The LWR was begun by members unhappy at the low level of activity of that organisation in Ireland and the fact that the IWG leaders were based in London.
Sean Matgamna supported the move but quickly left to pursue interests in British politics with Workers' Fight.
Paddy Healy, who briefly worked in London but who was based in Dublin and later became president of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, was a founding member.
The Socialist Labour League in Britain had a number of (mainly Protestant) members in Belfast during the 1960s and was seeking a base in the Republic of Ireland.
The LWR had an independent existence from 1972, publishing Workers' Republic magazine, but some supporters worked in the Irish Labour Party.
The LWR also worked in Ireland in support of Eastern European oppositionists, including Solidarność (Daly was secretary of the Irish Polish Solidarity Committee), and trade unionists in Latin America and South Africa.
The LWR further divided after Carol Coulter, Harry Vince and John Daly left in 1988, Alex White[4] having done so some years previously.
[8] Paddy Healy ran for the Senate as an independent in July 2007 on an education funding and pro-discipline in schools platform,[5] but was not elected.
His election to the Senate was credited to an electoral pact with Sinn Féin, based on his record of previously opposing censorship of that party when he worked in RTÉ (the Irish national broadcaster), where he was an active trade unionist.