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Ivana Bacik TD: The mission to rebuild Labour Named as the 14th leader of the Labour Party after an unopposed campaign to succeed Alan Kelly TD, Ivana Bacik TD speaks to Odrán Waldron about the challenge facing the party, her victory in the 2021 Dublin Bay South byelection, and her vision of positive politics. “We’ve certainly been through challenging times,” Bacik says, reflecting on where both she and her party find themselves. “I first joined about 30 years ago and I’ve been around long enough to know that we’ve had a number of ebbs and flows, rises and falls in the fortunes of the party.” That Bacik finds herself here at all may come as a surprise to both observers and the new Labour leader herself; having served as a Senator from 2007 to 2021, she has been a TD for less than a year, winning in the Dublin Bay South byelection in July 2021 to replace erstwhile Fine Gael TD, Eoghan Murphy, the only election to take place since the outbreak of Covid-19. Bacik claimed what would have been considered a surprise victory when campaigning had begun; her vote share of 30.2 per cent, in a constituency where the
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party had claimed just 7.9 per cent of the vote in the 2020 general election, showed the progress the party had made in the constituency covering parts of Kimmage, Rathmines, Terenure, and Rathfarnham. “I am heartened by the response that we got in that byelection,” she says. “Now is the time for us to build and grow our voice, because there’s a need for Labour messages of equality, solidarity, and fairness, the need for the State to step up and invest in public services, more teachers, doctors, and nurses, and indeed in ensuring that people’s basic needs are met and that the effects of the cost of living crisis are addressed and those who are most in need do not suffer as a result.” While her own election result gives her cause for optimism, the situation she inherits as Labour leader is not so positive.
In the 2020 election, the party recorded alltime lows in first preference vote share (4.4 per cent), seat numbers (six, now seven with the addition of Bacik) and position among the parties (fifth). Following the deposition of Brendan Howlin TD as party leader, Alan Kelly TD ascended to leadership but did not survive to contest an election as leader. Following his resignation, Bacik took up the mantle unopposed but is undaunted by the task before her and believes that a focus on material issues will benefit the party. “We’ve gained a real understanding into the concerns of our communities across the country,” she says. “There’s nothing like being on doors, canvassing and meeting people daily to ensure that you become fully aware of the real extent to which people are feeling the pinch. We in
