It gained its first local councillors in 2009, when two former Sinn Féin councillors, Dungannon councillor Barry Monteith and Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan, joined the organisation. Former Wexford county councillor for Sinn Féin and New Ross town councillor John Dwyer also joined Éirígí. It registered with the Electoral Commission (United Kingdom) in 2011, standing for election in Northern Ireland for the first time in the 2011 local elections, citing dissatisfaction with Sinn Féin's involvement in the Northern Ireland Executive, and claiming there was "a real appetite for a radical voice" in Northern Irish politics.  The party ran candidates for the first time in the Republic of Ireland during the 2014 local elections in Ireland, simultaneously running two candidates in the 2011 Northern Irish local elections.  The party didn't succeed in getting any of its eight candidates elected in the 2014 local elections, leaving it without elected representation. Three candidates ran for the party in the 2019 local elections in Ireland, none were successful.