Workers' Party of Ireland and Democratic Left
Originally she became involved in campaigns against high local service charges in Leixlip, she joined the Workers' Party of Ireland in 1983. She first held political office in 1988 when she was elected to Leixlip Town Commission, representing the Workers' Party. She stood unsuccessfully as a Workers' Party candidate for the Leinster constituency at the 1989 European Parliament election and for the Kildare constituency at the 1989 general election.
In 1991 she was elected to Kildare County Council as a Workers' Party councillor for Celbridge. When the Workers' Party split in 1992, she followed Proinsias De Rossa into the new Democratic Left, and stood unsuccessfully as a Democratic Left candidate in Kildare at the 1992 and 1997 general elections.
She had opposed Democratic Left's merger with the Labour Party in 1998 criticizing the party as "highly opportunistic". She also stated that she would refuse to join a merged entity. However in the 1999 local elections she was re-elected to the County Council for Leixlip representing the Labour Party, and also won a seat on Leixlip Town Council.
Read more about this topic: Catherine Murphy (politician), Political Career
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