While pleased with the vote in the Sligo urban area where he came second, Cllr Declan Bree, said today that he was disappointed with the vote from the rural parts of the constituency.

“In order to be successful and attract transfers I required a sufficient amount of first preference votes to stay in the race. 

“In a sense we were squeezed by the two larger parties Sinn Fein and Labour, and the fact that so many former Labour candidates stood as independent candidates also fragmented the vote and the potential for success.

“However at a national level we are very pleased that five of our colleagues in the United Left Alliance, including Joe Higgins and Richard Boyd Barrett, have made the breakthrough and have been elected to the Dail.   This success will now lead to the development of a new movement to represent working class people in its widest sense – the public sector, the private sector, pensioners and young people.

“The United Left Alliance must now establish itself as the real opposition and the real alternative, not just inside the Dail, but outside as well, and I and the Left in Sligo intend to play our full part in that initiative.” said Cllr Bree.