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LEFT PARTIES TRYING to “take each other out” during an election “doesn’t wash anymore”.
Those were the words of newly elected Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin who could only be described as elated as he took a hard-fought seat in the Dublin constituency on Tuesday night.
Much of his success was off the back of transfers from Green Party MEP Ciaran Cuffe in the final rounds of counting, who lost out on the day.
The effective transfers between the Greens and Labour, along with the success of Labour in holding onto its share of council seats, and the Social Democrats almost doubling its number of elected councillors speaks to a wider point.
Is it finally time for the progressive left-wing parties to get their houses in order and combine forces?
Ó Ríordáin said as much this week, stating that it is time for Labour and the Social Democrats to “join forces” and “stop pretending that there’s any difference” between them.
Ó Ríordáin and his party leader Ivana Bacik stopped short of stating there should be an amalgamation of the parties, but he told RTÉ’s Late Debate programme this week that cooperation between centre-left parties is now crucial if parties want to achieve common goals and defeat the far-right.
“It’s time for people on the centre left – ourselves, the Social Democrats and the Greens – to realise what we can achieve together. I think the idea of being in competition with each other and trying to take each other out and take seats off each other, it doesn’t wash anymore,” he said.
It is true to say that Labour is a lot more open to the prospect. The suggestion does not go down so well with the Social Democrats.
It is understandable, to some degree. The SocDems have built the party on the back of the mistrust the electorate had for the Labour Party since it was in government with Fine Gael during the bitter austerity years.
That bad smell has been lingering around the Labour Party for some time now. But is it now fading? If so, is it now time for the Social Democrats to consider the perceived unpalatable move? Or do they risk isolating the supporters they have worked hard to attract.
Cairns has previously said she believes Labour’s approach to government is not “compatible” with her party. She said Labour’s previous record in government supported the privatisation of Bord Gais and penalised lone-parent families, adding:
“It’s all well and good to say: ‘Oh they think they have the same policies as us.’ They don’t have the same practices.”
Upon becoming leader of the Social Democrats, The Journal asked Holly Cairns what the difference was between the two party and Labour. Boos rang out in the room.
The question did not go down well with the grassroots, clearly. Cairns herself said trust has been broken between the people and the Labour party.
Cairns said that day it was a “categoric no” to any future merger with Labour. But does Labour see it differently?
With 91 council seats between the the two parties, they are not shy off Sinn Féin, with 102 seats.
Throw in the Green Party’s 23 seats, and there would be 114 seats, making them a clear and considerable bloc.
When asked about the success of Labour, Cairns said on the Tonight Show on Virgin Media Television this week that she wasn’t particularly concerned that Labour would come for the Soc Dem vote in a general election.
There is no doubt that there is a bright future for the Social Democrats, going by how well it did in the local elections. But if the party is realistic about its prospects of getting into government in the short-term, the party is probably going to have to at least consider the idea of joining forces with other like-minded parties.
Bacik said there is a need for such parties to work together to “offer a real alternative to people who are looking to build an Ireland that works for all and that’s what we’re about”.
While the Social Democrats has repeatedly stated that it has no interest in merging with the Labour Party, former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte told Newstalk last weekend that it is “inevitable” that it will happen.
However, such a merger is probably not on the cards any time soon or before the next election.
So what other options are there?
While much of the focus is on the Social Democrats and Labour, the Greens have also been mentioned when it comes to the idea of a progressive left coalition.
Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan said this week that in her view, the left needs to “get it together”, stating that doesn’t have to mean party mergers, but could mean starting the conversation about coalescing, to some degree.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean one party. That could mean just caucusing together or working together more cohesively,” she said, adding that there is a need to “carve out a space.”
If the speculation is correct, and we are heading into an autumn election, then time is short to forge that space.
One way it could be achieved is by forming an transfer pact or non-aggression pact between Social Democrats, Labour and the Greens during the election, or even being savvy with their candidate selections between all parties.
People Before Profit sought such a pact and wrote to Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and Independent candidates on the left ahead of the local and European elections, proposing a vote-left, transfer-left pact, but it excluded the Green Party and Labour from its plans.
Again, hammering out such a deal would take a lot of time, effort and compromise.
Instead, what would be a more strategic option is to join forces after the general election, when the real business of government formation begins.
There is strength in numbers and in what seats can be delivered.
If Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are holding the cards, or even if Sinn Féin is, for the three centre-left parties to negotiate as a bloc would be to their advantage.
It worked somewhat for independents like Shane Ross, Finian McGrath, Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, Sean Canney and John Halligan previously, whereby the independent TDs joined forces to become the Independent Alliance, picked a handful of issues they wanted action on and negotiated as a team with Fine Gael who needed to make up numbers.
It is not the first time the idea of the left coming together has been floated.
