Rebel Labour TD Anne Ferris returns to the fold

A rebel Labour TD has been re-admitted to the party in a move seen as an attempt to “circle the wagons” against expected heavy general election losses.

A parliamentary party meeting unanimously agreed to allow Wicklow deputy Anne Ferris to rejoin their ranks after her high-profile decision to defy the Labour whip and vote in favour of opposition attempts to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution which places the life of the mother as equal to the unborn.

The move came on the same day as former Labour minister Róisín Shortall, and former Labour member, independent TD Catherine Murphy, joined forces with Wicklow deputy Stephen Donnelly to launch a new centre-left party called the Social Democrats.