Keaveney expected to be removed as chair

Rebel Labour TD Colm Keaveney is expected to be removed as party chair over fears he will use his position to create further disunity and undermine the leader, Eamon Gilmore.

The Galway East TD was expelled from the parliamentary party after voting against the Social Welfare Bill giving effect to budget cuts to the children’s allowance and the respite care allowance.

He said he made the decision with a “very heavy heart” and vowed to stay on as chairman of the party — a position he was elected to by the party’s rank and file members at a conference in Galway earlier this year.