Back in 2010, the United Left Alliance, made up of a number of left-wing parties, said that it would put forward a “a real left alternative in the general election and challenge the austerity and capitalist consensus amongst all the parties in the Dáil”.
The alliance, which fielded around 20 candidates, proved – for various reasons – unsuccessful, not least because of ideological and strategic differences.
Despite plenty of similarities, the parties failed to cohere into a united entity and the alliance proved short-lived – eventually folding in 2013 after the Socialist Party left the grouping.
So, there is no doubt there are challenges in the coalescing of parties, but Labour believes now is the time for progressive left parties to align themselves.
All eyes will be on the likes of Social Democrats now to see if that is something they can agree to.
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The greens had two chances in government. Nothing but higher taxes and no change in climate warming or even Ireland’s well-being. Yet some folks still vote for them. Hard to understand.
@did you every wonder: …and even the small things like homelessness and the health service crisis got worse on their watch..Are they good for anything?
@did you every wonder: Like evey small party in coalition, they were overwhelmed by FFG, combined with a very weak ‘leader’. The younger greens could be a force to be reckoned with and with Shortall and Murphy in the SD’s, it sounds like a really good option and even better when you consider what is there at the moment. The centrist Left need to be more assertive.
Why do people think the greens are left leaning? Tax tax tax on anything that moves. Theyre only interested in cycling and carbon taxes to destroy the working man. The sooner they’re history the better .
@NotGreta: if you think left means no taxes, think again. It’s about how those taxes are being used and who they are taken from.
@NotGreta: Ah but theres good taxes and bad taxes sure….the left would have ya believe taxing the ordinary joe soap who are already struggling for some virtue signalling pet project is good taxes like cycle lanes, energy consuming recycling machines even though we already pay for green bins etc etc but if the right do it for say border controls or something the left dont like its bad taxes….yet the common thing is we pay either way as taxpayers
@Britta Flynn: It’s not that.
The Greens use the ordinary guy to funnel money to business interests. It could be taxes, charges, or any other way to get money to those business interests.
Any examination of (Irish) Greens show that their policies *harm* the environment (& Climate Change).
But are nicely beneficial to business.
Their support for Data Centres is one example.
Another is the consumer bearing the cost for packaging recycling.
Yet another is that recent plastic bottle deposit scheme.
@NotGreta: They will be history after GE. I don’t understand why anybody thinks they will firm part of next government Anyone who pays their taxes have had enough. The environment crises won’t be solved by taxing everything that moves
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: That is totally wrong!! FFG gave the Greens ‘crumbs from their table,’ with FFG being the parties of big business. Ryan is so weak!
Regardless of your views on climate change, it is inevitable that billions are going to be spent on it and the longer it takes to take serious actions, the more expensive it is going to become for the ‘little man’s
A coalition of the centrist left parties or a deal like Hourigan suggested is the way forward.
The left have been a disaster for Ireland. A proper right-wing government is what is needed. Independent Ireland with independents sounds about right
@Miley Byrne: using the avatar of a dead man.
@brian madden: Mikey was a fictional character Brian. I’m sorry to break it to you
@brian madden: Me too
@Miley Byrne: The left has never been in power. Obviously Labour was in government a few years ago but they imposed austerity, not left-leaning policies.
@Miley Byrne: What do you see as a proper right wing policy ?
@Miley Byrne: yes because that’s working so well for every other country that tried it. That is honestly a terrible idea, Ireland needs new parties, ones that actually put the will of the people first, not just cater to themselves. Bring us back to the stone ages why don’t you?
@HAC: Stone Age? Don’t be mad. Bronze Age would be ideal
@Miley Byrne: haven’t they said they’d go into the same EU group as FFG? Anyway the only parties running enough seats to lead a govt are FFG or SF, and FFG will be able to rule alone after the general
@Miley Byrne: avoiding my question there miley, well holy god,I’m not surprised
Ah jaysus I hope not….
FF and FG have zero issues teaming up together and a new generation of Irish are growing up seeing them as one party now anyway so why don’t they just do it. Difference is when your wealthy you’ll enjoy a very good life regardless of your amount of wealth, there isn’t a massive difference among them and they think the same so it’s easier to come together to agree but there are many levels of poverty and working class which then becomes middle class the higher you go, so you have a massive spectrum there of people living vastly different lives of quality making it very easy to fight and argue among one another regarding the most basic of things and smallest amounts of money. The left needs to get their act together. The fact Ireland is one of the few countries in the world where any form left government has never been in charge even once is quite embarrassing. Once Anto and Mary are getting their basic dole they are happy. Other hard workers don’t hang about to get shafted and leave to live in better countries who don’t tax their work to death. Young people wont scratch themselves and walk twenty yards down the road to vote. As things are it would almost be impossible to dislodge even one of FF or FG, unless something drastic was to change.
