People Before Profit candidate for the Dublin Central by-election, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin has issued an open letter to other parties of the left contesting the by-election.
The letter proposes a ‘vote left transfer left’ pact to give a clear choice between Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael and a left alternative. It argues that a united left can repeat Connolly campaign victory over FF/FG.
Ó Ceannabháin also urged the parties to make the choice between the left and FF/FG clear by joining People Before Profit in ruling-out future coalition with FF/FG.
Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin said:
“Dublin Central has suffered enormously under decades of FF/FG rule. My constituency suffers deep deprivation, loss of cultural spaces and emigration, all alongside the enormous wealth concentrated in the IFSC.
“The left needs to unite, just as we did in the Catherine Connolly campaign, to give the people of Dublin Central a clear left alternative to ensure that we defeat FF/FG in this by-election.
“This afternoon I issued an open letter to the other left parties seeking a ‘vote left transfer left’ pact, based on a set of broad left principles, including commitment to the right to housing, disability justice and defence of neutrality.
“I also urged the parties to make the choice between the left and FF/FG clear by joining People Before Profit in ruling-out future coalition with FF/FG.
“We will contact the parties individually in the coming days to discuss our proposal further”.
The text of the letters issued this afternoon is as follows;
Dear left candidates in Dublin Central,
I am writing to you as the People Before Profit candidate for the upcoming Dublin Central by-election to propose a ‘vote left transfer left’ pact.
Dublin Central has been the victim of decades of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rule. The result is the accumulation of enormous wealth in the IFSC, alongside areas of deep deprivation. Our young people have been forced to emigrate to be able to afford a home. Our cultural spaces are closing as profit dominates our city.
The victory of the campaign to elect Catherine Connolly as President proves that when the left unites and stands up against FF & FG, we can win.
It is vital that the left wins this by-election in Dublin Central as well as in Galway West. This can raise confidence amongst working class people and encourage them to join movements now to fight for an affordable Ireland, action on the housing crisis and to defend neutrality. It would also crucially give further momentum to the idea of electing a left government at the next general election.
A left transfer pact would give people a clear choice in this by-election between the FF/FG government and a left alternative. This could be based on agreement of a set of broad left principles such as the right to housing; disability justice; a National Health Service; defence of neutrality; radical and just climate action; against racism and discrimination. This should be linked to an explicit call to transfer to other candidates who have also signed up to this pact.
This would not of course contradict the individual parties and candidates running their own election campaigns and calling for people to vote No. 1 for their candidates, before transferring to others on the left.
For our part, we will be clear as to why we are asking people to give People Before Profit their No. 1 vote. We are the only party to rule out coalition with FF or FG, and we think that the left would be much strengthened by other parties joining us in making that commitment.
The results of coalition with FF/FG are clear, not just from recent experience at a national level, but also at a local level in Dublin City Council, where Labour and the Greens unfortunately voted with FF and FG in favour of a budget including rent hikes for Council, HAP, RAS and AHB tenants.
We also believe that PBP’s commitment to people-powered movements and ecosocialist change will be essential if we are to resolve the crises facing us.
We think it is incumbent on the left to come together for this by-election. We can ensure that FG or FF do not win another TD to support the government and instead elect a candidate to stand up for workers, renters and ordinary people.
We will be following up individually with you to seek to further this discussion.
Beir bua,
Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin