Pat Rabbitte - Early Life

Early Life

Patrick Rabbitte was born in 1949 near Claremorris and brought up in Woodstock, Ballindine, County Mayo. He was educated locally at St Colman's College, Claremorris before emigrating to Britain to find employment. He returned shortly afterwards to attend University College Galway where he studied Arts and Law. While at university Rabbitte became involved in several college movements before serving as President of the NUI, Galway Students' Union in 1970–1971. Between 1972 and 1974 he achieved national attention when he served as President of the national Union of Students in Ireland (USI). Following the completion of his presidency in 1974 he became an official in the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU), becoming National Secretary for the union in 1980.

Rabbitte became involved in electoral politics for the first time in 1985 when he was elected to Dublin County Council. At the 1989 general election he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Workers' Party TD for Dublin South–West. He has retained his seat at every election since as a Workers' Party, then Democratic Left and now a Labour Party TD.

After the retirement as Party President of the Workers' Party by Tomás Mac Giolla in 1988, Rabbitte was seen as one of those who wanted to move the party away from its hard left position and alignment with the Soviet Union and international communist and workers' parties. He and some others who had come from the USI via the trade union movement were seen as wanting to bring the party more to the centre. This led Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore and others to earn the nickname "The Student Princes". In 1992 Rabbitte played a prominent role with Proinsias De Rossa in an attempt to jettison some of its more hard left positions. This eventually split the party.