@Dan The Man: Absolutely spot on.
@Dan The Man: Absolutely bang on with that statement
@Tom Newell: regarding the comment on the dole, what is the unemployment rate at the moment?
@Dan The Man: Absolutely
The three stooges lol
Bacik, O Riordain & Rabbitte crying out for a merger as their own party slides into oblivion. Merger number what for Labour ? They destroyed every other party that joined them, by association. Labour when in power punished those who got up for work every morning, they cannot be trusted, O Riordain is desperate for power. The Greens can’t merge with anyone as they can’t agree with anything other than their own agendas. SF don’t know what they want, flip flop. The SocDems are the Green Party part 2 & will be a disaster in Govt with their policies, they complain about housing but want open borders, realism dictates that you cannot build enough houses at the current rate of influx, let alone for the Irish people already here. A Left Alliance with the loonies in PBP would destroy Ireland.
Those three parties don’t know what their identity is, the greens are just wealthy opportunists, using green to get into govt and onto the gravy train, none of them have any green credentials and are just funneling tax payer money towards their business interests, labour are just FG/FF lite and have no policies of their own, that O’Riordán is a gom, I absolutely can’t believe people voted him into Europe, possibly one of the most anti Irish politicians their is, as for the Soc Dems, they probably mean well but they need to leave the woke b.s behind. You can’t campaign for lack of housing while pushing for unlimited inward migration to exacerbate the already criminal shortage of housing. All our parties from top to bottom need to stop this incessant need to be the top boy in class in Europe and start looking inward to fix the critical problems , in health, housing and education and relieve the massive tax burden they have put on the ordinary working middle class to fund all their pet projects
@Michael McGrath: The people have voted and massively backed FF/ FG and that has to change. Voting for Independents or the ‘anti /radicle’ left or right’ will basically be a vote for FFG at the general election. 50% of people voted, where is the other 50% who couldn’t be bothered. My point is, you have to play with the cards you are dealt. With the General Election less than a year away, you have to VOTE for the party who can restrict FFG the most, even if that means not voting for your preferred choice.
Those 3 wokies are a boil on the side of humanity.
@K O: ‘wokies’. Oh dear.
@K O: the anti-woke bigot parties got 0.9% while woke FFG got 52%!!!!
OMG, a nightmare scenario.
Wow theres a scary prospect, greens have twice screwed the electorate in govenment with their insane policies and well labour is a monster all on its own after moan Joan and power is a drug AK-47 Kelly as leaders and the lasting impression that party left in government….
Good ole Labour, eyeing the gravy train again where they would do what they always have done when they get there, sell out their supporters. This must hit hard at those who thought that Ó Ríordáin was different from Burton, Gilmore etc. As for the idea that the current crop of “Green” politicians are “left”, that is a laugh but they have no problem allowing themselves to be used as a mudguard again should the reward be right.
When an academic misadventure grabs hold of society and finds political support as an exercise in social engineering, dysfunctional dynamics within society happen. It may suit journalists to believe that the electorate adopts right or left politics; however, right politics is often a reaction to dangerous perspectives. In this case, the conviction of controlling human behaviour by how it travels and what it eats equates to controlling the weather/temperatures.
When the taxpayer funds scientific method modelling to the tune of billions, it gets what it deserves. In solar system and large-scale Earth science research covering biology, geology, and climate, the agenda of experimental theorists and their speculative conclusions do not apply and are destructive in the extreme.
@Gerald Kelleher: you may use big words but your still talking nonsense
@John Mcmahon: he is like some of those quacks on Joe rogan that talk and talk and talk but say absolutely nothing. The dunny kru peeps think it’s next level thinking.
@John Mcmahon:
I am the first person to account for the faster-moving Venus and Mercury, as seen from a satellite with its focus on the central Sun.
https://sol24.net/data/html/SOHO/C3/96H/VIDEO/
Normally, it would be inspirational and enjoyed; however, in a society driven by hysteria of academic/social politics, its importance is ignored.
Many commenters come here unaware they are only serving academic funding as opposed to its public face of ‘climate change’. It is a case of being naive before Irish society goes on another misadventure in the belief of right and left politics.
@Gerald Kelleher: “you are the first person to account for blahblahblah”… Would you really be the new Galileo, mocked and misunderstood? If you are so clever, why limit yourself to commenting on The Journal? It’s hardly the ‘Astrophysical Journal’ or ‘Science’, you’re preaching to the wrong audience here.
Or you’re really copying-pasting big worded nonsense to appear cleverer than you actually are, while trying to denigrate those who disagree with you (a well-known extremists’ tactic) and never ever actually answering questions. A frustrated need for recognition? Maybe.
Or you’re just taking the p!ss and having a good laugh at our reactions.
