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People Before Profit

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ambrose Trappe (talk | contribs) at 15:39, 1 April 2021 (Undid revision 1015445884 by Ivan Ch RU (talk) Since Paul Murphy joined the party has 4 TDs, not 3, as correctly noted in the text of the page.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the English political party, see Lewisham People Before Profit.

People Before Profit
Pobal Roimh Bhrabús[1]
LeaderCollective leadership[2]
FoundedOctober 2005
Headquarters5 Henrietta Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
IdeologySocialism[3]
Trotskyism[4]
Anti-capitalism[5]
Irish reunification[6]
Political positionLeft-wing[7][8][9]
National affiliationSolidarity–People Before Profit
European affiliationEuropean Anti-Capitalist Left
Colours  Red
  White
Dáil Éireann
4 / 160
Northern Ireland Assembly
1 / 90
House of Commons
(NI Seats)
0 / 18
Local government in the Republic of Ireland
7 / 949
Local Government (NI)
4 / 462
European Parliament (Republic of Ireland)
0 / 13
Website
pbp.ie

People Before Profit (Template:Lang-ga, PBP) is a socialist political party formed in October 2005.[10] It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

History

Socialist Environmental Alliance was a party lead by Goretti Horgan that operated between 2003 and 2008 before merging in People before Profit

PBP was established in 2005 as the People Before Profit Alliance by members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a Trotskyist organisation affiliated to the International Socialist Tendency (IST).[10][11][12] The Community & Workers Action Group (CWAG) in south Dublin joined the alliance in 2007 and brought along the party's first elected representative, Joan Collins, an anti–bin tax campaigner and former member of the Socialist Party.[13]

The Socialist Environmental Alliance (SEA) was a political party which operated in Northern Ireland, based largely in the city of Derry.

The SEA contested the Northern Ireland Assembly 2003 election in the East Londonderry and Foyle seats (reflecting the party's Derry base). They polled poorly in East Londonderry, with candidate Marion Baur gaining only 137 first preference votes (only 0.4% of the total), although in Foyle Eamonn McCann gained 2,257 first preference votes (5.5% of the total).

They also contested the 2004 elections to the European Parliament, with Eamonn McCann their candidate. He won 9,172 first preference votes, or 1.6% of the total cast. McCann then stood in the 2005 general election in the Foyle constituency, winning 3.6% of the vote.

McCann again stood for the organisation in Foyle in the 2007 Assembly election. The group was dissolved in 2008 with most of it folding into the People Before Profit Alliance.

In February 2018, the SWP renamed itself the Socialist Workers Network (SWN) to reflect "a decision to focus on building People Before Profit, and within that to win and educate as many members as possible in revolutionary socialist politics."[14]

Republic of Ireland

Richard Boyd Barrett
Bríd Smith
Gino Kenny
Paul Murphy
People before Profit's 4 representives in Dáil Eireann, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, as of 2021.

PBP contested several constituencies in the 2007 general election, polling around 9,000 first preferences, with Richard Boyd Barrett—the candidate in the Dún Laoghaire constituency—missing a seat on the 10th and final count by 7,890 votes to 9,910.[15][16]

In May 2008, PBP launched a campaign calling for a No vote on the Lisbon Treaty when it was put to the people.[17]

In the Republic's 2009 local elections PBP ran twelve candidates, including ten in County Dublin. It secured five seats in three of Dublin's four councils. As well as ten members of the SWP, Joan Collins and Pat Dunne of the CWAG ran in Dublin,[18] and Donnie Fell (a former Waterford Crystal worker and trade union representative) in Waterford.[19]

In the Republic's 2011 general election, both Richard Boyd Barrett and Joan Collins were elected to Dáil Éireann as TDs (deputies), running under a joint People Before Profit and United Left Alliance banner.

In April 2013, Joan Collins TD and Cllr Pat Dunne left the group to form United Left, a political party with former Socialist Party TD Clare Daly.

In the May 2014 local elections, PBP won 14 seats including two seats outside Dublin on Sligo and Wexford County Councils.

Discussions were held in August 2015 with the Anti-Austerity Alliance about forming a new political grouping.[20] On 17 September 2015, the two parties announced they had formally registered as a single political party for electoral purposes.[21] The new organisation was called the Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit.

