The Irish people are broadly ‘left-wing’ when we look at support for typically social-democratic or socialist positions on things like collective bargaining, housing, healthcare, neutrality and transport. Yet combinations of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael continue to be elected and form Governments who actively deliver against these popular positions time and time again.
74%[1] of people believe that employers should be legally required to negotiate with trade unions. 87%[2] support universal healthcare and ending the two-tier health service. 90%[3] believe local authorities and the State should play a far greater role in the building and provision of homes. 71%[4] of voters support enshrining Irish neutrality in the Constitution. 92%[5] of the public favours funding public transport over building new motorways. Over 80%[6] are alarmed at the climate crisis.
Presidential elections and Citizens’ Assemblies also indicate the population are significantly to the left of Governments. However, I previously wrote in Socialist Voice[7] about the material basis of a ‘contented majority’ (majority of active voters, not people) who continue to vote centre-right parties, and ideologically Gramsci’s notions of false consciousness and manufactured consent serve us well in understanding this apparent contradiction.
It is well written about and understood that colonialism, imperialism, distorted economic development and partition shaped Irish politics in a particularly way that elevated certain identities, loyalties and groupings above political class-consciousness, giving rise to a very local constituent- and family-orientated political preference system. Yet despite this, traditional left positions on core issues remain very popular. This needs to be tapped into.
So, what should a Communist Party do? Continue to develop our clear and up-to-date positions on these issues and take every opportunity for the Party to articulate our position on these popular points within the organised working class. It needs to be a Communist position that reflects the popular will of the people on housing, climate, collective bargaining, etc., on each occasion we have. Given our size and resources, we should concentrate and focus on platforming the Communist positions on these popular aspirations within organised mass working-class structures like the trade unions.
It is through this struggle that people will see and realise the contradictions and conflict with capitalism and its political structures. For example, the 82%[8] of respondents who support Ireland’s EU membership will best be convinced not through castigation of the EU as an imperialist bloc, but through seeing and feeling its opposition to our neutrality or public housing and healthcare.
References
[1] https://www.fsunion.org/assets/files/pdf/ireland_thinks_poll.pdf
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851017303214
[3] https://www.ictu.ie/news/new-poll-finds-88-voters-want-government-prioritise-delivery-homes-are-affordable-all-90-want
[4] https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/02/07/irish-times-poll-wide-support-for-insertion-of-neutrality-into-constitution/
[5] https://irishcycle.com/2025/01/13/majority-of-irish-voters-want-21-spending-on-public-transport-vs-roads-kept-as-new-government-faces-political-stumbling-blocks/
[6] https://www.epa.ie/news-releases/news-releases-2024/public-support-for-climate-action-remains-high-across-ireland.php
[7] https://socialistvoice.ie/2024/10/a-contented-majority/
[8] https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-foreign-affairs/press-releases/strong-public-support-for-eu-membership-ahead-of-irelands-eu-presidency/
