Local Labour rank and file surprised by Alan Kelly's resignation
The Labour rank and file in Westmeath were shocked by Alan Kelly's resignation as leader of Labour, a local councillor says.
The Tipperary native announced his resignation last Wednesday evening after being told by Labour's parliamentary party that he had lost their support.
Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Cllr Denis Leonard said that the “rank and file” of the party in Westmeath were surprised by Deputy Kelly's announcement after only two years in the role.
Party members in Westmeath had supported Deputy Kelly in his leadership contest against Aodhán Ó Riordáin in 2020 and Cllr Leonard says that he and the other local Labour councillors would have found him to be one of the “easiest” leaders to deal with. He also noted that Deputy Kelly had approved the funding for Westmeath's two greenways when he was Minister for Transport and had a genuine interest in rural issues.
Deputy Kelly was unfortunate that for most of his two years as Labour leader Covid restrictions meant that he could engage personally with the grassroots of the party, Cllr Leonard says.
“It was very hard to reach out to groups which is actually his strong point sitting down with people and seeing what they need.
“If you talk to Vicky Phelan or you talk to any front line health workers, they will say that his time as health spokesperson for Labour was a time when a lot of work was done and a lot of awareness was raised about the government's policy on Cervical Check and other things.”
Cllr Leonard also said that Deputy Kelly, who he says worked hard to restore Labour's core values during his leadership, received a “poisoned chalice” when the took over from Phil Hogan as Minister for the Environment in 2014 and in many people's eyes became forever associated with the water charges controversy.
Looking ahead to who will replace Deputy Kelly, Cllr Leonard says that it is likely to be one of Labour's three Dublin based TDs, Ivana Bacik, Aodhán Ó Riordáin or Duncan Smith.
Whoever it is, he says that they most not ignore the party's grassroots “beyond Heuston Station”.
“I would hope that whatever leader we pick that they will have a moral and social conscience and also that they will put the worker front and centre. The ordinary worker who is struggling most to pay their taxes but who also want to contribute their fair share and want a fairer society. Those values, which have always been Labour values since 1912, have to come front and centre," Cllr Leonard said.