Workers and Unemployed Action (WUA; ) is an Irish political party based in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

in South

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

, set up in 1985 by

Séamus Healy Séamus Healy (; born 9 August 1950) is a former Irish Independent politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2000 to 2007 and 2011 to 2020. He is part of the Clonmel-based Workers and Unemployed Action (WUA) which had a number of loc ...

. WUA had one

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...

(TD) until 2020 and has endorsed and seen a number of its members elected to the

South Tipperary County Council South Tipperary County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Thiobraid Árann Theas) was the authority responsible for Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local government in the county of South Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The co ...

Tipperary County Council Tipperary County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Thiobraid Árann) is the authority responsible for Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local government in County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It came into operation on 3 June ...

, and Clonmel Borough Council. The organisation was set up in response to lack of employment and the economic situation in the South Tipperary area. The party supports a

progressive tax A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.Sommerfeld, Ray M., Silvia A. Madeo, Kenneth E. Anderson, Betty R. Jackson (1992), ''Concepts of Taxation'', Dryden Press: Fort Worth, TX The term ''progre ...

ation system,

full employment Full employment is a situation in which there is no cyclical or unemployment#Cyclical unemployment, deficient-demand unemployment. Full employment does not entail the disappearance of all unemployment, as other kinds of unemployment, namely Structu ...

and

Irish unity United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...

History

In the 2000 Tipperary South by-election, Séamus Healy was elected to the Dáil for Tipperary South, running as an independent candidate. At the 2002 general election, Healy was re-elected.

Phil Prendergast Phil Prendergast (; born 20 September 1959) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South constituency from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party in the Seanad in 2011 and ...

was elected mayor of Clonmel in 2003. In 2007, Prendergast left and joined the Labour Party after being headhunted to stand at the 2007 general election against Healy, but neither of them were elected. However, Prendergast was nominated to run for the Seanad and was elected. The party was recognised by the Dáil registrar of political parties in September 2008. The party was involved in discussions with other left wing groups about a nationwide alliance at the 2009 local elections, which were not successful. At the 2009 local elections, Martin Henzey was returned on Carrick-on-Suir Town Council, while Séamus Healy, Pat English, Billy Shoer and Theresa Ryan were elected to Clonmel Borough Council. Healy and English were elected to South Tipperary County Council, for the Clonmel electoral area. The party joined the

United Left Alliance The United Left Alliance ( ga, Comhaontas Aontaithe an Chlé, ULA) was an electoral alliance of left-wing political parties and independent politicians in the Republic of Ireland, formed to contest the 2011 general election. The grouping origin ...

which was founded in November 2010, and fielded Séamus Healy in Tipperary South at the 2011 general election. Séamus Healy was the first deputy elected for South Tipperary at the 2011 general election. As a result of Healy's election to the 31st Dáil, Billy Shoer was co-opted to South Tipperary Country Council and Helena McGee was co-opted to Clonmel Borough Council. In October 2012 the WUA left the United Left Alliance following disagreements with the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

and

People Before Profit Alliance People Before Profit ( ga, Pobal Roimh Bhrabús, PBP) is a left-wing to far-left Trotskyist political party formed in October 2005. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. History PBP was established in 2005 as ...

over the tax affairs of Independent TD

Mick Wallace Michael Wallace (born 9 November 1955) is an Irish politician and former property developer who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the South constituency since July 2019. He is a member of Independents 4 Change, ...

. Pat English was elected from the Clonmel Electoral Area to

in the county council election held on 23 May 2014. In 2015 it signed up to the

Right2Change Right2Change is a political campaign that arose from the Right2Water campaign in Ireland, built around a document called "Policy Principles for a Progressive Irish Government". The principles centre on areas like health, housing, jobs education an ...

agreement. In November 2017, the

Standards in Public Office Commission The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) ( ga, Coimisiún um Chaighdeáin in Oifigí Poiblí) is an independent body established in December 2001 by the Irish Government under the Standards in Public Office Act, 2001. It replaced the Public ...

stated that some statements of accounts had been received from the WUA, but they were found not to be compliant because the accounts were not audited. It decided against appointing a public auditor as the WUA did not receive any funding from the exchequer. Healy contested the 2020 general election as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate, rather than for WUA, losing his seat.

References

{{Political parties in the Republic of Ireland, state=collapsed 1985 establishments in Ireland Irish republican parties Left-wing politics in Ireland Political parties established in 1985 Political parties in the Republic of Ireland Socialist parties Socialist parties in Ireland