Labour Youth

History

Labour Youth succeeded the Young Labour League as a full section of the Party in 1979, under Party Leader Frank Cluskey. The first annual conference took place on 13 May 1979. John Kelleher was elected as the first Chair, Jane Scott as Secretary and Robin Hanan and Ted Gannon as the first representatives on the Labour Party's Administrative Council. The first campaign undertaken by Labour Youth was on combating unemployment.

During the 1980s, Labour Youth proudly stood with the Dunnes Stores employees in their long strike against the apartheid regime in South Africa. They raised and donated £1900 to support the striking workers, and regularly joined them on the picket-lines. The 1980s also marked a high-point in terms of youth participation, whereby Labour Youth had over 1200 members and could call demonstrations of over 1000 people in Dublin alone.

From the early 1980s Militant Tendency wielded significant control over the group, with Clare Daly, (now a ULA TD) being elected a youth representative for the Labour Administrative Committee. In 1988 a broad left coalition led by Vincent Byrne, Pat Montague and others won control over the group. The following year the leaders of Militant were expelled from the party.

Members were extremely active in the election of presidential candidate Mary Robinson, forming a base of membership during the campaign that would provide the backbone of leadership within the organisation for years to come. They provided leadership to the National Youth Council of Ireland and in 1992 were among the founding members of the European Council of Socialist Youth (Ecosy). The #Tom Johnson Summer School, which is still a major date on Labour Youth’s calendar, was first initiated in 1994. In 1999, along with the main party, Labour Youth merged with Democratic Left Youth.

In the 2007 General Election, Labour Youth opposed a pre-election pact with the centre-right party Fine Gael. The group undertook an active and visible role in the 2011 Irish General Election in support of Labour Party candidates. They later called on the Party to abandon talks on forming a coalition government with Fine Gael, describing the proposal as inherently undemocratic. Labour Youth Delegates to the Labour Party Special Delegate Conference in March 2011 also opposed the entry into a coalition government with Fine Gael.

Labour Youth played a core role in the successful election campaign of Labour Party President and former Galway West TD Michael D. Higgins as the ninth President of Ireland in the 2011 Presidential Election. Throughout Higgins' long career in the Labour Party, he had been a vocal supporter of Labour Youth and was a regular speaker at the annual Labour Youth Tom Johnson Summer School.

In October 2013, Labour Youth condemned the Fine Gael-Labour coalition's cuts to welfare payments for young people in the 2014 budget. At the Labour Party's National Conference in 2015, Labour Youth secured passage of a motion calling on the Government to reverse these cuts despite opposition from the party's leadership.

From 2013 Labour Youth campaigned consistently in favour of a Living Wage and against the use of Zero Hour Contracts. In November 2015 then-minister Ged Nash published the first major study of Zero Hour Contracts in Ireland and praised Labour Youth's "vocal campaign" on the issue. Labour Youth was also highly active in the successful campaign in favour of the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which ensured civil marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Campaigns

Recent campaigns have included:

Structure

Youth Conference is held every year in November. At Youth Conference, motions are debated and voted upon, setting Labour Youth policy. The National Youth Executive is also elected at Youth Conference. Youth Conference is the supreme decision-making body of Labour Youth

National meetings are held several times a year to hold the National Youth Executive to account and to discuss campaigns, recruitment and ongoing issues.

Day-to-Day management of Labour Youth nationally, along with the implementation of Conference and National Meeting mandates is handled by the National Youth Executive. Individual National Officers also hold working groups relating to their portfolios to make policies and to plan campaigns and recruitment.

The basic operating unit of Labour Youth is the Branch. Branches are organized in most Universities and Institutes of Technology, where meetings are held, policies are debated and campaigns are organized and embarked upon. Branches retain their own leadership and administrative structures, the positions generally somewhat mirroring those of the National Youth Executive. Branches send delegates to Youth Conference to vote on Labour Youth Policy for the year and the composition of the National Youth Executive, and many Youth Branches are recognized as full Branches of the Labour Party in their own right, thereby having the ability to send delegates to vote at the Labour Party National Conference.

Labour Youth is also active on a central council, executive board, constituency executive and local level.

Labour Youth has close links with the Social Democratic and Labour Party and SDLP Youth in the North of Ireland. The former SDLP MLA for South Belfast Conall McDevitt was a former National Secretary of Labour Youth.

Tom Johnson Summer School

The Tom Johnson Summer School is held annually in July. It is named after Tom Johnson, the first leader of the Labour Party and the only leader to date to serve as the leader of the opposition in Dáil Éireann. At Tom Johnson, panel discussions are held on a number of topics, with speakers from within and outside of the Party. The Jim Kemmy "Thirst for Justice" Award is awarded at Tom Johnson.

Executive

The National Youth Executive (NYE) is responsible for the day-to-day running of Labour Youth. Officers are elected to the NYE at Youth Conference, held in November each year. The Labour Party Youth & Development Officer is an ex-officio, non-voting member of the NYE.

The current National Youth Executive are:

The NYE are assisted in their work by a number of Co-ordinators who are elected at the first national meeting convened after National Youth Conference. The positions are non-executive and do not attend NYE meetings.

The Youth & Development Officer, employed by the Labour Party of Ireland, is currently Caroline Winston. The Y&DO facilitates and advises the Executive in the course of their functions and decisions.

Publications

Labour Youth publishes The Left Tribune on a regular basis.