Labour Appeals For 'Party Unity'

Chairman of the Labour Party Colm Keaveney has called for unity within his party following the resignation of junior minister Roisin Shortall.

The news comes as a result of an internal email which was seen by RTÉ.

The Chairman emailed Labour councillors and local representatives and asked for party unity, although he acknowledged the internal concerns which have been raised since Ms Shortall's resignation.

Mr Keaveney said that he had agreed with party leader Eamon Gilmore during a meeting to focus more on finding solutions rather than pointing fingers.

The pair agreed to look at structural and other changes in order to improve communications.

Mr Keaveney said the next few months would be the toughest of Labour's time in Government.

But RTÉ says the email also talked about "another context" to the recent events involving Ms Shortall and Health Minister James Reilly which Mr Gilmore has not yet been able to articulate publicly.

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher has described the news as "extraordinary".

He said Mr Gilmore had given an explanation to the Dáil yesterday surrounding the decision by Minister Reilly to add locations to the list of proposed centres, and that they had been led to believe this was a complete explanation.

He said: "It is essential that Eamon Gilmore come forward today and inform the public and explain what key facts he thinks we are missing.

"The contempt that the Labour Party has shown for the Dáil and the Irish public on this issue is deeply disappointing and should be addressed and rectified today."

(IT/GK)