 - Fine Gael - Democratic Left

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Labour presented the 1997 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 half of its Dáil seats. A poor performance by Labour candidate Adi Roche in the subsequent election for President of Ireland led to Spring's resignation as party leader.

Related Topics:
Parti Socialiste - New Labour - Adi Roche - President of Ireland

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In 1997 Ruairí Quinn became the new Labour leader. the same year, the Labour Party merged with Democratic Left, keeping the name of the larger partner.

Related Topics:
1997 - Ruairí Quinn

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Quinn resigned as leader in 2002 following the poor results for the Labour Party in the general election. Former Democratic Left TD Pat Rabbitte became the new leader, the first to be elected directly by the members of the party.

Related Topics:
2002 - TD - Pat Rabbitte

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In the June 2004 elections to the European Parliament, Proinsias De Rossa retained his seat for Labour in the Dublin constituency. This was Labour's only success in the election.

Related Topics:
2004 - European Parliament - Proinsias De Rossa - Dublin

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