Sherlock plunges Labour campaign into crisis

Labour’s Euro election campaign has been plunged into crisis for the second time in five days, after a government minister said the party’s Ireland South candidate could not be taken seriously.

Junior Minister Sean Sherlock’s withering assessment of Phil Prendergast also raised questions about Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore’s decision to publicly back the rebel MEP.

Ms Prendergast threw Labour’s election push into turmoil earlier this week when she called for Mr Gilmore to be ousted as leader and replaced by Social Protection Minister Joan Burton before voters go to the polls on May 23.

Mr Gilmore’s attempts to try to downplay the controversy have now been blown apart after Mr Sherlock branded the MEP’s comments “ill-timed and silly” and said she could no longer be taken seriously as a candidate.

“How could you take anybody seriously as a candidate after that?” Mr Sherlock said during a visit to Pfizer in Cork.

The bombshell remarks came just as Mr Gilmore shared a platform with Ms Prendergast at Labour’s Euro campaign launch in Dublin after he promised to back her candidacy even after the Euro MP said she stood over her remarks that Mr Gilmore was the wrong leader for the party because he did not connect with voters.

With Ms Prendergast making Mr Gilmore’s leadership an election talking point, the Tánaiste felt the need to defend his performance, insisting it would not be open to debate even if Labour takes the hammering from voters polls predict at the local and Euro elections in three weeks’ time.