Elaine Loughlin: Labour's AK47 drawn back into position of power

Never afraid to stir the pot, Alan Kelly was among the most vocal during the turbulent initial days of the Dáil — when members of the opposition vented fury over the speaking time debacle

One Labour Party member described Alan Kelly as being ‘constructed’ to be a TD, although he hates being reminded of his now infamous 2016 ‘power is a drug’ interview. File Picture: Niall Carson/PA

After a fallow period in the political wilderness, AK47 is back.

Abrasive, polarising, and an exceptional political operator — in a return to form — Alan Kelly has gained more attention and grabbed more headlines in recent weeks than Labour’s actual leader.

“We have one leader, and we have a former leader who is re-energised and loving life” is how one senior Labour member put it this week when asked if Kelly’s renewed profile might cause tensions in a party that is no stranger to in-fighting, coups, and bitter assassinations.

There is no doubt that the highly orchestrated heave against the Tipperary TD left Kelly winded and wounded back in 2022, and there were strong rumours swirling around Leinster House that he might even bow out of national politics.

But Kelly, after being buoyed up by a good result in his area in the local elections, did run.

Sources in the party say diving into November’s general election campaign gave him a further boost

Never afraid to stir the pot, he was among the most vocal during the turbulent initial days of the Dáil — when members of the opposition vented fury over the speaking time debacle, which centred around constituency rival Michael Lowry.

In the past three weeks, Kelly has been to the fore and quick out with public statements on everything from skorts — claiming that “it’s bananas that, in the year 2025, we are still having debates about whether women should be allowed to wear shorts when playing sports” — to the legal status of serving non-alcoholic 0.0% branded beer to children in pubs.

Protest

This week, as 14-year-old disability campaigner Cara Darmody began a 50-hour protest outside the gates of Leinster House, Kelly was yet again taking over the airwaves slamming the Government for “presiding over an illegal and deeply damaging backlog in assessments of need for children with disabilities”.

When the issue was raised with the Taoiseach in the Dáil, party leader Ivana Bacik had to reference the former leader in her contribution.

It was Kelly that had been proactive in seeking and receiving details of 15,000 children who are now waiting longer than six months for an assessment of needs.

The ability to see ahead meant that he had sought the information through a parliamentary question, and was waiting to use it as the topic became the main point of political discussion

Away from the Dáil chamber and on top of the flurry of press releases issued, he has astutely used his new role as chair of the Oireachtas media committee to parachute himself into the centre of subjects and controversies he knows will continue to rumble on in the weeks and months ahead.

“I think when senior people in RTÉ saw Patrick O’Donovan appointed [media] minister and Alan Kelly as chair of the media committee, I wouldn’t say that the champagne corks were popping,” said one member of the committee.

Before the committee had even convened, Kelly held a meeting with RTÉ boss Kevin Bakhurst to discuss future plans for the State broadcaster and the €3.6m IT write-down.

While Kelly was quick to insist that the meeting had been convened at the request of Bakhurst, it was still an unusual move. 

Fellow committee members have described their new chair as “fair” and “inclusive” in presiding over the group, while still exerting authority in setting the agenda by insisting that RTÉ and the Arts Council — both of which have been mired in separate controversies — be the first bodies to come before it.

Kelly hates being reminded of his now infamous 2016 “power is a drug” interview, but it is clear that politics is an addiction that he cannot shake off.

Leader

One member of the party described him as being “constructed to be a TD”, and so it was only a matter of time before he found his strong political voice again after being ejected from the position of party leader.

His sometimes direct and confrontational style, which was most obviously on show during his stint as housing minister, has caused tensions at times.

However, he has doggedly pursued issues over the years — whether on committees or in the Dáil. He kept the CervicalCheck scandal on the political agenda, raising it so persistently that it became a personal mission on behalf of Vicky Phelan and the hundreds of others involved.

The big question is whether his newfound swagger can now be contained to press releases, Dáil interjections, and his work as a committee chair, or will he — in time — be after power again?

“It’s obviously a drug. It’s attractive. It’s something you thrive on. It suits some people. It doesn’t suit others. I think it suits me,” is the line that he will never be able to shake.

Unlike the Social Democrats, a party which now finds itself in flux and mired in turmoil over differing opinions on how to deal with the sticky issue of the Eoin Hayes suspension, Labour members are currently in a contented position. One member even suggested that Kelly’s renewed energy has brought further cohesion and has encouraged new TDs, including Conor Sheehan and Eoghan Kenny.

“He’s a brilliant TD, he’s impactful when he is on top of an issue and he’s media savvy, and I think he has found that in himself again,” said one senior party member.

With that kind of glowing assessment, you’d wonder why his Labour colleagues ever decided to move against him.