If a week is a long time in politics, then nine years is something approximating the period since Dinosaurs last walked on planet earth. It is nine years, give or take, since the Social Democrats were founded, almost explicitly as a breakaway group from the Labour Party, which was then at the zenith of its recent fortunes and held 37 seats in the Dáil. The Social Democrats would not exist had it not been for the Labour Party’s refusal to keep its promise to protect health spending, which was the trigger which forced Roisin Shorthall to resign that party’s whip, and later become one of three founding co-leaders of the Soc Dems.
At the time, the new party was met with something approaching scorn from the Labour faithful, which has always held to the view that the Labour Party is the state’s one true and faithful guardian of middle class progressive virtue. It was the giant, and the Soc Dems were mere pretenders who would one day come crawling back “home” to Labour.
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