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THE MAYOR OF South Dublin County Council has resigned from the Labour party, becoming the 27th councillor to leave the junior coalition partner in three years.
Dermot Looney, a 31-year-old teacher who represents the Tallaght Central area of Dublin, had already been selected to run again for the party in May’s local elections.
He said the decision to leave the party he had been involved in for more than a decade had been difficult but he believed it was the right thing to do.
“My time in the Labour party came to a natural end. I’d no distance left to run,” he told TheJournal.ie this evening.
“I made the decision about a month ago but the reason I didn’t go then is that there was a budget [for South Dublin County Council] to get through, where I managed to make some gains for people in the area, and it was the right thing to do to stay until that was done”.
Looney was strongly criticial of Labour, saying the party had abandoned its principles while in government with Fine Gael.
Looney said there was no one policy on which he was making a stand, but that there had been dozens over the lifetime of the Government with which he fundamentally disagreed. He said Labour had ‘kowtowed’ to Fine Gael’s economic agenda to the detriment of the poorest people in society.
“I stand diametrically opposed to government policy – and by extension, that of the Labour Party – in areas as diverse as healthcare, local democracy, housing, state assets and taxation,” he said.
He also criticised the running of the party. “The party is run very strongly from the centre, and councillors like me are having less and less of an impact,” he said. He cited the recent party conference as an example, where, he said, around 20 motions from members weren’t allowed to be brought to the conference floor.
Looney said the reaction so far to his resignation had been “overwhelmingly positive”. He told the Labour councillors on South Dublin County Council and local party members of his decision before it was made public tonight.
Looney will remain on as mayor and councillor ahead of May’s elections.
He ruled out running for any other party and said he would be standing as an Independent in the local elections.
“I’m definitely not running for another party,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do both nationally and locally as an independent, possibly working with other groups from the left”.
Looney had been a member of the party for more than a decade after joining while studying social science in UCD. He was first elected to South Dublin County Council in June 2009 and became the youngest ever mayor of the local authority when he took over the office last year.
Looney made the news last year when he donated €7,000 of his €45,000 allowance as mayor to local community groups.
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Give you a tip for the next country you launch in lads…
On the morning of your launch, have every car available. Just tried the app – 20 minute wait for a car. Flicked over to Hailo, four cars within 3 minutes. Didn’t try uber because I’ve never used them.
Even if they dominated the taxi app market, They’ll always find something to moan about. Dublin taxi drivers are the biggest moans on the planet.
says the lad moaning about taxi drivers
Oh I don’t know lots of moaning goes on here ! Martin Byrne
I like to have a good old moan. Everyone does.
The difference is I don’t expect people to pay for the privilege of hearing me moan.
Martin…this is Ireland. Moaning is a part of our culture. Moaning and doing nothing about it!!
seems to be those who completely missed the Hailo revolution finally waking up to the new reality. the main difference appears to be the drivers will wear uniforms? too little, too late?
Can someone explain to me why the Lady Mayor is promoting a commercial organisations? Is that part of her job?
Great more competition better value, will have a job beating halo there brilliant….
Hardly competition if the meter rate is the same.
Meaning the drivers are brilliant since we provide the service, suffer the discounts ie no call out fee and 5 mins free waiting time…and then give Hailo 12% of the fare too! Lots of drivers turn Hailo off on rainy days and I, for one, reject all jobs that are more than 1 km from me. Can’t see Ecab taking off though….nothing for drivers or passengers to make change from Hailo.
I booked an Xpert taxi a week in advance last year to bring me to a nearby bus terminus to get to the airport and they cancelled on me 10mins before the taxi was due. Went onto the hailo app and had one at the door in 5mins!
@Luke Pepper: Maybe the driver who got your job one month in advance couldn’t contain himself and was wasted come the pickup time.
It is very unclear from the website if you will be charged a call out fee when using the app. I know lots of drivers did with hailo initially until this was disallowed.
Either a call out fee will be charged – in which case why use this app, or they really need to make clear it won’t be charged.
https://www.e-cab.com/en/dublin/
Thanks!
Ecab + charges taxi fare +7% . If like hailo + this is a better grade taxi they cannot charge more than meter price ! Hailo for the Hailo+ blue option is taxi rate only
I have just went to download the App from Play store .. The reviews are shocking !!
Hailo has seriously taken a dive in quality recently so looking forward to some more options and competition
I had awful dealings with Halio and I’ll never use them again. I welcome this app even with a call out charge to many unknown drivers doing what they like and charging what they like without been given so much as slap on the wrist with Halio. Even my bad reviews were removed.
There seems to be s few different eCab apps in the App Store. Any chance of a link to it?
always available except Saturday nights after midnight
I was about to install the app but stopped when I saw all the access it needed. To install it wanted access to Identity, Contacts, Media, Photos, Camera, WiFi Info, etc. I can understand why it requires Location and Caller id but why does it need all this access and can it be installed without the access.
Jim you will find most if not all Apps have this list of wants
Carrickmines if off the agenda already I see. Where’s the 10 day rolling coverage we got with Berkeley? I know this will be removed. Thejournal.ie doesn’t brook disagreement with its sickening editorial policies.
James what more would you like to know ?
I want heartfelt bios of all the victims. I want articles ad nauseum from engineers and fire experts and safety experts explaining why the fire happened. I want pictures of the loved ones mourning and laying wreaths, and lengthy descriptions of how devastated the entire country is and that we’ll never be the same. I’m just wondering if that only happens for rich people.
And can I just say, Shane, that your desire for us not to get more information shows how sick you are, and what contempt you have the for the families.
James you can say ! But be careful what you say !
James, you seem to be saying that you wish this article was about a different topic. Why don’t you read one of the four articles that are about that topic instead?
Most drivers have a few Apps so for those who don’t like a Hailo driver and choose a VIP chances are he changed his cap before picking you up .
I use the Lynk app and find it great. Never had any problems. I have used Hailo or Uber.
I have *never* used Hailo or Uber.
D’oh!
You know the type of men who sit in the back of a taxi not beside the driver….. Usually geeky and work in finance or I.T.!
Beer Keg, you must have little to do this morning if you are complaining about where people sit in taxis.
Uniformed lol, tracksuit and polo shirt
Perfect time for someone to step in and launch a all in one app, take a little of the top of course..
When in San Francisco, London and Nice this summer I used Ubers taxis. In these city’s I can get a quote on the app but they don’t provide this facility here in Ireland. I have emailed them twice to query this but have been ignored. Is it because we are robbed by all taxi’s here! Probably!
So is the free €10 promo over? As it’s a day later and I don’t see any such indication in the app.
Here is your promo code in order to benefit from the 10€ discount : ECABDUBLIN. For it to be effective: - Open your eCab app - Select the eCab+ service - Place your booking - Enter the promo code ECABDUBLIN And enjoy your first ride.
You have until 30 December to use it, which gives you some time.
have your say