Murphy lays out plans for united left-wing front at general election

Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy has formally extended the offer of a left-wing alliance between People Before Profit and other parties of the left ahead of the next general election.

Murphy has written to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald as well as “other party leaders on the left” about a formal left-wing alliance ahead of the general election, saying that the Irish left could learn lessons from a similar alliance in France.

French president Emmanuel Macron called snap parliamentary elections following a strong performance by the far-right National Rally party in June’s European elections, and while National Rally won the first round of voting the New Popular Front surprisingly won the second round of voting on July 7th.

The French alliance consisted of parties spanning from the traditional centre-left, green parties, far-left parties, and socialist parties.

The New Popular Front won 180 of the 577 available seats, well short of the 289 majority, but marked the best electoral performance for the French left since 2012.

The New Popular Front has not agreed on a candidate for Prime Minister with unease within the alliance over far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon being proposed as a candidate for Prime Minister following controversial comments about Israel since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.

Indeed, the participation of the French Socialist Party, which sits with Labour at a European level, has somewhat moderated the alliance in contrast with Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise who unapologetically call themselves far-left.

Murphy said that a similar alliance could work in Ireland, saying “we should come together to learn from what happened in France.”

Murphy acknowledged that the French alliance “wasn’t perfect” but noted that the parties were able to put aside major differences on the campaign trail for the sake of defeating the far-right.

A similar alliance was floated by Murphy before the local elections between his party, Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats, which Sinn Féin dismissed and the Social Democrats never publically made statements about.

Floating the proposal in May, Murphy said “by presenting a coordinated left alternative we can help to ward off this threat. People Before Profit believes that we should start with the local elections and then enter further discussions for a pact for a general election.”

Based on transfers and the make-up of Dublin’s various local councils, transfers among the parties considered to be on the Irish left were solid with People Before Profit and Social Democrats both benefitting each other in various council races.

Following June’s local elections, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, Social Democrats and left-wing independents have shown a willingness to work together on various councils, most notably Dublin City Council.

On South Dublin County Council, Sinn Féin, and the Social Democrats backed People Before Profit in their bid to secure the role of mayor.

Now, Murphy wants a formal alliance set in stone for the upcoming general election.

Murphy echoed a common complaint against Sinn Féin that was reflected at the ballot box – Sinn Féin’s stance on immigration was out of sync with their voter base.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald stated in April that “the party is not for open borders,” widely regarded as an overture to the right and resulted in the traditional left-leaning voter base abandoning the party in June.

The Dublin South-West TD told reporters outside the Dáil on Tuesday that Sinn Féin “made a very very big mistake, both morally and politically” before the local and European elections, saying that their strategy surrounding social issues “backfired.”

“It was an absolute disaster because they ended up playing the election on the pitch and the Government wanted to play it on.”

He accused Sinn Féin of agreeing with the government on the issue of asylum seekers, saying that Sinn Féin supported the coalition’s move of cutting welfare support for Ukranian refugees in a bid to win over more socially conservative voters.

“Instead of saying, ‘wait a minute, going after poor women and children and driving more and more people into poverty is not going to make a single extra home or single extra hospital bed for a single Irish person, Sinn Féin said ‘yes, we agree and we’d go even further.”

He commented that Sinn Féin “scapegoated” migrants, and said a red line for taking part in the the proposed alliance was not to repeat their public stances on immigration in the lead-up to June’s elections.

Murphy has called on any party that wishes to enter in PBP’s alliance to not team up with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael under any circumstances, which may preclude Labour and the Greens from taking part.

Labour and The Greens controversially walked from a proposed left-wing alliance on Dublin City Council in June and teamed up with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“There is a cynicism about politics, and a big part comes from people voting for the Greens or Labour, and their votes have ended up putting Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael back in power,” Murphy said.

Newly-minted Green leader Roderic O’Gorman has called for greater co-operation on the left, but specifically cited Labour and the Greens in his comments and not PBP.

Speaking to the Irish edition of The Times during the Green leadership campaign, O’Gorman said that he wants to speak to Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns after the next general election about forming a broad centre-left alliance or voting pact.

The Dublin West TD and Minister for Integration said in June “after the general election I would like to see the parties of the centre-left, parties who are willing to take on the responsibility and the risks of going into government, to come together, to see is there an agreed set of principles that can be hammered out and use that, and use the strength of those greater numbers to secure a very strong programme for government from other political parties.”

He said, “our three parties could deliver more – but only if we form a progressive alliance after the general election, and I’d look to make sure that happens.”

The Social Democrats’ refusal to back Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael-led administrations across Dublin and other county councils right across Ireland clearly lays out a party position that they will not work with the historic parties.

The Social Democrats did take part in a Fianna Fáil-led coalition on Dublin City Council between 2019 and 2024, but more recent comments and policy statements from the party indicate a leftward shift, as well as the party being co-operative with the likes of People Before Profit and Sinn Féin.

Murphy predicted that the Greens, based on current polling, are not likely to take part in the next government and that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would merely swap them out for “right-wing independents.”

Southside TD Bríd Smith criticised Labour in June for joining Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens to run Dublin City.

She said that People Before Profit are “willing to work with others on progressive principles and proposals such as bringing waste services back into council control and direct council building of public housing on public land.”

Labour pulled out of the progressive alliance on the issue of Local Property Tax, which newly-elected MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said was a “litmus test” for the left.

“Politics isn’t performance art; it’s about doing stuff,” he told The Journal in June.

“What is the point of having a collection of centre-left parties, who are pretending every general election that there’s a massive gulf in their policy platform when there isn’t?”