Keaveney expected to be removed as Labour 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 party 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 grant. The Government won the vote 87 to 54 and it will now go to the Seanad.

Mr Keaveney said he made the decision with a “very heavy heart” and vowed to stay on as chair of the party, a position he was elected to by the party’s rank and file in April.