Eamon Gilmore was ‘hurt’ by push but backs Joan Burton
The veteran TD revealed his pain at the development days after the party’s disastrous 2014 local and European election results in his first interview since confirming he will not run as a candidate in the upcoming general election.
Speaking on RTÉ programme Today With Sean O’Rourke, Mr Gilmore said after last year’s push he was hurt by an alleged lack of loyalty from a number of high-profile party colleagues.
However, saying he has put it behind him, the Dun Laoghaire TD since 1989 says he continues to have a good relationship with his replacement as Tánaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton.
“I support her. I’ve put it behind me, I’ve moved on. It hurt at the time, I would have liked to obviously have continued to lead the party, but it proved not to be possible,” Mr Gilmore said.
He said what happened was “in the nature of politics”.
Asked about whether he had wanted to continue as Tánaiste for a five-year term, he added:
“I didn’t want to put the party through a leadership battle.
“I would have liked to have finished the game, but I was carrying a lot of injuries from the first half and I decided to bow to the inevitable,” he said.
The now departing TD revealed on Tuesday evening he will not seek a nomination to run for the Dáil in the upcoming general election.
He also said that he believes that Labour “has taken a disproportionate share” of the blame for unpopular Government decisions “and is not getting a proportionate share for the improvement in the economy”.
He said that the past four years have “been the worst of times but also the best of times” as he has been part of a coalition that has brought the country “from close to bankruptcy to profitability again” and that this will remain a key highlight of his career.
Asked what his plans are when he leaves the Dáil and if he intends to run for president if Michael D Higgins serves only one term, Mr Gilmore said he has no plans to replace Sepp Blatter as Fifa president, and said he “expects and hope he [Michael D Higgins] would run for a second term”.
He rejected suggestions that his departure will make it more difficult for Labour to hold onto a significant amount of its 33 Dáil seats — down from 37 in 2011— and said the party will perform better than polls suggest.
Speaking at the launch of a ‘Talk to Joan’ event to help rebuild the party’s grassroots support by meeting local officials and taking part in future online social media discussions with voters, Ms Burton — an alleged internal critic of Mr Gilmore’s time in power — rejected questions she helped to bring him him down.
“I want to thank Eamon for all his service to politics in Ireland, to Labour particularly, he produced some outstanding results for Labour,” she said.
