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Updated 2.05pm
COLM KEAVENEY HAS resigned as chairman and as a member of the Labour Party this afternoon, citing a situation which he said “is increasingly like a political charade”.
The Galway East TD issued a detailed statement this afternoon confirming earlier reports that he intended to resign his position six months after voting against the Budget and amid increasing tension between him and the Labour leadership.
Keaveney had refused to relinquish the chairmanship of the party despite being outside the parliamentary whip since voting against the Budget and had also publicly differed with the party’s position on a number of issues including the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill.
His resignation makes him the second Labour TD to quit the party in less than a week after Patrick Nulty’s resignation last Friday.
This will fuel speculation that the newly independent TDs and other Labour dissidents including former minister Róisín Shortall could form a new party.
In a statement today Keaveney said that cuts to Special Needs Assistants, resource hours and the mobility allowances are part of a “consistent approach” by the government where, he claims, “those groups least able to defend themselves are targeted for decisive action, while powerful vested interests are left untouched”.
“Unfortunately I can no longer go along with what is increasingly like a political charade,” he said.
“We promise one thing then do another and blame it on someone else. The members must accept what they are given and the leadership will tolerate no dissent.”
He said he feels “alienated” from the leadership of the party as a result of the policies it is pursuing in coalition government and said he no longer feels welcome by them.
“I am in no doubt that my presence is no longer welcome by them. A party cannot function on that basis,” he said.
“It is with a heavy heart that I am forced to reach the only decision I believe is honourable and resign as Chair of the Labour party and from the Labour party itself.”
Keaveney has recently come out against the proposed abortion legislation citing concerns with the lack of term limits in the bill. He apologised to party members for this but said he had genuine concerns about the law.
“Labour is a pro-choice party and I never had a difficulty with that until it came to considering the recent legislation,” he said.
However, I believe it is right to question all legislation in order to ensure that what we deliver is just and workable. I hope that all can appreciate that my approach is honest and made with the best of intentions even if they disagree.
Keaveney said he intends to continue in his role as a TD for Galway East and took aim at Cabinet ministers from the Labour Party, saying: “I will not breach the contract that they [constituents] made with me just for the sake of staying in a position.
“Too many at the cabinet table are willing to trade what they held dear for one more hour in the sun.”
First published 1.27pm
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Pity the rest of them (labour) don’t resign.
All in good time Kerry ….
The long goodbye is now over.
Launching a new party I hear watch this space !!
New labour?
or given the sticky led mess that is Labour in Govt….
Maybe it might be called “Old LABOUR”.
The people’s party
Peoples party are anti abortion?
I remember Colm from his time in USI. I saw him as someone who was principled and believed in the right thing. I tip my hat to you Colm. Labour is not the party it is meant to or promised to be. At least he’s standing by the people who voted him in on the promises that were made by Labour and not standing by the party that have broken their promises and bended their principles. #preparedtobebombardedbymany
Labours broken promises maybe, but remember labour said they would legislate for X. Keavney is the only one voting against the (minimalist legislation ) to protect women’s lives. I’m afraid you have all being had again. Colm Keavney intends to run for Europe. He would never get a labour ticket and of course he will rely heavily on the so called pro life vote. Far from being principled this man has no principles what so ever. Just wait until next year and see the antics. How ever bad labour are and how ever much they will get hammered in the elections there is nothing to compare to the treachery shown by Colm keavney and Europe can have him.
Bye bye Labour.
They are fading fast. Almost 20% of the labour parliamentary party have defected.
Gilmore and Rabbit are finished. YIPPIE!
Along the same time as your FF party Seán.
Labour destroyed for breaking its promise to protect people and Fianna Fáil destroyed for keeping its promise to protect Anglo Irish bank no matter the cost.
Irony.
Bruce,
Almost 20% of the PLP? 6 members out of 49 elected is 20%?
He might be measuring by mass.?
@Adam: The actual figure would be 12.2%.
That is still a significant reduction in numbers. If a company was running at a loss of 12.2% per annum it would only be a matter of time before it would be closing doors.
Thanks for the correction. I was just repeating the figure I read online today.
In any event Labour are finished.
Doesnt matter what party are in power. A foreign power rules this land. Always has.
Pernick lets not forget those criminals in FG as well .
Pensions secured now,so why wouldn’t he.
I was quite looking foward to seeing Labour decimated in the next General Election. This bit-by-bit destruction of the party is nowhere near as satisfying.
PD’s, Green party and now Labour. When will the smaller party realise that they get the blame before the bigger party for any coalition issues?
FF/FG are why those country is in this mess, if you think FG would have done any different your deluded
Big deal, how many other times is he going to announce a resignation?
As long as he keeps getting attention John
A cynical ploy to save his seat. Same as Shorthall and the other non entity.
Keaveney is “following his conscience”
About time.
Bye bye Colm. He knew what he was signing up for when he ran with Labour.
He always struck me as someone whose ambition was to be a TD, but he hadn’t really thought beyond that. I’m presuming that this is primarily over abortion, which is something he’s been incoherently vocal against, this is probably a ploy to appeal to his electorate.
Above any party, Labour have always been clear about their Pro-Choice stance. If it was this much of a problem for the learned Colm, he shouldn’t have signed up in the first place.
Labour have betrayed their roots and their electorate…..disband or change your name to Tory
“Labour is a pro-choice party and I never had a difficulty with that until it came to considering the recent legislation” Mr Keaveney, you are a moron. The current legislation is hardly pro-choice.
Maybe he’s pro-choice, but only in circumstances he agrees with?
Doesn’t sound very pro-choice though does it?
He’s only doing doing this as polls show there’s no seat for Labour in either Galway constituencies, but there is for an independent. Now that he’s absolved of any responsibility he can start doing “the Healy-Rae”, applying for sports grants and filling in pot-holes, basically saving face in the locality to save his arse in the election.
Surely if you are elected on a party ticket and you resign from that party you should no longer be a TD. Too easy to have pricipals after your pension has been confirmed.
He was elected by the people, so only a general election or a by election can unseat him
I know that but it seems so easy to just resign knowing financially you dont suffer. Yes you lose the party backing but not a whole lot else.
Rats and a sinking ship spring to mind!
forming a new party, the name of the party may be new, but it will still be full of the same old self serving faces, you can polish a turd but at the end of the day it still stinks like sh1t .
Saving his own worthless skin and pension.
Colm is looking out for his future political career and nothing else. The idea that it was ever possible for Labour not to venture down the road it has taken once agreeing to the bank bailout and a programme of austerity at the behest of the troika, is absolute fantasy. Colm knew deep down this day was coming at least two years ago but he was waiting to choose the right moment for selfish reasons rather than principled ones.
Gilmore and Burton are a Disgrace!
Thank goodness, he’s gone. Labour will be gone soon.
One party down, far too many to go!
…and Fianna Fáil stepped into the gap!
Be careful what you wish for!
Oh dear..
Maybe they can disappear next?
The one thing Colm Keaveney cares most about in the whole wide world is …
Colm Keaveney. Having scraped into the last seat in Galway East he knows he hasn’t a snowballs chance in hell of being returned next General Election, especially as Galway East is losing a seat. (I doubt it would matter if there were 10 seats)
So he went off on a one man crusade trying to undermine that buffoon Gilmore – who does a very effective job doing that all by himself. And having failed to deck a man staggering around like a one legged blind drunk, he has recently hinted he will throw his hat into the EU election in the forlorn hope that he won’t inevitably have to find a real job on 20% of his current pay.
Save your energy Colm. You’ll need it for sweeping the streets around Eyre Square – assuming ur able to do that job
It’s official now! What a relief for Labour
Finally. We can finally elect a decent Chairman now.
Ye can elect a chairman yes, but decent?good luck finding a member of Labour who is decent.
thats funny mentioning a current government party with the word decent, your labour lot are dead ducks like the greens, PD’s etc. Had ye grown balls and tried to stick your promises the rats wouldnt be jumping ship now and you might have kept some credibility from the people.
there is not a decent one among them…actually there is not even a decent labour politician among them….the labour party don’t cut respite care grants…Frank Cluskey is turning in his grave!!!
Go with Eamonn Ryan, you can combine your 2% each at the next general election.
Taking a stand my arse. He said he wont breach the contract he made with the electorate? He ran on a party ticket! He should resign his seat and put himself up for re-election as an independent.
He ran on a party ticket but & this is the core point…………the Labour party have broken every promise they made before the general election in order to satisfy FG & hold on to power at all costs. I am not a Labour voter but I have respect for any TD, regardless of party who have the courage to stand up and say “what I promised my constituencies ON BEHALF OF MY PARTY before the general election, is not what is being delivered, therefore I feel compelled to resign from that party”. If more politicians had the gumption to do this there might be less false promises & lies told in order to win elections at all costs.
Is that so? How about this promise : “Labour in government will legislate in accordance with the Supreme Court judgement in the X Case, and the recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.”
This was their manifesto in 2011. He is voting against this.
