Following the decision by Brendan Howlin to step down as leader of the Irish Labour, following the February 2020 general election, latter having spent four years in charge; today a new leader is expected be decided. With two individuals having thrown their hats into the ring, Mr Aodhán Ó Riordáin and Tipperary’s Mr Alan Kelly (Latter nicknamed ‘AK47’ because of his brash manner), will both go forward for election as the new leader of the now almost non-existent Labour Party.
Counting is expected to begin this very afternoon when the last postal ballots are delivery to the offices of accountancy firm Mazars, in Co. Dublin, by An Post.
To comply with the Covid-19 social distancing rules put in place by the current caretaker government; this entire count will be undertaken by a one-man operation, using social media to observe correct supervision.
Mr Ó Ríordáin a former popular Minister of state in 2014, has been a Teachta Dála for the Dublin Bay North constituency since the 2020 general election, and previously from 2011 to 2016 for the Dublin North-Central constituency.
A former teacher and principal of St Laurence O’Toole’s primary school in Dublin’s north inner city, Mr Ó Ríordáin served as a member of Dublin City Council from 2004 to 2011, and was Deputy Mayor in 2006. After losing his Dáil seat in 2016, he succeeded in successfully getting elected to Seanad Éireann, latter the upper house of the Oireachtas.
Mr Alan Kelly, a native of Portroe Co. Tipperary, has been a Teachta Dála for the Tipperary constituency since the 2016 general election.
In the 2020 General Election, he struggled to be the fourth TD of five TD’s elected in Co. Tipperary. He was elected on the ninth count, with 13222 votes, several hundred votes short of the required 13,632 quota.
Mr Kelly claimed in the past that he has relaxed by watching “House of Cards” at night while confirming that, quote, “Anybody who says that power isn’t attractive is telling you a lie. Of course it is. 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.”
Mr Kelly has regularly faced questions about his involvement with the now resigned former FAI boss, Mr John Delaney, latter who in 2016 revealed that both had worked closely on deals, involving soccer clubs.
In 2016 Mr Delaney, who more recently lead Irish football to the brink of complete bankruptcy, since saved by a bailout, was observed out and about in our beloved Tipperary constituency, in the company of the then Environment Minister, Mr Kelly.
Mr Delaney, who also in the past attended Mr Kelly’s 40th birthday party with his then partner Ms Emma English in 2015, had encouraged listeners to Midwest radio, to vote for Mr Kelly in the 2016 General Election.
The contest results are expected to be announced this evening or tomorrow.
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