Gilmore makes first bid for leadership

EAMON GILMORE yesterday became the first Labour TD to formally declare his candidacy for the leadership of the party.

The Dún Laoghaire-based member had already been installed by bookmakers as the overwhelming favourite to succeed Pat Rabbitte following Brendan Howlin’s decision not to contest the leadership.

Mr Gilmore received an immediate boost when Kildare North TD Emmet Stagg indicated immediate support for him. Kildare North boasts one of the larger branches of the party membership and Mr Stagg’s decision to support Mr Gilmore is likely to heavily influence local members.

Another factor in Mr Gilmore’s favour was the portfolio he held on the Labour front bench in recent years. As party spokesman on the environment and local government, he had regular contact and built good relations with Labour councillors across the country, which represents another sizeable bloc of votes.

It now remains to be seen just who will challenge Mr Gilmore. Two likely runners are the party’s finance spokeswoman Joan Burton and communications spokesman Tommy Broughan but neither has yet declared their candidacy. Mr Broughan could not be contacted yesterday, while Ms Burton said she expected to make a decision towards the end of this week.

Acting Labour leader Liz McManus, meanwhile, will not be making a decision until after the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Saturday.

The party’s transport spokeswoman Roisín Shortall said she would also wait until after the NEC meeting to declare her intentions.

The NEC will set out the timeline in which the leadership contest will be decided. All party members who have paid their subscriptions for the past two years will be eligible to vote.

While several of the Labour TDs are continuing to mull over their options, Cork North Central TD Kathleen Lynch yesterday ruled out running. Cork South Central TD Ciarán Lynch, meanwhile, confirmed in a statement that he was considering a bid for the deputy leadership of the party, as reported by the Irish Examiner yesterday.

Mr Gilmore said he would be asking every individual party member “for a mandate to lead the renewal of Labour”. It would involve reaffirming and reasserting Labour’s core values “as the most relevant guiding principles for our modern times”, revitalising the party’s organisation particularly at local level and deepening the party’s appeal by encouraging more people to become Labour members.

A party spokesman said the new leader should be in place by mid-October.