Labour pulls plug on left coalition on Dublin City Council

A proposed left-wing Dublin City Council coalition, which would consist of the Social Democrats, the Green Party, Labour and Sinn Féin, has fallen at the first hurdle.

With 32 seats needed for a majority on Dublin City Council, the possibility is there for centre-left to left-wing parties to lock Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael out of power following the results of June 7th’s local elections.

The Social Democrats’ 10 seats, Sinn Féin’s 9 seats, the Greens’ 8 seats and Labour’s 4 seats are exactly enough to create a “progressive” coalition on Dublin City Council, but Labour has withdrawn from the potential coalition.

In a statement on Monday evening, Labour announced they pulled out of talks after disagreements over local property tax.

Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said “it is disappointing to see that the proposals on the table from the ‘progressive alliance’ do not include any change in the status quo to the Local Property Tax, which was vetoed by Sinn Féin in negotiations. We have consistently voted over the last ten years in support of increasing funding to services in Dublin City through Local Property tax, which due to repeated decreases, at present offers a minimum tax cut of over €1,000 to owners of properties valued at €1.2m and above. It is disheartening to see the Social Democrats now aligning themselves with the populist rhetoric of Sinn Féin, abandoning their own principles in the process.”

Moriarty’s claims were dismissed by Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan, who accused Labour of “turning their back” on the coalition.

Doolan, who leads Sinn Féin on Dublin City Council, said “I believe that the people of Dublin will be dismayed to learn that the Labour has turned its back on forming a progressive alliance that would deliver for this city.”

“Labour’s slogan for the recent European elections was ‘for the love of Dublin’. Good luck to them trying to explain that one to their voters after the actions of their city councillors. It simply doesn’t tally,” he remarked.

Doolan confirmed that the four parties entered into negotiations to form a “progressive alliance.”

Doolan said that Labour “didn’t even attempt to amend the programme that is currently being drafted” and left the talks.

“I have to question their motives for walking away; is it their intention to simply prop up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on Dublin City Council?” he asked.

Moriarty explained Labour’s motivations for walking away from the talks, saying that cutting the Local Property Tax was not in Labour’s interests.

“Over the course of the next council term, just by maintaining the LPT at its baseline instead of cutting it by 15% again, we can secure an additional €72.5 million to put into Dublin,” he said.

“These funds are not just numbers on a spreadsheet; they translate into real, tangible improvements for Dubliners. They could be used for investing in our capital city’s infrastructure, including parks, pitches, public realm improvements, cleaner streets and other facilities that both Labour and the Social Democrats campaigned on during the election. It is imperative that we adhere to our campaign promises and invest in the public services our city needs.

“We in Labour call on anybody who identifies as “progressive” to stick with their principles and to ensure that Dublin’s future is built on a foundation of fairness and progress.”

Social Democrats councillor Catherine Stocker said “property tax is a red herring and Labour have chosen to essentially try and tank an alliance of progressive parties in Dublin City Council over an issue they always knew there would be no movement on. There’s lots a left alliance could achieve.”

The numbers are still there for the Social Democrats, Sinn Féin, and The Greens to go it alone as a governing minority with a combined 27 seats as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil only have 19 seats between them.

A combined Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour coalition would still be 8 seats short of a majority, a gap that could theoretically be filled by the Greens.

It is possible that the Soc Dems, Sinn Féin and the Greens could reach out to People Before Profit and their 2 councillors and left-wing independent councillors such as Cieran Perry and John Lyons to hit the 32 mark in order to lock out Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

The breakdown in progressive talks is another wrinkle in the proposed progressive alliance floated by Labour’s newly-elected MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Green TD Neasa Hourigan, with Ó Ríordáin going so far as to say “it’s time for people on the centre-left, ourselves, the Social Democrats and the Geens 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.”