Labour Party Páirtí an Lucht Oibre | |
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Leader | Ivana Bacik |
Seanad leader | Rebecca Moynihan[1] |
Parliamentary Party Chairperson | Seán Sherlock |
Chairperson | Lisa Connell |
General Secretary | Billie Sparks |
Founders | |
Founded | 28 May 1912 |
Headquarters | 2 Whitefriars, Aungier Street, Dublin |
Youth wing | Labour Youth |
Women's wing | Labour Women |
LGBT wing | Labour LGBT |
Membership (2020) | ~3,000[2][needs update] |
Ideology | Social democracy[3] |
Political position | Centre-left[4] |
European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
International affiliation | |
Colours | Red |
Anthem | "The Red Flag" |
Dáil Éireann | 6 / 160 |
Seanad Éireann | 4 / 60 |
Local government | 56 / 949 |
European Parliament | 1 / 14 |
Website | |
labour | |
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Organised labour |
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The Labour Party (Irish: Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, lit. 'Party of the Working People') is a centre-left[5][6][7] and social democratic[8][9] political party in the Republic of Ireland.[3] Founded on 28 May 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin, and William O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trades Union Congress,[10] it describes itself as a "democratic socialist party" in its constitution.[11]
Labour continues to be the political arm of the Irish trade union and labour movement and seeks to represent workers' interests in the Dáil and on a local level. Unlike many other Irish political parties, Labour did not arise as a faction of the original Sinn Féin party, although it merged with the Democratic Left in 1999, a party that traced its origins back to Sinn Féin. The party has served as a partner in coalition governments on eight occasions since its formation: seven times in coalition either with Fine Gael alone or with Fine Gael and other smaller parties, and once with Fianna Fáil. This gives Labour a cumulative total of twenty-five years served as part of a government, the third-longest total of any party in the Republic of Ireland after Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Led by Ivana Bacik, it is the joint fifth-largest party in Dáil Éireann, with six seats, and is the joint third-largest party in Seanad Éireann, with four seats, making Labour the fifth-largest party in the Oireachtas overall as of 2021. It currently has 1 MEP. The Labour Party is a member of the Progressive Alliance,[12] Socialist International,[13] and Party of European Socialists.[14]