# Democratic Socialist Party (Ireland)

The Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) was a small left-wing political party in Ireland. The party was formed by a merger of Jim Kemmy's Limerick Socialist Organisation and the Socialist Party of Ireland. Jim Kemmy was an Irish politician and member of Dáil Éireann. He left the Labour Party in 1972. A number of members of the British and Irish Communist Organisation also joined the party.

## History

The Democratic Socialist Party was founded in 1982. It had a political stance to the left of the Labour Party, and was strongly opposed to nationalist positions regarding Northern Ireland. Journalist Brian Trench claimed the DSP shared "the anti-republicanism and economism" of the 1980s Workers' Party, despite disagreeing with the WP on other issues. In 1983 the party made submissions to the New Ireland Forum reflecting its non-nationalist position. It also held a strongly secularist position, opposing the influence of the Catholic Church on issues such as contraception, divorce and abortion.
The party never held any Dáil seats other than Kemmy's seat in Limerick East. Outside of Limerick City its membership was very small, although its positions on Northern Ireland and the Catholic Church attracted members of the British and Irish Communist Organisation (BICO) to it. In 1982, the Socialist Party of Ireland joined.
It merged with the Labour Party in May 1990. Many of the BICO members in the party later joined the Democratic Left when that party was established in 1992.
A number of former members became successful electorally with the Labour Party such as Limerick TD Jan O'Sullivan, Dublin TD Michael Conaghan who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 2004 and TD Eamonn Maloney. The historian John de Courcy Ireland was also a member of the party and a candidate in the 1984 European elections.

## List of the DSP electoral candidates

| Election | Candidate | Constituency | 1st Pref. votes | % |
| February 1982 general election | Jim Kemmy | Limerick East | 6,502 | 13.7 |
| 1982 Dublin West by-election | Michael Conaghan | Dublin West | 667 | 1.6 |
| November 1982 general election |
| November 1982 general election | Garry O'Sullivan | Cork South-Central | 369 | 0.8 |
| November 1982 general election | Philip O'Connor | Dublin North-Central | 224 | 0.6 |
| November 1982 general election | Séamus Rattigan | Dublin South-Central | 303 | 0.7 |
| November 1982 general election | Denis O'Connor | Dublin South | 479 | 0.9 |
| November 1982 general election | Michael Conaghan | Dublin West | 476 | 1.0 |
| November 1982 general election | John de Courcy Ireland | Dún Laoghaire | 1,036 | 2.1 |
| November 1982 general election | Jim Kemmy | Limerick East | 4,125 | 8.7 |
| 1984 European Parliament election | John de Courcy Ireland | Dublin | 5,350 | 1.9 |
| 1987 general election |
| 1987 general election | Philip O'Connor | Dublin North-Central | 681 | 1.6 |
| 1987 general election | Eamonn Maloney | Dublin South-West | 223 | 0.5 |
| 1987 general election | Michael Conaghan | Dublin West | 600 | 1.2 |
| 1987 general election | Jim Kemmy | Limerick East | 5,920 | 11.9 |
| 1989 general election |
| 1989 general election | Michael Conaghan | Dublin West | 668 | 1.4 |
| 1989 general election | Jim Kemmy | Limerick East | 9,168 | 19.8 |

## General election results

| Election | Seats won | ± | Position | First Pref votes | % | Government | Leader |
| Nov. 1982 | 0 / 166 | | None | 7,012 | 0.4% | No Seats | Jim Kemmy |
| 1987 | 1 / 166 | 1 | 6th | 7,424 | 0.4% | Opposition | Jim Kemmy |
| 1989 | 1 / 166 | | 6th | 9,836 | 0.6% | Opposition | Jim Kemmy |

## Local elections

The party ran nine candidates in the 1985 local elections in Limerick Corporation (4 candidates, 3 elected), Dublin Corporation (3 candidates), and Dublin County Council (one candidate each in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown and Dublin–Belgard).
| Election | Seats won | ± | First-pref. votes | % |
| 1985 | 3 | 3 | 5,472 | 0.4% |