The
Labour Party is a
social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in
Clonmel,
County Tipperary, by
James Connolly,
James Larkin and
William O'Brien as the political wing of the
Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish political parties, Labour does not trace its origins to the original
Sinn Féin; however, it merged with
Democratic Left which does trace its history back to Sinn Féin. At the
2011 general election it gained 37 of the 166 seats in
Dáil Éireann, almost double its total of 20 at the
2007 general election, making it the second-largest political party in the
31st Dáil. The Labour Party has served in government for a total of nineteen years, six times in coalition either with
Fine Gael alone or with Fine Gael and other smaller parties, and once with
Fianna Fáil, giving it the second-longest time in government of Irish parties, next to Fianna Fáil. On 9 March 2011 it became the junior partner in
a coalition with Fine Gael for the period of the
31st Dáil. The current party leader is
Joan Burton, elected in July 2014 alongside
Alan Kelly as deputy leader. Burton is the current
Tánaiste (deputy prime minister).