On this day in 1912, the Labour Party was founded at the ITGWU's annual conference held in Clonmel that year.
Against a background of grinding poverty in 1900s Ireland, the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) organised workers to fight for improved conditions. As the prospect of Home Rule loomed, trade unionists, gathered at their annual conference in Clonmel in May 1912, passed a motion to establish a political wing to contest elections and provide labour representation on local councils and any new Home Rule parliament. The motion, proposed by James Connolly and supported by James Larkin and William O’Brien, was passed 49 votes to 18, and so was born the Labour Party.
It is therefore the oldest political party in Ireland, predating independence, and it was founded right here in Tipperary!
Sources:
https://labour.ie/about/our-history/foundation/
The Irish Independent, 29 May 1912, p5.
