List of political parties in the Republic of Ireland

There are a number of political parties in Ireland, and coalition governments are common. The state is unusual as a developed nation in that politics is not primarily characterised by the left-right political divide. The two largest political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, arose from a split in the original Sinn Féin party in the 1922–1923 Civil War, Fine Gael from the faction (Cumann na nGaedheal) that supported the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and Fianna Fáil from the anti-Treaty faction. This enduring characteristic of the Irish party system is sometimes pejoratively referred to as "Civil War politics". The Labour Party was formed in 1912, and it has usually been the third party in parliamentary strength, though it is currently the fourth largest party in Dáil Éireann. In recent years, Sinn Féin has risen to prominence, surpassing the Labour Party in the 2016 general election.

Political party registration is governed by the Electoral Acts, 1992 to 2012. The Register of Political Parties is maintained by the Houses of the Oireachtas. In order to be registered to contest national elections a party must have either at least one member in Dáil Éireann or the European Parliament, or 300 recorded members aged 18 or over. Parties that register only to contest elections in part of the state, in local elections or in elections to Údarás na Gaeltachta need only 100 recorded members aged 18 or over. In either case at least half of the recorded members must be on the register of electors.

Political parties with representation at a local, national or European level

Party details

Party			Current leader(s)	Founded	Inaugural leader(s)	Position	International affiliation	EP group
		Fianna Fáil	Micheál Martin	1926	Éamon de Valera	Centre to centre-right	LI	Renew
		Sinn Féin	Mary Lou McDonald	1905	Arthur Griffith	Centre-left to left-wing	—N/a	The Left
		Fine Gael	Simon Harris	1933	Eoin O'Duffy	Centre to centre-right	CDI	EPP
		Green Party Comhaontas Glas	Roderic O'Gorman	1981	—N/a	Centre-left to left-wing	GG	Greens/EFA
		Labour Party	Ivana Bacik	1912	James Connolly James Larkin William O'Brien	Centre-left	PA SI	S&D
		Social Democrats	Holly Cairns	2015	Catherine Murphy Róisín Shortall Stephen Donnelly	Centre-left	—N/a	—N/a
		PBP–Solidarity	Collective leadership	2015	—N/a	Left-wing to far-left	—N/a	—N/a
		Independent Ireland	Michael Collins	2023	Michael Collins	Centre-right to right-wing	—N/a	Renew
		Aontú	Peadar Tóibín	2019	Peadar Tóibín	Fiscal: left-wing Social: right wing	—N/a	—N/a
		100% Redress	Tomás Seán Devine	2023	Tomás Seán Devine	Single-issue	—N/a	—N/a
		Human Dignity Alliance	Rónán Mullen	2018	Rónán Mullen	Right-wing	—N/a	—N/a
		Right to Change	Joan Collins	2020	Joan Collins	Left-wing	—N/a	—N/a
		Workers and Unemployed Action	Séamus Healy	1985	Séamus Healy	Left-wing	—N/a	—N/a
		Workers' Party	Michael McCorry	1970	Arthur Griffith	Far-left	IMCWP	—N/a
		National Party	Patrick Quinlan	2016	Justin Barrett	Far-right	—N/a	—N/a
		Republican Sinn Féin	Seosamh Ó Maoileoin	1986	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	Left-wing	—N/a	—N/a
		Independent Left	—N/a	2019	—N/a	Left-wing	—N/a	—N/a

Party representation

Party		Representation (as of May 2026)
		Oireachtas		European Parliament	Local councils
		Dáil Éireann	Seanad Éireann
	Fianna Fáil	48 / 174	19 / 60	4 / 14	246 / 949
	Sinn Féin	39 / 174	6 / 60	2 / 14	99 / 949
	Fine Gael	38 / 174	16 / 60	4 / 14	246 / 949
	Social Democrats	12 / 174	1 / 60	0 / 14	32 / 949
	Labour	11 / 174	2 / 60	1 / 14	56 / 949
	Independent Ireland	4 / 174	0 / 60	1 / 14	24 / 949
	PBP–Solidarity	3 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	12 / 949
	Aontú	2 / 174	1 / 60	0 / 14	10 / 949
	Green	1 / 174	1 / 60	0 / 14	23 / 949
	100% Redress	1 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	4 / 949
	Right to Change	0 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	1 / 949
	Kerry Ind. Alliance	0 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	1 / 949
	National Party	0 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	1 / 949
	Workers and Unemployed	0 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	1 / 949
	Republican Sinn Féin	0 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	1 / 949
	Independent Left	0 / 174	0 / 60	0 / 14	1 / 949

