Alan Kelly’s Labour hopes fade as TDs rally to Brendan Howlin

Alan Kelly’s hopes of becoming the next Labour leader are fading, as an overwhelming majority of the party’s TDs believe Brendan Howlin should be the unanimous choice.

Mr Kelly, the deputy party leader, is the only one of Labour’s seven TDs currently against a consensus in favour of Mr Howlin’s nomination.

Mr Howlin and Mr Kelly spoke by phone on Monday and will speak again today in advance of a meeting of the parliamentary party at Leinster House.

If Mr Kelly fails to get a seconder from one of his TD colleagues, he will not be able to force the issue to a contest in which the 4,000-strong membership of the party would have a vote. Mr Kelly has until Friday to persuade one of his colleagues to second his candidacy.

Labour sources believe the Fine Gael-led minority Government will not last long and want the party to be ready for an early general election.

“The last thing we need is an internal debate aimed at the membership over the next month,” a senior party figure said.

“We need to appeal to the wider public and convince enough voters that Labour is still relevant.”

The majority of the Labour parliamentary party are understood to be eager to avoid a leadership contest. Senior figures, including Seán Sherlock and Jan O’Sullivan, are supporting Mr Howlin, while Willie Penrose and leader Joan Burton have confirmed they will not favour any candidate.

Full term

Meanwhile, Enda Kenny on Monday said he would serve a full term as Taoiseach but would not lead Fine Gael into another general election. However, senior party figures believe he is likely to step down within two years.

“I have always said that my intention would be to serve the full term – but not to lead the party into the next general election,” the Taoiseach said. “I’ve made that perfectly clear and that’s where I am but I have a lot of work to do in the meantime.”

The first test for his minority Government will come this week in response to a Fianna Fáil Bill which is expected to get the backing of Sinn Féin. The Government faces the choice of being defeated on the measure or finding a tactical compromise.

The Bill is designed to give the Central Bank new powers that would have the effect of reducing repayments for many of the 300,000 households paying variable interest rates on their loans. Fianna Fáil brought a similar motion to the Dáil in March 2015, which was supported by Sinn Féin.