| Éirígí | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Brian Leeson |
| General secretary | Breandán Mac Cionnaith |
| Founded | 24 April 2006 |
| Headquarters | Dublin |
| Ideology | Irish republicanism Democratic socialism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Official colours | Green, White |
| Local government in the Republic of Ireland |
1 / 1,627
|
| Local government in Northern Ireland |
1 / 562
|
| Website | |
| www.eirigi.org | |
| Politics of the Republic of Ireland Political parties Elections Politics of Northern Ireland Political parties Elections |
|
Éirígí (Irish pronunciation: [ˈeːɾʲiːɟiː] or [ˈaɪɾʲiːɟiː]) is a socialist republican political party in Ireland. It was formed by a small group of former Sinn Féin activists in Dublin in April 2006 as a political campaigns group. On 12 May 2007, at the party's first Ardfheis (conference), its members voted to become a full-fledged political party,[1] and at its 2009 conference passed a motion to register as a political party in the Republic of Ireland.[2] Since March 2010, the party has been registered to contest local elections only.[3] The party Chairman is currently Brian Leeson. Breandán Mac Cionnaith was elected General Secretary in May 2009.
The party name, "Éirígí", means "rise" in the second person plural imperative in Irish. In 2009, it gained its first local councillors when two former Sinn Féin councillors, Dungannon councillor Barry Monteith and Dublin city councillor Louise Minihan, joined the organisation.[4]
Contents |
The party seeks a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland and the establishment of a 32-county republic based on democratic socialist principles. Established in 2006, shortly before the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, Éirígí was originally set up as a Dublin-based campaigns group. Éirígí has participated in a range of campaigns including Shell to Sea and Reclaim the Republic which involved the organisation distributing 60,000 1916 Proclamations nationwide.[5]
The twentieth Independent Monitoring Commission report said the group was "a small political grouping based on revolutionary socialist principles". While it continues to be a political association, albeit with aggressive protest activities, it was not seen as paramilitary in nature.[6]
For its emblem, the party uses a green star as it incorporates both the national colour of Ireland and the international symbol of socialist struggle. The full national colours of the Irish Republic are achieved when the green star is combined with the word éirígí in the colour orange (signifying the cultural identity of some of Ireland's Protestants) set on to a white background.
In the May 2011 elections for Belfast City Council, the party stood in the Lower Falls[7] and Upper Falls[8] electoral areas, receiving over 2,000 first preference votes (10% plus). No councillors were elected there however. Barry Monteith was re-elected to Dungannon council, topping the poll.
|
||||||||||||||||||||