Very good news for the socialist left in Irish elections.

Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins with United Left Alliance candidates

Some brief notes from the Irish elections.

From Jimmy Kelly in Dublin

The United Left Alliance (an electoral platform of the Socialist Party, People Before Profit, and Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Group) has had FIVE candidates elected to the Dail.

The ULA is now going to register as a single political party.

The comrades elected are; (Note; elections are by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies.)

Richard Boyd Barrett, (PBP), who defeated the outgoing Fianna Fail deputy leader. He also faced the Labour Party leader Gilmore (elected) and a strong LP candidate Ivana Bacik.

Joan Collins, (PBP), won a seat in a constituency already with established LP and Sinn Fein candidates.

Clare Daly, (SP), who faced popular and long established LP and Green TDs.

Joe Higgins, (SP) who saw the former Fianna Fail minister of finance, Lenihan, reduced to the last elected in his constituency.  Joe also faced the LP deputy Leader, Joan Burton, (elected).

Seamus Healy, (TWUG), who faced a hostile LP (former TWUG councillor), a senior Fianna Fail personality, and a high profile ex-FF critic standing as an independent.

Also elected are; Thomas Pringle, who describes himself as a ‘left’ and who defeated the outgoing Tanaiste, (Deputy Prime Minister). Last year he successfully proposed that Donegal county council refuse to renew contracts with the French multinational, Veolia, for human rights breaches in Palestine.
Mick Wallace, Builder and property developer who owes the banks 40 Million Euro, but has a history of identifying with and financing left and social causes.
There are also a number of left leaning / community candidates who have been elected as Independents, John Halligan, Catherine Murphy, Maureen O’Sullivan etc.

In rural Clare, a young man with no previous political history, stood as a protest candidate over the fact that all his friends have been forced to emigrate, and received about one and a half thousand votes.

Sinn Fein has had a huge success with at least 13 elected, including their top two, Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald.

The Labour Party has had their best ever result, at least 36 elected.

Fianna Fail has been routed with almost all ministers defeated. Many more did not even have the neck to face the anger of the people. Lenihan is the only FF member elected in Dublin. They are down to less than 20 seats.

The Greens have totally been wiped out, and are still unashamingly defending their record of supporting FF.

There are also a handful of conscious right wingers and ‘local’ opportunists who will pursue their own vested agendas.

The ‘winners’, Fine Gael, are a party to the right of Fianna Fail, but have capitalised on the fact that they are not Fianna Fail. They are short of a majority, and to the delight of Labour, will likely share “a stable coalition government” with Labour “to assure the IMF and Euro Banks that we the people will continue to pay the debts”  incurred by the discredited outgoing government.
They openly want to sack tens of thousands of public service workers and privatise the electrical and gas services.

The success of the ULA comrades is also against a mixture of distorted and misleading reporting in the media during the campaign, the ignoring of the candidates and press statements, and the general dismissal by lumping them as ‘independents’.

The LP former leader Rabbitte, has already given the cue that speaking rights in the Dail will be limited to only one ‘Technical’ group, probably hoping that this will be to the of a right grouping.
Labour face savagery by both ULA and SF from the left, thus making it likely that as for Fine Gael, it all downhill for them from here as the increasing cuts bite into workers and their families.

Fianna Fail now face further slaughter in the undemocratic Seanad (Senate) elections and are in serious trouble with party debts quoted as over 5 Million euro and could possibly even disintegrate completely. In any event they will not emerge as a focus of opposition to the coming attacks from FG and Labour.

The United Left Alliance plan to hold a series of public recruiting meetings in conjunction with the registration of the single Party.
They will also be contesting coming elections in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Finally, I personally salute the comrades and their successes.