Kelly: labour can double its seats in dail
LABOUR leader Alan Kelly is confident Labour can double its Dail seats in the next General Election.
He was in buoyant mood at the party’s away day yesterday afternoon ahead of the new Dail term starting this week.
The party is on a high after Senator Ivana Bacik unexpectedly won this summer’s Dublin Bay South by-election to bring their TD tally to seven.
When asked by the Irish Mirror if he could see Labour at least double the number of Dail seats, Mr Kelly said: “I absolutely do.
“We’ve incredible talent in our parliamentary party, both in our
Dail and Seanad and we’ve four senators who are fighting to get into Dail Eireann, and we’ll be doing everything we can to support them.
“But we also have fantastic people, fantastic councillors across the constituencies.
“I personally, I would say this, but I think we’ve some of the best councillors in Ireland.
DISRUPTOR
“Covid-19 has been a great disruptor and has shown what Government can achieve when our people need State support.
“We cannot go back to the stagnant pre-covid policies.
“Too many people are just about getting by or struggling.
“When they say we need to build back better, what we need is to build back fairer. We need a new social contract.
“Labour won’t continue to accept tired arguments from this Government that freezing rent isn’t possible, that a single tier health service isn’t possible, or creating a sustainable tax base that isn’t reliant on foreign direct investment isn’t possible.
Mr Kelly also unveiled a newlyreshuffled front bench at the think-in, with him handing the health portfolio to Duncan Smith.
Ms Bacik takes on environment while Rebbeca Moynihan takes over from Ms Bacik as Seanad leader.