United Left Alliance

Not to be confused with United Left (Ireland).

United Left Alliance
AbbreviationULA
Founded29 November 2010 (2010-11-29)
DissolvedMay 2013
Succeeded byUnited Left
IdeologyDemocratic socialism[1]
Political positionLeft-wing
Members

The United Left Alliance (Irish: Comhaontas Aontaithe an Chlé, ULA)[2] was an electoral alliance of left-wing political parties and independent politicians in the Republic of Ireland, formed to contest the 2011 general election. The grouping originally consisted of three existing political parties, the Socialist Party, the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA), and the Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG),[3] as well as former members of the Labour Party.[4]

Its formation was announced in early November 2010 and it was formally launched on 29 November 2010 at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.[5] In the February 2011 general election it ran twenty candidates of which five were elected. Its share of the national vote was 2.6%.

The Workers and Unemployed Action Group withdrew from the alliance on 2 October 2012 following disagreements with the other parties.[6] The Socialist Party left the United Left Alliance in January 2013, later co-founding the Anti-Austerity Alliance.[7][8][9]

There was a reorientation within the ULA in March 2013 when Joan Collins TD left PBPA and, along with other public representatives Clare Daly TD and Cllr Declan Bree as well as some individual members, formed a new platform or organisation within the ULA called United Left.[10]

Since late 2013, the Alliance is defunct.[11] Although the Alliance was not long-lasting, it arguably paved the way for the creation of Solidarity–People Before Profit, another left-wing electoral alliance in Ireland.

  1. ^ "Interview with Joe Higgins, MEP - Village Magazine". Archived from the original on 27 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Gaelsceal.ie". Archived from the original on 20 July 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference rtepress was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Dumpleton declares candidacy in left split". Offaly Express. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Public Launch Rally". United Left Alliance. 16 November 2010. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  6. ^ "Seamus Healy withdraws from United Left Alliance over Wallace frustrations". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference socialist-party-withdraws was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ McKenna, Aaron (22 February 2014). "Column: Is the Socialist Party cloaking itself as 'Anti-Austerity Alliance'?". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 13 March 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  9. ^ Brophy, Daragh (9 September 2014). "Ex-MEP "would prefer" if People Before Profit had stayed out of Dáil race". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  10. ^ "United Left established within the ULA…". The Cedar Lounge Revolution. 3 March 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  11. ^ "Ireland: What's left after the ULA?". links.org.au. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2014.