History of The Irish Labour Party - Pat Rabbitte and The Mullingar Accord

Pat Rabbitte and The Mullingar Accord

Following the 2005 endorsement, by the Labour Party conference in Tralee, of a pre-election voting transfer pact with the Fine Gael party in 2005, the party saw increased cooperation between the party leaders, Pat Rabbitte and the Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, as well as the party's front benches.

Following on from the Mullingar Accord, an election pact preceding the 2004 Local and European elections, where Fine Gael benefited largely, a number of mutually acceptable and compatible policy documents were published in the lead up to the elections. The two parties formed the "Alliance for Change" in the run up to the election and pursued joint policies and economic constings in major policy areas. However though Fine Gael gained 20 seats in the election in 2007, Labour's vote continued to stagnate at 10.13%, a marginal decline from 2002 and it returned with 20 seats, one less than before.

Rabbitte resigned as leader in August 2007, a year ahead of his six-year term came to an end. Éamon Gilmore, Deputy for Dun Laoghaire replaced Rabbitte, and expressed a preference for an independent strategy, emphasising the need for Labour to concentrate on itself, rather than following media interest in its alliance with other parties.