Editing Pat Rabbitte (section)

==Early life==
Patrick Rabbitte was born near [[Claremorris]] in 1949, and was brought up in Woodstock, [[Ballindine]], [[County Mayo]]. He was educated locally at [[St Colman's College, Claremorris]] before emigrating to Britain to find employment. He returned shortly afterward to attend [[University of Galway|University College Galway]] (UCG) where he studied Arts and Law. Whilst at university, Rabbitte became involved in several college movements before serving as President of the [[University of Galway Students' Union|UCG Students' Union]] in 1970–1971. He achieved national attention while serving, between 1972 and 1974, as President of the national [[Union of Students in Ireland]] (USI). Following the completion of his presidency in 1974, he became an official in the [[Irish Transport and General Workers' Union]] (ITGWU), becoming National Secretary for the union in 1980.

Rabbitte became involved in electoral politics for the first time in late 1982, when he unsuccessfully contested [[Dublin South-West (Dáil constituency)|Dublin South-West]] for the [[Workers' Party (Ireland)|Workers' Party]] (WP) at the [[November 1982 Irish general election|November general election]]. He was elected to [[Dublin County Council]] in 1985. Having again failed in election at the [[1987 Irish general election|1987 general election]], though with a greatly improved performance in the same constituency, he finally entered [[Dáil Éireann]] as a [[Teachta Dála]] (TD) for Dublin South-West at the [[1989 Irish general election|1989 election]]. He retained his seat at every subsequent election until his retirement in 2016—for the first two as a [[Democratic Left (Ireland)|Democratic Left]] TD, and for subsequent ones representing the Labour Party.<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web |url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=896 |title=Pat Rabbitte |work=ElectionsIreland.org |access-date=29 October 2009 |archive-date=12 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312062758/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=896 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After [[Tomás Mac Giolla]]'s retirement as President of the WP in 1988, Rabbitte was seen as one of those who wanted to move the party away from its [[hard left]] position, and from its alignment with the [[Soviet Union]] and international [[communist]] and workers' parties. He and some others who had come from the USI via the [[trade union]] movement were seen as wanting to bring the WP toward the centre.<ref>Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, RTÉ Radio 1, 8 September 2007.</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} This led Rabbitte, [[Eamon Gilmore]] and others to earn the nickname "The Student Princes". In 1992, Rabbitte played a prominent role with [[Proinsias De Rossa]] in an attempt to jettison some of the party's more hard-left positions. This eventually split the WP.<ref>See "Patterns of Betrayal, The flight from Socialism", Repsol, Dublin 1992.</ref> Six of the seven TDs, including Rabbitte, joined [[Democratic Left (Ireland)|Democratic Left]].