The collapse of communism in eastern Europe had put many Soviet-aligned parties on the defensive and had caused a number of them to reconsider their core ideological beliefs.

[8] Finally the broadcast of a BBC Spotlight programme in June 1991 had raised questions on the party's links to the Official IRA.

[9] The Official IRA had been on ceasefire since 1972 but was frequently accused of being involved in fund-raising robberies, money-laundering and other forms of criminality.

Over the preceding two weeks there were clashes at a number of party meetings between supporters of De Rossa and Garland.

A motion proposed by De Rossa and general secretary Des Geraghty sought to stand down the existing membership, elect an 11-member provisional executive council and make several other significant changes in party structures.

The members who left included the party leader Proinsias De Rossa and five more of the party's seven members of Dáil Éireann (Pat Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore, Eric Byrne, Pat McCartan and Joe Sherlock).

The party was hampered by the fact that it immediately lost Dáil privileges such as speaking rights, the ability to table priority questions and the allocation of private members time it had enjoyed as the Workers' Party as it did not meet the minimum requirement of 7 TDs.

We believe that the idea of socialism coupled with the practice of democracy provides the basis for the radical transformation of Irish society.

[16] The party's first contest was the 1992 UK general election, in which it stood in two constituencies in Northern Ireland and polled 2,133 votes.

Proinsias De Rossa served as Minister for Social Welfare, initiating Ireland's first national anti-poverty strategy.

The party also was in significant financial debt because of a lack of access to public funds, due to its size.

[23] This left Gerry Cullen, their councillor in Dungannon Borough Council, in a state of limbo, representing a party for whom he could no longer seek election.