The People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA) is a socialist, Trotskyist and Eurosceptic political party formed in October 2005. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Overview
The PBPA was established by the Socialist Workers Party. The Community & Workers Action Group of south Dublin (CWAG) 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.
Republic of Ireland
The Alliance contested several constituencies in the 2007 general election, polling around 9,000 first preferences, with Richard Boyd Barrettâ€"the candidate in the Dún Laoghaire constituencyâ€"missing a seat on the 10th and final count by 7,890 votes to 9,910.
In May 2008, the Alliance launched a campaign calling for a No vote to the Lisbon Treaty when it was put to the people.
In the Republic's 2009 local elections the Alliance ran twelve candidates, including ten in County Dublin. The Alliance secured five seats in three of Dublin's four councils. As well as ten members of the SWP, the Alliance ran Joan Collins and Pat Dunne of the CWAG in Dublin, and Donnie Fell (a former Waterford Crystal worker and trade union representative) in Waterford.
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. The average expenses claim by a People Before Profit Alliance TD between the February 2011 general election and the last day of December 2011 was €31,866.
In April 2013 Joan Collins TD and Cllr Pat Dunne left the Alliance to form United Left, a political party with former Socialist Party TD Clare Daly.
In the May 2014 local elections, the Alliance 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. On 17 September 2015, the two parties announced they had formally registered as a single political party for electoral purposes. The new organisation is called the Anti-Austerity Allianceâ€"People Before Profit.
At the 2016 general election, Boyd Barrett was re-elected. He was joined by fellow Alliance candidates Gino Kenny and BrÃd Smith. Candidates to come close included John Lyons and Gareth Weldon.
Northern Ireland
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).
The People Before Profit Alliance 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, Gerry Carroll became the first PBP councilor elected in Northern Ireland, winning 3rd place in the Black Mountain DEA, with 1,691 1st Preference votes.
In May 2016, Gerry Carroll went on to top 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). This victory secured PBP with their first elected MLA. Eamonn McCann also took a seat in the Derry constituency of Foyle. In 2017, Carroll retained his seat, while McCann lost his.
In the Northern Ireland Assembly, the party is designated as neither unionist nor Irish nationalist, but 'Other'.
2016 EU Membership/Brexit Referendum
People Before Profit supported and campaigned for a Leave vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.
Election results and governments
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Assembly elections
Westminster elections
Republic of Ireland
Dáil Éireann elections
Local Government elections
European elections
The People Before Profit Alliance have only contested European Elections in the Republic of Ireland.
References
External links
- Official website