The
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) was a small
left wing political party in the
Republic of Ireland. It was a merger of
Jim Kemmy's Limerick Socialist Organisation and the
Socialist Party of Ireland. Jim Kemmy was an Irish
politician and member of
Dáil Éireann. He left the left the
Labour Party in 1972.The Dynamics of Irish Politics by
Paul Bew, Ellen Hazelkorn, Henry Patterson, (1989).
The party had a political stance to the left of Labour, and was strongly opposed to
nationalist positions regarding
Northern Ireland. Journalist
Brian Trench claimed the DSP shared "
the anti-republicanism and economism" of the 1980s
Workers' Party, despite disagreeing with the WP on other issues."Radical Fragments in a SouthernWilderness", Brian Trench,
Fortnight Magazine, no. 196 (Jul/Aug),1983 pp. 5-6. In 1983 the party made submissions to the
New Ireland Forum reflecting its non-nationalist position. It also held a strongly
secularist position, opposing the influence of the
Catholic Church on issues such as
contraception,
divorce and
abortion.
The party never held any Dáil seats other than Kemmy's seat in
Limerick East. Outside of Limerick City its membership was very small, although its positions on Northern Ireland and...
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