List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland
|This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the Republic of Ireland
There are a number of political parties in Ireland, and coalition governments are common. The
List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland
|This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the Republic of Ireland
There are a number of political parties in Ireland, and coalition governments are common. The state is unusual as a developed nation in that politics is not primarily characterised by the left-right political divide. The two historically largest political parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael arose from a split that occurred in Irish politics at the time of the 1922–1923 Civil War, at the time of the foundation of the state. Both descended from factions of the original Sinn Féin party: Fine Gael from the faction that supported the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and Fianna Fáil from the anti-Treaty faction. This enduring characteristic of the Irish party system is sometimes pejoratively referred to as "Civil War politics". The Labour Party was formed in 1912, and from the 1920s on, it has usually been the third party in parliamentary strength, though it is currently the second largest party in Dáil Éireann. A number of other parties have emerged to strength at different times.
Political party registration is governed by the Electoral Acts, 1992 to 2012. The Register of Political Parties is maintained by the Houses of the Oireachtas. In order to be registered to contest national elections a party must have either at least one member in Dáil Éireann or the European Parliament, or 300 recorded members aged 18 or over. Parties that register only to contest elections in part of the state, in local elections or in elections to Údarás na Gaeltachta need only 100 recorded members aged 18 or over. In either case at least half of the recorded members must be on the register of electors.
- 1 Political parties with elected representation at a local, national or European level
- 2 Parties represented in the Oireachtas
- 3 Parties represented at a local level
- 4 Other parties
- 5 See also
- 6 References
Political parties with elected representation at a local, national or European level
- More literally – Warriors of Fál, Fál being a ancient romantic name for Ireland.
- Another common translation, though not literal, is Ourselves Alone.
- The current party known as Sinn Féin broke from the party then known as Sinn Féin in 1970 and was founded as Provisional Sinn Féin.
- Registered Officers are Clare Daly, Joan Collins, Declan Bree and Pat Dunne.
- For the first twenty years of its existence, the Green Party did not have a national leader. Trevor Sargent was elected as the first national leader in 2001.
- The Workers' Party emerged as the majority faction from a split in Sinn Féin in 1970, becoming known as Official Sinn Féin. In the Republic of Ireland, it renamed itself as Sinn Féin The Workers' Party in 1977. In Northern Ireland, it continued with the Republican Clubs name used by Sinn Féin to escape a 1964 ban, and later as Workers Party Republican Clubs. Both sections adopted the current name in 1982.
|Party||Representation (as of Dec. 2013)|
|Oireachtas||Local councils||European Parliament|
|Dáil Éireann||Seanad Éireann|
|Sinn Féin[nc 1]||14||3||127||0|
|People Before Profit Alliance||1||0||5||0|
|Workers and Unemployed Action Group||1||0||7||0|
|Green Party[nc 2]||0||0||17||0|
|South Kerry Independent Alliance||0||0||2||0|
|Republican Sinn Féin||0||0||1||0|
- Sinn Féin also has 5 members of the UK House of Commons, 29 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 138 local councillors in Northern Ireland and 1 MEP representing Northern Ireland.
- The Green Party also has one member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and 3 local councillors in Northern Ireland.
Parties represented in the Oireachtas
Fine Gael is the largest party in the Oireachtas, the largest party in local government in Ireland and has the largest delegation of MEPs from Ireland. It was founded in 1933 by a merger of the Cumann na nGaedheal, which had supported the Treaty and formed the government between 1922 and 1932, the National Guard (popularly called the Blueshirts) and the small National Centre Party. It is a member of the