But what about all the other promises they made? no cuts to social welfare, funding for education, a better health system, no property tax…………the list goes on. The abortion issue is an aside at the moment but what Labour really need to look at are the bread & butter issues that affect ordinary people who they purport to represent. OK fair enough if they were honest before the election & told people that if they were to go into coalition with another party it would be very likely that cuts would have to be made & taxes would increase etc but all these false promises make me sick & that is regardless of what party makes them. People would actually have more respect if politicians were honest & stopped trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
Mary, each day when you get up do you do everything you plan to do that day? Or lets say you plan on going on a holiday later this year but need a loan from the bank or credit union to do that and your loan request is turned down and you have to change your plan. My point is that things change and so yes; promises were made and broken, but equally other promises were kept.
Did you really expect everything to be hunky dory two years after the election? If you did then I think you’re going to be continually shocked for a long time yet. because things will continue to change.
I’m not a labour supporter so cant really talk about the details of their philosophy but I can look at facts and see that they haven’t broken every promise.
For various reasons I want to witness the self implosion of this vile anti-life, anti-family party.
Good, he is a self publicizing onanist of the first order. Good riddance.
The labour Party has been hijacked by people who have no Labour roots they done the same to the unions ,I hope they start a new Labour Party as I feel there is a great ground swell there for such a party !
Stickies for those who are not sure he refers to.
People who would drive Gandhi to cursing. Political kryptonite.
I wonder if there’s room for a new party for all of the defected government TDs? There’ll be a bunch more when they get around to voting on the abortion bill…
And why do you think anyone would want to rally around any of these wasters?
All those leaving Labour could set up their own party soon, there are so many of them
The labour party tds are like rats of a sinken ship ! The labour ministers are only hanging on to power as they know this is the last time that the labour party as it is will be in power so much for their socialist views.
Fair play to him – it took balls but he will win out in the end ! Galway should be proud of him
When will Nessa Childers do the honorable thing and leave Labour. 60 thousands reasons why she won’t!
Rats jumping ship. I doubt he’s any more principled than his former Labour colleagues, he’s just more cute to get out before the next general election. It’ll be good to see Labour decimated in the next election, that’s what happens when you’re only interested in power.
And Adam where are you going to find a decent human in labour get real
Not “principled” enough to resign his seat and take his snout from the trough!
@ itchy willy, the burning question is what would they do for funding? aren’t the trade unions giving a percentage of the hard earned money of their members to Mr Gilmore & Co to fund the party? I find that whole situation totally unacceptable. How can a political party be part of the Government of the country & remain impartial when it comes to making decisions regarding wages, income tax, social welfare etc etc when that same party are depending on the trade union movement to keep them afloat? Please somebody explain as I’m at a loss to understand how this ever came to be allowed. I have many family members who are members of said trade unions & they have no wish whatsoever to see part of their union subscription going to Labour or indeed any other political party but apparently it is not their decision to make.
Good riddance
The ship is sinking and the rats are going overboard !!!
“If u can’t stand the heat get out of the Kitchen “I don’t know People who jump ship to save their own a–!!! Think we need a new group of intelligent thinkers ,and I have found them in “Sli nios fearr “
I would have thought more about him if he had resigned over the Angleo tapes. Or if any of them did.
Why would people salute someone who does something just to save his own skin? The Labour Party policy has ALWAYS been to legislate for the X case and now he has a difficulty with it? He complained about the budget cuts and yet made not one single phone call email or text to the Minister with responsibility for the budget to voice his concerns. He also resigned in 2007 and came back when he saw a chance of winning a seat when Labour were running high in the polls. His current difficulties with the party coincided with his constituency being changed from a 4 seater to a 3 seater. He secured the 4th seat there at the last election. It’s so easy to walk away from making difficult decisions to save your bacon.
So who’s left in the Labour Party? (NPI)
A few deluded “socialists”, clinging to the prospect of a huge pension to buy champagne and smoked salmon in bulk.
if ye can’t make it there is plenty you can do in your local area (if you put your mind to it to voice your opinion on everything that’s effected you since these crazy bastards were laughing at each and every single one of us on the phones way back in two thousand and flipping 8!! We’ve given these bastards and everyone in bed with them 5 years now and look at what our silence bought us. The national debt is over €160,000,000,000 today and most of that is probably illegal and not applicable at all to the Irish people!! Rise up or enjoy as this gets worse and worse and worse… https://www.facebook.com/events/584494138262327/?ref=ts&fref=ts
It’s a bit rich to give as a reason, essentially, that he always knew what their policy on the issue was; he just never expected it to be actually acted on!
Colm.
You are an honourable TD.
Very few left!
Good wishes for the future!
I think he’s just looking to save his skin, his constituency is losing a seat, and its not the first time he resigned. He did so when the party was under Pat Rabbit.
have your say