PES Activists initiative for the Irish elections now complete
Campaign exchange was a great success.
By Aidan O'Sullivan
Secretary,
Dublin South East
Irish Labour Party
Activists from all over Europe travelled to Ireland to help us campaign. Everyone had an enjoyable trip and learnt a lot about Irish campaigning. A big thank you to all the Activists, to all the Irish Labour members who helped and in particular to the PES for helping organise.
The highlight for some Activists of course was the day with the Party Leader on his 'Battle Bus', which gained a lot of media attention. Other activists got a tour of the Parliament from Ruairi Quinn. Some got nice sunny weather, and some got a taste of Irish rain! :) The Irish Labour members all really enjoyed hosting fellow PES activists, and we all had some good nights out too.
The election results were mixed for the Labour party. We had great success in Dublin South East and Dublin Mid-West, where Ruairi Quinn got re-elected with an 30% increase in vote, and Joanna Tuffy got elected for the first time. More disappointing was the narrow defeat for Dominic Hannigan in Meath East and Brendan Ryan in Dublin North.
Nationally, the personal popularity of the Prime Minister and the strength of the economy seem to have been the main factors in the victory of the main Fianna Fail party, who now seem certain to form a third government in a row. The good news is that the neoliberal Progressive Democrats party was devastated in the election, including the loss of their Party Leaders seat in Dublin South East.
The campaigning continues across Europe. Dont forget, if you also wish to organize an initiative to attract PES Activists to your national election, you can use www.activist2activist.eu also, just get in contact with me. We should make this a continuous activity. Social Democracy just means teamwork, so lets keep campaigning together :)
Again, thank you to everyone who travelled to Ireland. See you all at the next election campaign!
Best Regards,
Aidan OSullivan
More information:
PES activists campaign for Irish Labour: Promoting change
Watch PES activists in Irish news
Find images below and at flickr
More information on the Irish election outcome
Photos of PES activists campaigning and partying:
PES activists and the Labour "party battle" bus
PES activists on tour - together with Party leader Pat Rabbitte (in the middle) and Dominic Hannigan (left) - candidate for East Meath.
PES activists together with Aidan O'Sullivan (black shirt) from Irish Labour: he organised the campaign exchange.
PES activists and Irish Labour activists on the street together
PES activists having a beer together after a long campaigning day
Another campaigning group of PES activists together after a long partying night
Young labour leader (left) together with PES activists
