Editing Workers' Party (Ireland) (section)

===1992 split between Workers' Party and Democratic Left===
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| footer = Proinsias De Rossa led his faction out of the Workers' Party and into [[Democratic Left (Ireland)|Democratic Left]], taking with them the vast majority of the Workers' Party's elected representatives.
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In early 1992, following a failed attempt to change the organisation's constitution, six of the party's seven TDs, its MEP, numerous councillors and a significant minority of its membership broke off to form [[Democratic Left (Ireland)|Democratic Left]], a party which later merged with the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] in 1999.

The reasons for the split were twofold. Firstly, a faction led by [[Proinsias De Rossa]] wanted to move the party towards an acceptance of free-market economics.<ref>Proinsias De Rossa, 'The case for a new departure Making Sense March–April 1992</ref> Following the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, they felt that the Workers' Party's Marxist stance was now an obstacle to winning support at the polls. Secondly, media accusations had once again surfaced regarding the continued existence of the Official IRA which, it was alleged, remained armed and involved in fund-raising robberies, money laundering and other forms of criminality.<ref>BBC Spotlight programme, 'Sticking to their guns', June 1991</ref>

De Rossa and his supporters sought to distance themselves from alleged paramilitary activity at a special Árd Fheis held at [[Dún Laoghaire]] on 15 February 1992. A motion proposed by De Rossa and General Secretary [[Des Geraghty]] sought to stand down the existing membership, elect an 11-member provisional executive council and make several other significant changes in party structures was defeated. The motion to "reconstitute" the party achieved the support of 61% of delegates. However, this was short of the two-thirds majority needed to change the Workers' Party constitution. The Workers' Party later claimed that there was vote rigging by the supporters of the De Rossa motion.<ref>Patterns of Betrayal, the Flight from Socialism, Workers Party, 1992, page 11</ref> As a result of the conference's failure to adopt the motion, De Rossa and his supporters split from the organisation and established a new party which was temporarily known as "New Agenda" before the permanent name of "Democratic Left" was adopted.<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, {{ISBN|1-84488-120-2}}, p. 588</ref> In the South the rump of the party was left with seven councillors and one [[Teachta Dála|TD]].

In the North, before the 1992 split, the party had four councillors – Tom French stayed with the party, Gerry Cullen (Dungannon) and Seamus Lynch (Belfast) joined New Agenda/Democratic Left, and David Kettyles ran in subsequent elections in Fermanagh as an Independent or Progressive Socialist.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/flg89.htm |title=The 1989 Local Government Elections, www.ark.ac.uk |publisher=Ark.ac.uk |access-date=3 February 2011 |archive-date=7 December 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031207133631/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/flg89.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

While the majority of public representatives left with De Rossa, many members remained in the Workers' Party. Sean Garland condemned those who broke away as "careerists" and social democrats who had taken flight after the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] and labelled them "liquidators".<ref>Sean Garland, 'Beware of hidden agendas' Making Sense March–April 1992</ref> [[Marian Donnelly]] replaced De Rossa as president from 1992 to 1994. [[Tom French (Northern Ireland politician)|Tom French]] became president in 1994, and served for four years until [[Sean Garland]] was elected president in 1998. Garland retired as president in May 2008, and was replaced by [[Mick Finnegan]] who served until September 2014, being replaced by Michael Donnelly<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, {{ISBN|1-84488-120-2}}, p. 600</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://workersparty.ie/keynote-address-of-party-president-michael-donnelly/|title=Keynote address of Party President Michael Donnelly|website=The Workers' Party of Ireland|access-date=10 May 2016|archive-date=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513011222/http://workersparty.ie/keynote-address-of-party-president-michael-donnelly/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A further minor split occurred when a number of members left and established a group called Republican Left; many of these went on to join the Irish Socialist Network. Another split occurred in 1998, after a number of former OIRA members in Newry and Belfast,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/oorgan.htm |title=Official Republican Movement (ORM) – CAIN Archive |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=3 February 2011 |archive-date=19 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219052619/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/oorgan.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> who had been expelled, formed a group called the Official Republican Movement,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.clririshleftarchive.org/organisation/230/|title=Official Republican Movement|work=Irish Left Archive|access-date=1 December 2017|language=en}}</ref> which announced in 2010 that it had decommissioned its weapons.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/feb/08/northern-ireland-republican-groups-disarm|title=Rival Irish republican groups disarm|last=McDonald|first=Henry|date=8 February 2010|work=The Guardian|access-date=1 December 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=2 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202052447/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/feb/08/northern-ireland-republican-groups-disarm|url-status=live}}</ref>