Kildare-based Labour councillor defects to Sinn Féin

A Co Kildare councillor has left the Labour Party to join Sinn Féin.

Thomas Redmond (34), Cathaoirleach of Athy Town Council, said the decision came after "a period of serious disillusionment" with the direction of Labour and its actions in Government.

“The Labour Party has failed to represent the best interests of ordinary working people or to protect the most vulnerable in our society,” he said. “I am no longer prepared to represent a party which does not reflect my views or the people who elected me.”

Mr Redmond has been a councillor since 2009 and works as a healthcare assistant and union official at Tallaght Hospital, Dublin.

Sinn Féin welcomed the development, with TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh saying it demonstrated the party’s “growing appeal across the length and breadth of Ireland”.

Mr Ó Snodaigh said Sinn Féin provided "a real and credible alternative to the failed political consensus that exists between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour on the key issues facing our country."

Mr Redmond is the latest in a series of politicians to defect from Labour since the party entered Government with Fine Gael.

MEP Nessa Childers has this summer left the party and Meath councillor Jenny McHugh has defected to Fianna Fáil.

A number of senior party figures such as TDs Roisin Shortall, Tommy Broughan and Colm Keaveny have also left Labour's Dáil ranks and now sit as independents.

Sinn Féin last week welcomed former TD Chris Andrews to its ranks following his acrimonious exit from Fianna Fáil, which occurred last year after he created a fake Twitter account to attack party leader Micheál Martin and others.