Labour committee rejects ex-TD's appeal

The national executive committee (NEC) of the Labour Party has rejected an appeal by former Sligo/Leitrim TD Declan Bree, who last year was found to have unfairly damaged the good name of two party colleagues.

The committee has upheld the ruling of a complaints committee which found that Mr Bree's public criticism of his fellow councillors was unfair.

Mr Bree yesterday described the decision to reject his appeal as "appalling but predictable".

The complaint against him arose when he described the decision of Jim McGarry and Veronica Cawley to vote against a Traveller accommodation programme as "disgraceful".

The appeals committee upheld the complaint and also the decision not to impose any disciplinary action against Mr Bree.

The Sligo councillor appealed against the original decision on grounds of fairness of procedure and the impact on the party.

Mr Bree did not allow his name to go forward at the recent party convention in Sligo, saying that he would not contest a general election for Labour as long as Pat Rabbitte remained as party leader.

Mr McGarry has been nominated to run for the party in Sligo/north Leitrim while Mr Bree has yet to confirm whether he will stand as an Independent candidate.

The rift between Mr Bree and Mr Rabbitte was underlined when the party leader wrote a letter to The Irish Times last year suggesting that the former TD had voted against Traveller accommodation in his own ward - a charge Mr Bree vehemently rejected.

Mr Bree subsequently made a formal complaint to the party about Mr Rabbitte, but a decision was made not to hold a hearing into this complaint.

"I now understand that only 11 NEC members turned up to deal with the appeal on January 26th and that a small majority of these 11 voted to reject my appeal," Mr Bree said yesterday.

A spokesman for the Labour Party told The Irish Times yesterday that "the hearing was held in accordance with the rules and the constitution of the Labour Party".