Parties and groupings represented in the Oireachtas

Fine Gael

Fine Gael is the largest party in the Oireachtas, the second largest party in local government in Ireland and has the largest delegation of MEPs from Ireland. It was founded in 1933 by a merger of the Cumann na nGaedheal, which had supported the Treaty and formed the government between 1922 and 1932, the National Guard (popularly called the Blueshirts) and the small National Centre Party. It is a member of the centre-right European People's Party and is led by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. It has been in government in the periods 1922–32, 1948–51, 1954–57, 1973–77, 1981–82, 1982–87, 1994–97, and 2011 to date. On each occasion, it was the leading party of a coalition with the Labour Party, and in three of those cases also with other smaller parties. At the 2011 general election, Fine Gael become the largest party in the Oireachtas with 36.1% of the vote.

Fine Gael has 48 TDs, 20 Senators, 5 MEPs and 255 councillors.

Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil is the second largest party in the Oireachtas and has the largest number of city and county council seats. It has been in government more than any other party: 1932–48, 1951–54, 1957–73, 1977–81, 1982, 1987–94, and 1997–2011. On all occasions up to 1989, it was in a single-party government; on all occasions since then it was the leading party in a coalition government. It is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and is led by former minister Micheál Martin. It was founded in 1926 by Éamon de Valera as a radical anti-Treaty party, drawing support from small farmers and urban workers but has since become a party of the establishment. It was first elected to power in 1932 on a constitutional republican platform, promising to remove constitutional links with Britain and reduce poverty by creating employment. It oversaw much of the industrial development of the Republic and has consequently drawn support from all social classes, making it a classic populist party.

Fianna Fáil has 43 TDs, 13 Senators, 2 MEPs and 279 councillors.

Sinn Féin

Main article: History of Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is the third-largest party in the Oireachtas and the second-largest party in the Northern Assembly. The name Sinn Féin, meaning 'ourselves', has been used by a number of political organisations in Ireland since 1905, when first used by Arthur Griffith. Sinn Féin was the party of separatism before Irish independence, and broke through in the Westminster election of 1918, where it won 73 of the 105 Irish seats.

The modern-day Sinn Féin party emerged in 1970 after a split in the party, and was often distinguished as Provisional Sinn Féin. It was closely linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army. It is led by Mary Lou McDonald.

Sinn Féin has 21 TDs, 6 Senators, 1 MEP and 81 councillors in the Republic of Ireland.

Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social democratic party, founded in 1912 as part of the trade union movement, with which it maintains organisational links. For most of the history of the state, it was the third largest party, though it is currently in fourth position in parliamentary strength. It has been in government in the periods 1948–51, 1954–57, 1973–77, 1981–82, 1982–87, 1993–94, 1994–97, and 2011–16. On each of those occasions, it was in coalition with Fine Gael, with the exception of the period 1993 to 1994, when it was in coalition with Fianna Fáil. The Labour Party merged with the smaller Democratic Left party in 1999. It is a member of the Party of European Socialists and is led by Brendan Howlin.

The Labour Party has 7 TDs, 4 Senators and 57 councillors.

Solidarity–People Before Profit

Solidarity–People Before Profit is an electoral alliance between People Before Profit and Solidarity. In October 2015, they formed a new alliance for electoral purposes, but continue to organise separately. The founding TDs have stated their aim to build a mass party of the left and ultimately help form a left-wing government.

Together they have 6 TDs (three each from Solidarity and PBP) and 11 councillors.

Independents 4 Change

Independents 4 Change has been registered as a political party since 2014. Its registered officer is MEP Mick Wallace. The only TD is Joan Collins. Tommy Broughan was a member until July 2016. Three further TDs sit in the I4C Dáil group while not being members of the party: Catherine Connolly, Thomas Pringle, and Maureen O'Sullivan.

They have 1 TD, 2 MEPs and 3 councillors.

Green Party

The Green Party was established in 1981 and is allied to the European Green Party. The Green Party of Northern Ireland voted in 2005 to become a region of the Irish Green Party making it the second party to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. It has Northern Ireland members on the Irish Green Party national executive.

In June 2007, the Green Party entered coalition government with Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. In January 2011 they left the coalition, and at the 2011 general election, lost all of their Dáil seats.

The Green Party has 2 TDs, 2 MEPs and 49 councillors.