@Jerry LeFrog:
I am the first person to account for the direct/retrograde motions of Venus and Mercury for the simple reason that it takes a satellite free from the observational obstacles of a rotating surface.
https://www.theplanetstoday.com/
Just scroll the dates forward to make sense of the motions of Earth, Venus and Mercury relative to the stationary Sun and Mercury overtaking Venus as seen in the satellite time-lapse.
Galileo could only propose a moving Earth and other planets around the Sun as a hypothesis because, lacking satellite imaging, they were obligated to use the Ptolemaic framework where the Sun moved through the constellations.
The academic community couldn’t care less and that is fine by me. I demonstrate these thing for no financial or reputational gain.
@Gerald Kelleher: I. rest. my. case.
You’re only here for the laughs. (that’s my hope for your sanity)
@Jerry LeFrog:
Funding the academic community for the purpose of social engineering is unhelpful unless you haven’t spotted how academia works in tandem with social politics in the form of perceptual self-laceration.
Cut off funding and climate research loses its appeal to those who make from it.
The highest form of cultural interpretation is astronomy and even though imaging is good enough to make the visual narratives enjoyable, few make the effort.
So, set aside the chatter of insanity and realise that you are funding dire predictions and bad news.
Never want to see; Labour in government again after that clown A.K… also the Greens thinking that taxing the irish workers, penalising them at every opportunity think we are going to stop global warming, when we produce less thn 1% of the pollution…..
I’m sick of the Dying Labour Party trying to hang on to the coat tails of SD
The double crossing of the electorate by Labour isn’t fading !
The Ivana bounce never and will not happen
And Labour Calling the Green( Tory) party left is the most cynical move
Actions speak louder than words and the Green(tories) have not acted as a left wing party
Jog on Labour
FG who tried to push a detrimental referendum.
The only alternative for now is Sinn Fein who forgot about the Housing Crisis and had nothing to bring to the table on immigration, coming up to the election. The alliance talked about will never happen
Please God…No. The greens should be barred from ever entering the Dáil gates again. Labour are sellouts for the working class.
The FF/FG vote is on the decline and Ireland is settling into a more traditional right/left split. It makes sense for them to form an alliance with a shared platform manifesto, transfer pact, smart candidate selection to maximise that vote and seats thereafter. Negotiating as a bloc in any government formation would also strengthen their hand. No need for a merger while this can be achieved easily if certain politicians park their egos. If the soc dems only criticism of Labour is implementation of policy rather than the core of the policies, I think that shows a level of political immaturity around understanding what a junior partner in a coalition can actually achieve in government. If the Soc Dems think they could have done better in those circumstances, let’s see them have a crack at it
@David Healion: labour had several chances to help the working man but stabbed them in the back pat the rabbit now chairman of the most toxic tesla trust labour no trust sd not until they change some of their policies
The purpose of Labour is to gather left leaning votes and present them on a plate for FG and FF to do as they see fit. It’s the very reason why they refuse to entertain a left leaning coalition led by SF, they exist only to serve FG and FF.
Social Democrats are ideologically opposed and aspire to form part of a left government, not to prop up the century old duopoly.
Not in a million years, all these parties are so out of touch.
From bad to worse….
Oh my God!
So merge into one party and stop pretending your different?
It’s a LONG LONG time since labour were even close to being left. Bruton, Gilmore, Kelly, Howlin, destroyed the party and turned so many voters off EVER voting for them again, myself included
The greens stand in the way of infrastructure, of any services that are needed, nothing will ever be built as long as they sit in a position of power unless they start to appreciate that doing ‘nothing’ is not a solution and come to the table with viable solutions across the nation and not just in the 2km part of the country where their preferred options already operate. People now know this after 4 years of very little, as such aligning with either Labour OR the Green will kill SD, they would do well to avoid both.
If ffg can unite to cling on to power then the left and independents should have a voting pact for the next general election.
Labour are not a left wing party and haven’t been for years… Look at their track record.. tax increases – food, fuel, childrens clothes, water charges, etc…. the Greens are definitely not a left wing party… Every time they blink , it’s another tax… They’ll be extinguished in the next election. The Social Democrats have been left wing so far .. but that could change
Best outcome for the country and its economy would be a FF and FG Government without Greens
They could form the United Anti Worker Party!
More free dole for the bone idle!
It makes electorally strategic sense for these parties to coalesce around a shared political and socioeconomic programme. We have too many parties in this little country. Besides, these parties would be more likely to take the climate change crisis more seriously than FF, FG, Sinn Fein, and the looney right. Many of the comments on this platform about the Green Party are unreasonable, illogical, incoherent, and glaring non sequiturs. While the Journal is obviously not The Irish Times or The Guardian, surely contributors can do better!!
SD beware, the Democratic Left were lost without trace after merging with Labour. Better to operate a joint front on agreed policies and present this to whichever party is forming next Gov as a conditional support.
have your say