Why don't the Labour Party and the Social Democrats merge?

They're political parties, not startup businesses. 'Scale' is not necessarily achievable, and if it was, it not necessarily the greater good. The assumption that a merger leads to a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts has no solid basis. The best model in vaguely recent history of this is the merger of Labour and Democratic Left, which really didn't produce 'scale'. Most observers agree that it produced a whole that is less than the sum of the parts prior to the merger.
Some people like to vote for a smaller party, or like to feel that they're part of a smaller party, not a mainstream party. These aren't entirely logical or rational decisions. There's a whole lot of emotion and history tied up in these decisions.
The most enthusiastic advocates for this merger seem to be those who would never vote for either party involved, leaving my slightly cynical about the basis for their advocacy

I expect there is clear delineation along age groups between Labour and SD. Labour being moderate left voters mainly over 50s, SD being moderate left mainly under 40s.

So maybe SD just need to keep appealing to younger voters and as Labour voters (not to mind representatives) diminish with age the SDs take over.

I don't see a merger happening unless both are existentially challenged at the same time.

I think they would coalesce with no issues, and from the point of view of the larger parties they could be considered a cohesive bloc in forming a government.

Renko, you're correct. The downward trajectory and continuing spiral of Labour started around the time of the merger with Democratic Left. Many old school Labour activists were appalled. They knew the history attached to many of the old SF stickies in their local areas. Remember, all constituencies in Cork and Kerry, urban and rural, at the time generally had a Labour TD. The old Labour grassroots stopped working. Labour sadly, is a stale brand. Labour first has to revitalise itself before any SD merger. A merger first will not revitalise the new entity.

Feckin vanilla, missing quote again

She was Director and later Chief Commissioner of IHREC, which is a GO, not an NGO.

The merger was in 1999.

TD numbers:

• 1997: 17 Labour, 4 Democratic Left
• 2002: 21
• 2007: 20
• 2011: 37
• 2016: 7
• 2020: 6
• Now: 7, but about to go to 6 with AOR taking his MEP seat.

So it really died off in 2016 after they went into government - and not back in the early 00s.

At grassroots level, I guess some expansion is needed. I can see that in Cork they went from 7 councillors in 2009 which dropped to 0 in 2014, 1 in 2019 and now back up to 3 in 2024. So maybe there are some green shoots?

They should enter into meaningful negotiation. That doesn't mean they should enter government though.

Exactly it looks like she was given ZERO support to prepare by her party.

I stand by my original comment. Her party abandoned her and left her with little to no support in the RDS. Really really cruel.

Many people at the RDS witnessed this. It's not merely my theory.

Perhaps. She took out a huge personal loan for their benefit and they abandon her in the RDS. What kind of a party abandons it's candidates (while the TDs are in Leinster House) like that?

So instead the TDs should abandon the job they've been elected to do by their constituents? They, and all political parties, had 100s of candidates who weren't elected over the last few days. That's the nature of politics. Party leaders or TDs cant be there to hold their hand. And if they do need their hand held by the party leaders they probably shouldn't be in politics either. I wasn't there so I didn't see it, but from the comments I read by Sinead she seems to have been very pragmatic and level headed about it. As I said, I wasn't there but she doesn't sound like someone who desperately needed some PR rep to hold her hand through talking to the press.

She told The Irish Times she is proud of her campaign, particularly her “positive” contribution to the debate on immigration. She said she is “coming out of this feeling bruised but good about what lies ahead”.

Ms Gibney said she knows the Social Democrats “appreciate what I’ve put on the line for this election” adding: “They have given me their full backing for this run.”

She said: “The financial aspect of this was really tough for me because I did put so much on the line ... but I know that I’m also in a very privileged position.”

She said her career, which included “high-profile roles” in the private and public sector, “will allow me to get back on my feet”.

i dont see the point of the SD party? they just seem like a cheap version of Labour or for people who cant hack it in the main parties they get a second chance or easier pond to rise in.

From your distance on the right, everything left of centre must look the same. I do hope that Labour and Soc Dems both grow and cooperation and even a merger would be possible, at some point. But a merger would want to generate a dynamic taking them to a new level.

Sinead Gibney doesn't seem to agree with you, but I'm glad you can be outraged on her behalf;

https://www.thejournal.ie/sinead-gibney-social-democrats-european-elections-6407953-Jun2024/

Anyone with some disability eg dyslexia, shouldn't be considered for public office???

You're clearly the SD's tweeter with that post😁