THE FACE OF A NEW LABOUR
His party may still be suffering from its time in government, but Fingal TD Duncan Smith sees himself as one of the new faces who can breathe life into a once well-loved institution – and re-invigorate its fortunes
WITHIN days of being elected to the Dáil for the first time in February’s election, Duncan Smith was considering throwing his hat into his party’s leadership race. The Labour Party suffered a second consecutive bruising election that left them with just six TDs. Days after the final ballots were counted party leader Brendan Howlin stepped aside, sparking a leadership contest.
‘I started getting text messages and calls from people I respect in the party and members saying, look, before you rush into any decision, just have a think about it because, you know, we only have six TDs – there is need for a generational shift in the party,’ he said.
Some in the party pointed out that it wouldn’t be unheard of for a newly elected TD to become leader, citing former Labour leader and Tánaiste Dick Spring’s election to the top spot days after he was elected to the Dáil for the first time.
‘I’m no Dick Spring or anything like that, but I am cautious I will think about things. And so, you know, when the media were asking, I said, well look, I’m not ruling myself out because I didn’t know how things were going to go.
‘I didn’t know who was going to rule themselves in, rule themselves out. It may have been a case where I might have been the only person left, you just didn’t know.’
The party is still suffering the after-effects from their time in government with Fine Gael, but the 37year-old father of one sees himself as being the face of a new generation within the party. A generational change wouldn’t have been a bad sales pitch.
‘So I did give it serious thought because I am the only TD in the Labour Party that wasn’t a minister or junior minister in the time when we were in government, and that time in government is what has held us back in the last few years in terms of trying to push on and try and get ourselves back to healthy seat numbers, and just have the public approval ratings and rebuild that trust we need to build with the people.
‘I also wasn’t in that government, so I’m not... I don’t feel as bound by it as well. So I feel freer in terms of being able to vocalise how I feel on things and I don’t feel bound by decisions made in that government, and neither do an awful lot of the younger members.’
Ultimately, he didn’t contest the leadership, and threw his backing behind now leader Alan Kelly, citing his relentless work around the CervicalCheck debacle and his commitment to reorganising the party.
Mr Smith claimed the final Dáil seat in Dublin Fingal but he was no stranger to Leinster House prior to being elected, having worked as a parliamentary assistant for former Labour TD Brendan Ryan.
After an exhaustive election, and a marathon two-day count he was finally elected on the 12th count.
When the day came to finally take his Dáil seat for the first time, it wasn’t the dream-like, picture-perfect moment he had anticipated. Instead, it was ‘bittersweet’, and one he will remember for more sombre reasons.
‘My best friend passed away that day, the 20th of February. So it was a day of very, very mixed emotions, and so I’ll never forget that day for loads of reasons, you know, so and it’s, yeah, nothing prepares you for that the first time in the Dáil.
‘He’d fallen ill a couple of days before the election and he was in hospital for three weeks.
‘But that morning, we went in and said our farewells to him and then went into Leinster House, so it was a very unusual, very, bittersweet day.’
Not too many people in Mr Smith’s political life knew about his best friend’s death that morning, and they might have wondered why he didn’t appear to be full of exuberance.
‘And then you’re getting [messages], not a lot of people in your life know that and you’re getting messages, lovely messages of support and “have a great day” and have this and have that and all the rest, but your head is somewhere else… I’ll remember that day for the rest of my life for loads of reasons.’ Inside the corridors of Leinster House things had changed from when he was part of the political staff.
‘It felt very different… you’re around Leinster House but you’re never in the chamber. You know Leinster House is an institution, there’s the way it operates and that, and the members [TDs and senators] are the members so there’s a difference between staff and being a member. It’s not something you court but… you may have been there a week beforehand and people are calling you Duncan and you arrive the next dayand they’re calling you Deputy Smith... and that takes a bit of getting used to, you know.’
While the party added four female [out of five] senators to their parliamentary party, Mr Smith admits that having six male TDs and no females was not a good look.
‘It just didn’t look good, six blokes, it’s not a good look, but now we have 11 in our parliamentary party, and it looks a lot more vibrant… but the Labour Party like every party, needs to attract more women as members, particularly as candidates and successful candidates.
‘We were very conscious of the fact that it was six males elected… that’s not the Labour Party, but we feel we’re addressing that as best as we can.’
Duncan Smith grew up in Finglas, in north Dublin and went to Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Clontarf, the same school where U2 were formed, he is quick to point out, before moving to Swords in 2008.
His wife Lynsey works in RTÉ and they have an 18-month old son, George.
He completed a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies in Dublin City University (DCU), with a vague plan of getting a job in financial services.
But the elective modules on American history and foreign policy were what most engaged him and led him back to academia and a master’s degree in International Security and Conflict Studies, again in DCU.
While lecturing in International Relations in DCU, he began a PhD in nuclear disarmament, something he has yet to finish, but remains deeply passionate about. He said: ‘Ireland has a very proud history in that area and… led through the United Nations General Assembly a number of initiatives on nuclear disarmament in the 1950s and 1960s that led to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty which has controlled the rampant spread of nuclear weapons… So that just fascinated me,
I don’t think I’m a particularly cool person Six blokes elected, it’s not a good look
like how a country like Ireland could operate at the height of the Cold War. That a really small, still really new country can affect such global change for peace and disarmament,’ he said.
Mr Smith’s journey into politics started in 2008, at the height of the economic crash.
His family wasn’t involved in party politics but Mr Smith describes the house he grew up in as being very engaged in news and current affairs.
His father told him to stop giving out about the financial crisis and to do something about it.
‘Like many people I felt very, very vulnerable and I remember talking to my dad and I was giving out about this that and the other and he said: “Look, don’t be giving out to me,” he said, “join a political party and get involved.” That’s literally what he said.
‘We don’t come from a political party family. We come from a party that would watch the news and would discuss politics and we’d have strong views, but we were never involved in any organised fashion,’ he said.
Mr Smith joined the Labour Party in 2008 and put himself forward for the 2014 local elections, narrowly claiming the final seat, and served as a councillor for Fingal for six years.
He was a failed candidate in the 2019 by-election, before finally being elected to the Dáil.
Outside of politics, you can find Duncan Smith fishing on the banks of the Royal Canal or on a beach in north Wexford.
He said: ‘I don’t get to do it as often as I’d like because fishing is not something you can just go in your back garden and do, but, you know, if I was to have a morning to do something on my own, that was just for me...’
When it comes to music, Mr Smith has been an avid Bruce Springsteen fan since he was 14, but admits his music taste is often laughed at by friends and family.
‘I get slagged enough by my family and friends for my eclectic music tastes… I don’t think I’m a particularly cool person anyway and I certainly don’t try and practice being cool with my music,’ he said with a laugh.