Socialist Republican Party (Ireland)
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Republican Party was an Irish republican political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. It was founded in 1944 by a coalition of former Nationalist Party
Nationalist Party (Ireland)
The Nationalist Party was a term commonly used to describe a number of parliamentary political parties and constituency organisations supportive of Home Rule for Ireland from 1874 to 1922...

 members, former Irish Republican Army (IRA) members and Protestant trade unionists around Victor Halley
Victor Halley
Victor Halley was a nationalist trade unionist in Northern Ireland, from West Belfast.A Presbyterian, Halley joined the Independent Labour Party, and when this disaffiliated from the British Labour Party, he became a founder member of the small Socialist Party of Northern Ireland, an integral part...

, all based in West Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

.

The party produced a newspaper Northern Star edited by Vincent McDowell (father of former Green MEP Nuala Ahern
Nuala Ahern
Nuala Ahern is a former Irish Green Party member of the European Parliament representing Leinster in Ireland from 1994–2004. Ahern became active in politics in 1991 becoming elected to Wicklow County Council...

) who would go on to be active at various times in the NICRA, Green party where he was elected a councillor and the Irish Labour Party.

In the 1945 Northern Ireland general election, the party won 5,497 votes and Harry Diamond
Harry Diamond
Harry Diamond was a socialist and an Irish nationalist. He was the MP for Belfast Falls in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and later the leader of the Republican Labour Party....

 took the Belfast Falls seat. He held the seat in 1949, with no other candidate contesting it. A couple of months later, the group joined the Irish Labour Party. Diamond later stood for Parliament under a variety of labels before forming the Republican Labour Party
Republican Labour Party
The Republican Labour Party was a political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1964, with two MPs at Stormont, Harry Diamond and Gerry Fitt...

.
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