In the second part of his wide-ranging interview with Hot Press, the Minister for Minister for Training, Skills and Innovation expressed his admiration for Richard Boyd Barrett and Clare Daly, and made it clear that the divisions in the Left play into the hands of the right-wing parties.

“It's not right to think that you'd have 10 or 12 different parties in Ireland saying they're socialists – yet they can't work together or come together to form a block and maybe form a united socialist party,” he said.

“Joe Higgins has a socialist party – but we're one of the few countries in Europe where we don't have a large Socialist party, where we don't have an alternative for people to go to. I think that's regretful in the history of politics in Ireland.”

Halligan said that he is to the left of Richard Boyd Barrett and Clare Daly on some issues and expressed admiration for both of them. “I'd be further left than them on some issues! But two of the best performers I've come across in the Dáil are Clare Daly and Richard Boyd Barrett. And they still are to me: intelligent, eloquent, articulate, they know their stuff – and the good thing about them is they believe in what they're about. What they say they mean – and I think that's very important and it's worthwhile in politics if you've got people like that."

Halligan also revealed he sometimes regrets leaving the Workers' Party, in which he was a member for 28 years.

"It was deeply unsettling for me, because I've great friends in the Workers' Party. All my life had been dedicated to them. I had been 28 years in the Workers' Party. It was hard for me to do it. Have I regrets about leaving them? I have. I think they could've been a bit more progressive on budgets around the country (at county council level) and so on – and I think we'd be in a position today where maybe they might have a couple of TDs. I might have been elected as a TD for the Workers' Party! I don't know."

Part 1 of the Hot Press' John Halligan interview is in Hot Press 40-13 available in shops now or you can Buy Hot Press 40-13 starring Lisa Hannigan direct from hotpress.com
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