PBP seeks vote-left transfer-left pact for local elections but excludes Labour and the Greens
Ivana Bacik Paul Murphy and Eamon Ryan
PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT has written to Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and Independent candidates on the left to propose a vote-left, transfer-left pact for the local elections and excluded the Green Party and Labour from its plans.
The party said the pact should carry a commitment from those involved not to enter into ruling Council groups after the elections that include Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the Greens and Labour were not contacted about the pact because both have propped up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the past.
Murphy said a pact is all the more important given the efforts being made by “sections of the establishment to turn the anger of Irish society onto migrants and foster racist sentiment”.
“By presenting a coordinated left alternative we can help to ward off this threat. People Before Profit believes that we should start with the local elections and then enter further discussions for a pact for a general election,” he said.
Murphy said his party’s TDs “fully realise that there will be different perspectives and we see this as just the start of a process to form a left-alternative”.
He continued: “We hope that this will start a conversation that can lead to an agreement that will help to get Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael out and pave the way for transformational change”.
A spokesperson for the Labour Party declined to comment.
The Green Party also declined to comment.