A Socialist Emmet Stagg, complete with Starry Plough in 1989 . The issues mentioned and the organisations he is a member of tell us a lot about the time.
Emmet Stagg- Labour – Kildare 1989 October 14, 2009
Adi Roche -1997 Presidential Election October 8, 2009
Adi Roche, the highly respected Founder of The Chernobyl Children’s Project ran in the 1997 Presidential election. She had been nominated by the Labour Party, Democratic Left and Green Party.
She was expected to do well and was an early favourite to replace Mary Robinson. However stories of Bullying by a former workmate surfaced during the campaign and her chance went.
Eric Byrnes Lotto -Local Elections 2004
Eye catching leaflet from Eric Byrne on house prices and the money being made by developers . It made a lot of sense at the time . Although what those houses are worth now is anyones guess.
‘Ten reasons to be a Labour Student’ October 2, 2009
This is from around 1990 , mentions Red Wedge and the reader would be under no doubt that the Labour Party were Socialists. Also covers issues related to the time such as Apartheid.
Kildare Labour News- December 1989- Stagg, Howlin ,Kemmy
This is an interesting little pamphlet where we have a Labour party ‘a socialist alternative’. Very much of its time in both the articles on the falling of Communism, The National Question, our Health Service, Women at Work and also the ads.
It also features some of the late Jim Kemmys poetry.
Click on the images if you have difficulty seeing the whole page.
Mary Robinson ‘A President with a Purpose’ -1990 Presidency October 1, 2009
From the landmark 1990 Presidential Election a leaflet promoting Mary Robinson as ‘A President with a Purpose’. The leaflet has also an endorsement from Dick Spring.
Labour Party- Yes to Amsterdam Treaty September 28, 2009
The thing that strikes me when reading this is …
Have the reasons to vote in favour actually happened and if they have ,have they made a positive difference?
are we any closer to a “..just and equal Europe for all”?
1997 General Election Leaflet from Michael D. Higgins -Labour -Galway West September 27, 2009
From the 1997 General Election a leaflet from Michael D. Higgins running for Labour in Galway West. The leaflet sings the praise of the Rainbow and lists their achievements in Galway.
Joan Burton 1989 -Dublin Central September 24, 2009
Joan Burton lost her deposit as she ran for Labour alongside Joe Costello in 1989 in Dublin Central. She subsequently moved to the Dublin West Constituency.
Barry Desmond -Labour Dun Laoghaire Feb 82
How times have changed…. Food Subsidies, AnCO and still no Garda Station in Ballybrack either.
Barry Desmond served 7 Dail Terms before in 1989 he was elected to The European Parliament for Dublin. He held a number of ministerial appointments and also served as deputy leader of the Labour Party. He then served on the European Court of Auditors.
Labour -Yes to Divorce 1986
This is from the 1986 Divorce Referendum. The Yes side had the simple argument of recognising when a marriage had broken down and giving people a second chance. The No side had legal, moral and other arguements against. As Far as I’m aware Fine Gael whilst in favour of the referendum didn’t officially campaign. Labour were the only major party advocating a Yes vote.
“Partnership That Works” -Rainbow Coalition Flyer 1997 election September 23, 2009
This is a joint document from the 1997 Rainbow Government. Highly unusual that 3 parties have a joint platform for an Irish General election. For the odd referendum you may find a common leaflet but certainly for a General Election its fairly Unique.
Their 21 goals for the 21st Century are spelt out as are their achievements in Government to date. Some nice poses from the three party leaders too.
1997 Rainbow Government- “Partnership Works” slogan
In 1997 the Rainbow government went to the country looking for a new term. It was an already agreed joint platform which is highly
unusual. Each party had a ‘Partnership works’ slogan on their literature asking voters to continue their preferences to other
Government parties.
They also produced a joint policy document. And some joint election material.
In previous times Fine Gael/Labour had on occassion asked voters to continue preferences to the other party. At times it was unrequited as Fine Gael asked , but Labour didn’t. Indeed there are examples here where Fine Gael asked for Transfers to Labour where no Labour Party candidate stood.
Democratic Left 1997 Manifesto- ‘Make The Future Work’ September 18, 2009
A well produced booklet for the 1997 General Election. The Democratic Left had been in government for the previous 3 years as part of the Rainbow Coalition.
Nessa Childers – From Green 2004 to Red 2009 September 16, 2009
Found this Nessa Childers leaflet from 2004s Local Elections and thought it worth posting…..
Nessa, daughter of former President Erskine Childers won a seat for the Green Party here. She later resigned the seat and bowed out of politics only to reappear as Labour candidate for Ireland East in the 2009 Euro elections.
In Ireland we often have people leaving parties going Independent or founding their own party/group, often they are welcomed back to the party which they had left.
Not too many elected representatives switch between the main parties, so as a collector I like the fact that I have both the Green and Labour leaflets for Nessa Childers….
‘We must grasp the opportunities offered by new technologies…‘ she writes in the Labour Leaflet
Frank Cluskey – Labour- European Elections 1984 September 15, 2009
Former Leader of the Labour Party Frank Cluskeys literature from the 1984 Euro Elections. In 1991 after losing his Dail seat (and the leadership of Labour) Frank had been co-opted to the European Parliament, to replace Michael O’Leary (who replaced him as leader of the Labour Party) . O’Leary resigned as Party Leader just over a year later (and joined Fine Gael) and was replaced by Dick Spring. Cluskey resigned from government in 1983 over a point of principle regarding Dublin Gas.
It is Spring who gives the leaders message on the main leaflet. That Leaflet (which is hard to read in its original, never mind scanned- but worth the effort) gives an idea of the European issues of the time and Labour dont appear to keen on the European Community in it. The ‘ A Realistic View of Europe” part of the document was quite an eye opener. “..Labour warned the people in 1972 of the harsh realities of Community membership…..” etc
Leaflet from Brain O’Shea- Labour Party Waterford 1987 General Election September 13, 2009
Brian O’Shea of the Labour Party from Waterford 1987 .
He wants to “Legalise Local Radio”, we only had the State stations legally broadcasting at that time.
He had plenty of other aspirations there, that have yet to be done.
Click on Images to make them larger
Fianna Fail 1992 -‘Hard Labour’ leaflet.
A pre election Attack by an Albert led Fianna Fail on future coalition partners Labour. They attacked Labour a lot during that campaign… they must have seen the ‘Spring Tide’ coming.
Irish Election Literature 
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