Kelly is the man to lead Labour – local members

Willie Penrose and the party’s two county councillors have pledged their support for Deputy Alan Kelly as he bids to replace Brendan Howlin as Labour leader.

Cllrs Denis Leonard and Johnnie Penrose, as well as the party’s candidate in the recent general election, Alan Mangan, joined the recently retired TD in Dublin last Tuesday for the launch of Kelly’s leadership campaign.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Cllr Leonard said he is supporting Kelly’s bid as the Tipperary native “believes in rural Ireland” and understands the issues affecting communities outside the large cities.

Cllr Leonard said that a large number of independent TDs were elected in rural constituencies in the general election, which indicates that people living in these places feel let down by the political parties.

As someone who lives and represents a rural constituency, Deputy Kelly is better placed than his rival in the leadership contest, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, to help Labour regain support it has lost outside Dublin, Cllr Leonard believes.

“He’s strong on four major issues facing the country. The first is health. He was one of the first people to raise awareness on the cervical checks controversy. The second is housing, he has worked hard to get more affordable housing built, as well as more social housing. Third, he is strong on the issues facing rural Ireland. Some communities have been devastated through a lack of services. We need jobs for local people so that we can have sustainable communities. Finally, he is extremely strong on the environment.”

While Labour have six TDs in the new Dáil, Cllr Leonard says they are high calibre politicians and can help the party regain the ground lost to other parties on the left.

He added that Labour has a good history when it comes to improving the lives of working people and played a central role in the introduction of a minimum wage and social issues like women’s rights and gay marriage.

When it went into power with Fine Gael in 2011, Labour had “hard choices” to make because of state of the country’s finances after the crash. The next leader of the party has to “reconnect” with the party’s traditional support, Cllr Leonard said.

“Labour was 30 per cent of the government but took 90 per cent of the blame [for austerity],” he said.