[lbo-talk] First results announced in Irish general election

cmk1 at eircom.net cmk1 at eircom.net
Sat Feb 26 14:38:47 PST 2011


Don't read too much into the apparent victory of the neo-liberal Fine Gael. The next Irish parliament will have the largest ever left representation. The United Left Alliance already has four seats secured; once it gets to seven it can form a so-called 'technical group' which means it must be given a certain segment of speaking time (thus overcoming 'quaint' liberal democratic parliamentary rules designed to ensure small left parties make no impact).

It looks like the Socialist Workers Party's Richard Boyd Barrett might just secure a seat. Mick Wallace has been elected in Wexford. An utter oddity from a conventional left perspective. A big property developer over the past twenty years, he has been sympathetic to left groups allowing huge banners stating 'People Before Profit' to be draped over the scaffolding of his sites in Dublin; he has provided the Communist Party with arguably the snazziest bookshop in Dublin, and he has employed Turkish construction workers who were sacked by the building firm GAMA when they blew the whistle on this extreme low-pay and exploitation.

Sinn Fein will also be strongly represented in the next Dáil; and they have consistently argued outside of the dominant sado-monetarist orthodoxy. While I personally wouldn't regard them as 'Left' wing, many other Irish people would have no hesitation in doing so. And in Gerry Adams who has been elected in the Louth constituency, they will be led by one of the most important figures in recent Irish history.

Also, the desertion of Fianna Fáil by Irish workers will be a real boon for the socialist Left in years to come. This party's dominance since 1932 has been based upon its ability to cultivate a mass working class backing. It's recent embrace of extreme neo-liberal austerity means that backing in gone, and the material conditions in Ireland are such that the working class will never return to Fianna Fáil in numbers again.

Yes, an avowedly Thatcherite party will lead the next government and some of its prominent members - Leo Varadkar, Lucinda Creighton, Richard Bruton, Simon Coveney - would fit right in with the UK Tories or the Republicans. But things have changed immensely in Ireland, it's game on for the Left and the next few years will be mighty interesting.



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