TUAM TD READY FOR LEGAL BATTLE WITH LABOUR LEADERSHIP

Date Published: 30-Dec-2012

TUAM TD Colm Keaveney says he is preparing himself for a legal battle with the current leadership of the Labour party if they move to oust him as party chairman.

While Labour leader and Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has repeatedly insisted the Galway East TD’s position is "untenable", Colm Keaveney has told "The Sunday Independent" that he is preparing himself for a "David versus Goliath" legal battle, which will come down, in his view, to "who has the deepest pockets".

He said it has been suggested to him that the leadership of the Labour Party intends to use a "court martial type system to remove his membership of the party and de facto the chairmanship of the party.

As a result of voting against the Social Welfare Bill, which gave legal effect to the Budget cuts, the Galway East TD immediately lost the Labour whip in the Dail and was ejected from the parliamentary Labour Party.

However, the Tanaiste and the Labour Party are caught in a difficult position in which, despite the fact that Colm Keaveney is now effectively an "opposition TD", as chairman of the wider national Labour Party he retains a position on a number of key party committees.