Left out in the cold?

With Labour floundering and the socialist vote diluted, the moderate left wing won’t bring down the centre right. But it may play a part in government formation, while the radicals’ chances are boosted by the housing crisis

Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats;

While the uneasy alliance of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil has ensured the centre holds, the left is fracturing. Of course, this has always been true of the Trotskyites and the Marxists in the far-left parties like Solidarity and People Before Profit, themselves breakaways from the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers’ Party respectively.

But the splits have also re-emerged in Ireland’s centre left in recent years. Disillusioned Labour voters now turn to ...