Solidarity–People Before Profit is an electoral alliance in Ireland. It was formed by members of two left-wing socialist political parties: Solidarity and People Before Profit. Solidarity was known as the "Anti-Austerity Alliance" until 2017. Since September 2019, the alliance also includes the RISE party founded by Paul Murphy. The alliance was formed in 2015 and replaced AAA and PBP in Ireland's official register of political parties. However, each entity retains its separate organisation and identity. PBP also retains its own registration in Northern Ireland. The alliance was created with the intent to obtain more speaking rights for its constituent members in Dáil Éireann after the 2016 Irish general election. People Before Profit and the Socialist Party are both all-Ireland organisations, but they do not form part of a single electoral alliance in Northern Ireland elections. People Before Profit contests elections under its own name, and the Socialist Party is part of the Cross-Community Labour Alternative.
Background
Under the standing orders in Dáil Éireann, a parliamentary group must have five TDs or more in order to have full speaking rights. In addition, political parties which get 2% or more of the national vote receive extra funding from the state for political activities. Combining the seats and votes of the two parties would increase the chance of reaching these thresholds. The electoral alliance sought to provide a greater socialist voice in parliament, and a political platform committed to abolishing water charges, Universal Social Charge for low-middle income earners, and other austerity measures implemented in Ireland. The alliance claims to represent the 57% of people who boycotted the payment of water charges, and claims to provide a genuine working class voice in parliament. The alliance has been described as a "remarkable abeyance of decades-old sectarian conflict between the Socialist Workers Party underlying PBP and the Socialist Party underlying AAA." Solidarity and People Before Profit announced its intention to organise separately and to remain free to maintain different political positions on various issues, but intend to cooperate electorally while maintaining their own identities and structures. AAA de-registered as a party, while PBP changed its registered name to AAA–PBP and added AAA members to the renamed party's list of nominated representatives. This technical distinction caused a legal question regarding the co-option of a member of Cork City Council to replace AAA member Mick Barry after Barry's election to the Dáil in the 2016 election. It was argued that, since the party for whom Barry was elected in 2014 was no longer registered, the party he represented when vacating his council seat in 2016 did not have the right to nominate a replacement. A columnist for The Irish Times claims that it is difficult to tell the difference between People Before Profit and the AAA. In 2019, Solidarity TD Paul Murphy formed RISE, a new political party which immediately became the alliance's third member.
Electoral history
Ahead of the 2016 general election there were four AAA–PBP TDs: Joe Higgins, Richard Boyd Barrett, Ruth Coppinger and Paul Murphy. Boyd Barrett was first elected to the Dáil at the 2011 general election, while Coppinger and Murphy were both elected at by-elections, in May and October 2014 respectively. Higgins retired with the dissolution of the 31st Dáil, while the other three sought re-election. They ran 31 candidates at the 2016 general election. On 25 January 2016, the group launched a set of "common principles", and later released separate party manifestos. Six TDs were elected. At the 2019 local elections, Solidarity–PBP won 11 seats, a loss of 17 seats from their combined total at the 2014 local elections. At 2020 Irish election, Solidarity–PBP returned five TDs; three from PBP, one from RISE and one from Solidarity.