Social Democrats

The Social Democrats were founded in July 2015 by three independent TDs Stephen Donnelly (who has since left the party for Fianna Fáil), Catherine Murphy, and Róisín Shortall. The leadership is currently shared by Murphy and Shortall.

The Social Democrats have 2 TDs and 19 councillors.

Aontú

Aontú is an all-Ireland republican party with a left-wing economic stance and a conservative social position. It was founded in 2019 by Peadar Tóibín who left Sinn Féin because of its support for the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018.

It has 1 TD and 3 councillors in the Republic of Ireland, and 1 councillor in Northern Ireland.

Workers and Unemployed Action

Workers and Unemployed Action (WUA) is a left-wing political organisation formed in 1985 by Séamus Healy. At the time of the 2011 election the WUA formed part of the United Left Alliance, but left in 2012.

WUA has one TD and one councillor.

Human Dignity Alliance

The Human Dignity Alliance (HDA) was founded by Senator Rónán Mullen in June 2018.

HDA has one senator.

Parties represented only on local authorities

Workers' Party

The Workers' Party is a Marxist–Leninist party allied with the international workers and communist parties. It is organised in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. A special Ardfheis in 1992 designed to re-constitute the party and remove links with the Official IRA resulted in a formal split with the bulk of the parliamentary party and councillors leaving to form Democratic Left. Democratic Left voted to merge with the Labour Party in 1999. The Workers' Party has one councillor on Cork City Council.

Republican Sinn Féin

Republican Sinn Féin were formed in 1986 by members of Sinn Féin who did not support the decision made at the party's ard fheis in that year to end its policy of abstentionism and to allow elected Sinn Féin TDs take their seats in Dáil Éireann. They have one councillor, Tomás Ó Curraoin on Galway County Council. As they are not a registered party, he is officially an independent councillor.

Kerry Independent Alliance

The Kerry Independent Alliance (previously the South Kerry Independent Alliance) have one councillor on Kerry County Council. It is registered to contest elections for Dáil Éireann and in Killarney for local elections.

Irish Democratic Party

The Irish Democratic Party have one councillor on Offaly County Council.

Other parties

Socialist Party

The Socialist Party (known as Militant Labour until 1996) was formed in 1989 by members of the Militant Tendency who were expelled from the Labour Party. Joe Higgins was its first member elected at national level. It was part of the United Left Alliance in the 2011 general election, but that alliance disintegrated over the course of the following Dáil term. It now contests elections as part of the Solidarity–People Before Profit party.

Socialist Workers Network

The Socialist Workers Network was founded in 1971 as the Socialist Workers Movement. Later known as the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), the party was set up by supporters of the International Socialists of Britain living in Ireland. SWP member Richard Boyd Barrett was elected to the Dáil Éireann, on behalf of People Before Profit, in the 2011 Irish general election.

Renua

Renua was founded in March 2015 with Lucinda Creighton as its founding leader. The founding parliamentary party deputies all left Fine Gael over their opposition to the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. Renua no longer has any TDs, having lost all three at the 2016 general election. It had one councillor elected at the 2019 local elections, but he resigned from the party shortly after.

Communist Party of Ireland

The Communist Party of Ireland was first founded in 1921, re-founded in 1933 and its current incarnation has its origins in 1970. The party's only national representative was Patrick Gaffney, who contested the 1922 Irish general election as a Labour candidate, but later switched party allegiances. While it remains a registered party, it rarely stands candidates in elections.

Other registered parties

• Direct Democracy Ireland (DDI) — founded in 2012, seeks to replace parliamentary democracy with direct democracy
• Éirígí — socialist dissident republican party founded in 2011
• Fís Nua — split from the Green Party in 2010 over its coalition with Fianna Fáil
• Housing Rights and Reform Alliance (HRRA) — founded in 2018 by Diarmaid Ó Cadhla, who was coopted in 2016 onto Cork County Council. Ó Cadhla was among four unsuccessful HRRA candidates at the 2019 Cork City Council election.
• Identity Ireland — founded in 2015, a Eurosceptic sovereigntist party aligned with Pegida
• National Party — nationalist, anti-abortion, Eurosceptic and anti-immigration party founded in 2016
• United People — split in 2015 from DDI

Other unregistered parties

Just as independent candidates, those standing for unregistered parties may choose either to be listed as "Non-Party", or to leave the section blank on the ballot paper.

• Catholic Democrats
• Irish Republican Socialist Party
• Irish Socialist Network
• Saoradh
• Christian Solidarity Party
• Irish Freedom Party

See also

• List of political parties by country
• List of political parties in Northern Ireland