Labour Youth

Labour Youth Óige an Lucht Oibre
Chairperson	Sarah Nulty Dunne
Founded	1979 (1979)
Ideology	Democratic socialism Feminism Trade unionism Pro-Europeanism
Mother party	Labour Party
International affiliation	International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY)
European affiliation	Young European Socialists (YES)
Newspaper	The Left Tribune
Website	www.labouryouth.ie

Labour Youth is the youth wing of the Labour Party of Ireland. Membership is open to those aged from 16 to 30 years old.^[1]

History

Labour Youth succeeded the Young Labour League as a full section of the Party in 1979, under Party Leader Frank Cluskey. Members were active in the election of presidential candidate Mary Robinson, forming a base of membership during the campaign that would provide the backbone of leadership within the organisation for years to come. They provided leadership to the National Youth Council of Ireland and in 1992 were among the founding members of the European Council of Socialist Youth. In 1999, along with the main party, Labour Youth merged with Democratic Left Youth.

In the 2007 General Election, Labour Youth opposed a pre-election pact with the centre-right party Fine Gael. The group undertook an active and visible role in the 2011 Irish General Election in support of young candidates such as Ciara Conway, Patrick Nulty and Derek Nolan. They later called on the Party to abandon talks on forming a coalition government with Fine Gael, describing the proposal as undemocratic.^[2] Sarah Nulty Dunne is Labour Youth's current Chairperson.^[3]

Structure

As a prominently student organisation Labour Youth has long had a presence in many Universities and Institutes of Technology across Ireland. Originally confined to the larger and more prestigious universities such as Trinity, UCD and UCC, in more recent years efforts have been made to expand.^[4]

Labour Youth is currently represented in:

• Trinity College, Dublin
• University College Dublin
• Dublin City University
• Dublin Institute of Technology
• University College Cork
• Maynooth University
• Institute of Technology, Carlow
• National University of Ireland, Galway
• Cork Institute of Technology

Constituency level:

• Dublin South West
• Dublin South Central
• Dublin Rathdown
• Dublin West
• Dublin Mid-West
• Kildare North
• Kildare South
• Tipperary
• Wexford
• Wicklow
• Cork East
• Carlow-Kilkenny
• Cork South Central
• Cork North Central

Executive

The National Youth Executive (NYE) is responsible for the day-to-day running of Labour Youth. Officers are elected to the NYE at Youth Conference, held in November each year.^[3] The Labour Party Youth & Development Officer, currently Caroline Winston, is an ex-officio, non-voting member of the NYE.

Current Executive

Former National Chairs

Tom Johnson Summer School

The Tom Johnson Summer School is held annually in June.^[5] It is named after Tom Johnson, the first leader of the Labour Party and the only leader to date to serve as the leader of the opposition in Dáil Éireann. At Tom Johnson, panel discussions are held on a number of topics, with speakers from within and outside of the Party.

Publications

Labour Youth publishes The Left Tribune on a regular basis.

References

External links

Official Links

• Homepage of Labour Youth
• The Left Tribune

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