At the 2016 general election, Boyd Barrett was re-elected.[22] He was joined by fellow PBP candidates Gino Kenny and Bríd Smith.[23][24]

In 2016, Councillor Sonya Stapleton, representing Pembroke–South Dock on Dublin City Council, left the party, as did Councillor Ruth Nolan, a member of South Dublin County Council for Lucan, who joined Independents 4 Change.[citation needed]

In January 2019, Dublin City Councillor John Lyons resigned from the party due to disputes with the leadership.[25] Cllr Lyons subsequently was a leading figure in the foundation of Independent Left.[26] He criticised his former party saying:[27] "Solidarity and People Before Profit are the closest fit to us but have a hierarchical, carefully controlled internal life that is not fit for the purpose of socialist change."

The party retained its three TDs in the 2020 Irish general election.[28]

People Before Profit supported Debenhams Ireland workers in their 2020 industrial dispute.[29][non-primary source needed]

On 28 February 2021, RISE, a democratic socialist party that had previously split from Solidarity in 2019, merged with People Before Profit. It maintains it's media and functions as an internal organisation.[30]

Northern Ireland

Gerry Carroll has representated PBP in the Northern Irish Assembly since 2016

People Before Profit unsuccessfully ran one candidate, Sean Mitchell, in the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election, polling 774 first preferences in the Belfast West constituency. He successfully gained the right to stand in an election by threatening to take the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, to court if the legal loophole preventing him from doing so was enforced. (England, Scotland and Wales had secured the right to contest candidates under the age of 20, providing they were over 18, for constituencies for devolved government, whereas Northern Ireland had been simply excluded).[citation needed]

People Before Profit ran four candidates in the Northern Ireland Assembly election of May 2011, winning 5,438 first-preference votes between them but no seats in the new Assembly. Its most successful candidate in this election was Eamonn McCann, who won 3,120 first-preference votes, or 8% of the total, in Foyle.

In the June 2011 Belfast West by-election, Gerry Carroll won 1,751 votes (7.6%), coming in third place and ahead of both unionist candidates.

In the 2014 Belfast City Council election, Carroll became the first PBP councillor elected in Northern Ireland, winning 3rd place in the Black Mountain DEA, with 1,691 1st Preference votes.

In May 2016, Carroll topped the poll in the Belfast West constituency at the 2016 Assembly Election with 8,299 votes (22.9%), almost 4,000 first-preference votes clear of his nearest challenger, Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann (Sinn Féin was running five candidates).[31] This victory secured PBP with their first elected MLA. Eamonn McCann also took a seat in the constituency of Foyle.[32] In 2017, Carroll retained his seat but with a much reduced vote (12.2%),[33] while McCann lost his.[34]

In the Northern Ireland Assembly, the party designates as neither unionist nor Irish nationalist, but 'Other'.[35]

People Before Profit supported leaving the EU[36] but did not campaign for a Leave vote in the 2016 EU referendum.[36] People Before Profit's support for Brexit attracted criticism from Sinn Féin and pro-remain activists, especially as Northern Ireland voted to remain.[37]

The party gained 4 seats in the 2019 Local Elections. People Before Profit won 5 council seats, 3 in Belfast City Council and 2 in Derry.[38]

The party stood two candidates in the 2019 general election, with their best performance being by Gerry Carroll in the Belfast West seat: he came second with 16%.

Election results and governments

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Assembly elections

Election Assembly First Preference Vote Vote % Seats Government
2007 3rd 774 0.1%
0 / 108
 DUP–Sinn Féin–SDLP–UUP–Alliance
2011 4th 5,438 0.8%
0 / 108
 DUP–Sinn Féin–UUP–SDLP–Alliance
2016 5th 13,761 2.0%
2 / 108
 DUP–Sinn Féin
2017 6th 14,100 1.8%
1 / 90
 DUP–Sinn Féin–SDLP–UUP–Alliance

Westminster elections

Election Votes Vote % Seats Government
2010 2,936 0.0%
0 / 18
 Conservative Party–Liberal Democrats
2015 7,854 0.0%
0 / 18
 Conservative Party
2017 5,509 0.0%
0 / 18
 Conservative Party
with DUP confidence & supply
2019 7,526 0.0%
0 / 18
 Conservative Party

Northern Ireland local elections

Election First Preference Vote Vote % Seats
2011 1,721 0.3%
0 / 583
2014 1,923 0.3%
1 / 462
2019 9,478 1.4%
5 / 462

Republic of Ireland

General elections

Election Dáil First Preference Vote Vote % Seats Government
2007 30th 9,333 0.5%
0 / 166
 Fianna Fáil–Green Party–Progressive Democrats
2011 31st 21,551 1.0%
2 / 166
 Fine Gael–Labour Party
2016 32nd 42,174 1.96%
3 / 158
 Fine Gael–Independents
with Fianna Fáil confidence & supply
2020 33rd 40,220 1.84%
3 / 160
 Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael–Green Party

Irish local elections

Election First Preference Vote Vote % Seats
2009 15,879 0.8%
5 / 883
2014 29,051 1.7%
14 / 949
2019 21,972 1.29%
7 / 949

European elections

People Before Profit have only contested European Elections in the Republic of Ireland.

Election First Preference Vote Vote % Seats
2014 23,875 1.5%
0 / 11
2019 33,804 1.9%
0 / 13

References

  1. ^ "An Coiste". Houses of the Oireachtas. 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  2. ^ Eamonn McCann is listed as the party's leader for the purposes of registration to the UK Electoral Commission. Electoral Commission registration
  3. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2011). "Ireland". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013.
  4. ^ "The PBP/Solidarity explainer: from Campaigns to Revolution". Village Magazine.ie.
  5. ^ "DUP and Sinn Féin stable as Alliance Party rises in Northern Ireland local election". Nationalia.
  6. ^ "Election Manifesto 2020" (PDF).
  7. ^ O'Connell, Hugh (16 September 2015). "Is this the left-wing party you've been waiting for?". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  8. ^ Power, Jack (7 January 2019). "Dublin councillor resigns from People Before Profit". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  9. ^ "People Before Profit pair 'of one political mind' says Eamonn McCann". The Irish News. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  10. ^ a b "About Socialist Workers' Network". Irish Left Archive. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  11. ^ "About the SWP". Socialist Worker online. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  12. ^ Harry McGee (9 October 2015). "People Before Profit and the Anti Austerity Alliance - spot the difference". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 April 2018. For anybody who has not been intimately involved with the Socialist Workers Party or the Socialist Party, you would need to have a PhD in semantics and rhetoric to winkle out the actual ideological difference between them. They are both Trotskyist and advocate permanent revolution and political agitation through working class mass action in capitalist societies such as Ireland.
  13. ^ The Socialist Party, Joan Collins and the Bin Tax Battle An analysis by Dermot Connolly, ex Secretary of the Socialist Party
  14. ^ "SOCIALIST WORKERS TAKE A NEW DIRECTION". Socialist Worker | Ireland. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ "Ciaran Cuffe". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  17. ^ "Lisbon Treaty is unchanged and must be rejected | People Before Profit Alliance". Archive.peoplebeforeprofit.ie. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Pat Dunne". ElectionsIreland.org.
  19. ^ Kelly, Olivia (7 May 2009). "Left alliance to run 13 candidates". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  20. ^ "Could we be about to get another new political group?". TheJournal.ie. 8 August 2015.
  21. ^ "Anti Austerity Alliance and People before Profit to launch new party". The Irish Times. 17 September 2015.
  22. ^ "Dún Laoghaire – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org.
  23. ^ "Dublin Mid West – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org.
  24. ^ "Dublin South Central – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org.
  25. ^ Power, Jack (7 January 2019). "Dublin Councillor resigns from People before Profit". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Independent Left & a Liveable City". Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  27. ^ Independent Left - criticism of People Before Profit
  28. ^ "Miriam Lord: All change in Leinster House following Change Election". The Irish Times. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  29. ^ "Debenhams Workers Should Link Struggle North And South". People Before Profit. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  30. ^ "Rise Joins People Before Profit". 28 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ^ "Belfast West - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2016". BBC News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  32. ^ "Foyle - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2016". BBC News. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  33. ^ "Belfast West - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  34. ^ "Foyle - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  35. ^ Duffy, Rónán (5 February 2017). "The 32-county People Before Profit and why it's anti-austerity and pro-Brexit". TheJournal.ie.
  36. ^ a b "Brexit fallout has undermined the principle of consent". Irish News. 4 July 2016.
  37. ^ "The rise or fall of People Before Profit". Slugger O'Toole. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  38. ^ Devenport, Mark (5 May 2019). "'Others' remain big talking point" – via www.bbc.com.
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