14 Labour councillors request 'urgent meeting' with Brendan Howlin
Fourteen Labour councillors have tonight sought an "urgent meeting" with leader Brendan Howlin to discuss his future.
The unhappy councillors have sent the letter by email to Mr Howlin to seek his departure from office.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner yesterday, Mr Howlin declined to accept the request for an early meeting, saying he has fixed a meeting for all party members on September 16.
The letter, seen by the Irish Examiner, said: "We, Labour Party Councillors from around the country, seek an urgent private meeting with you to discuss the following:
Our desire for an urgent meeting stems from the current failure of the Party to be heard in any significant way by the public, the lack of knowledge by the public about what we stand for, our frequently disengaged membership and the failure to make progress in opinion polls."
The letter was signed by Cllr. Mick Duff, Cllr Martina Genockey, Cllr. Pamela Kearns, Cllr Breeda Bonner, Cllr Fiona Bonfield, Cllr Noel Touhy, Cllr Alison Gilliland, Cllr. Martin Farren, Cllr Billy Cameron, Cllr Mary McCamley, Cllr. Michael Dollard, Cllr. William Patton, Cllr. Kevin Byrne and Cllr. Terry O’Brien.
Mr Howlin said he has invited all party members to a meeting in Drogheda on September 16 and that it would be “unreasonable” to bring forward any meeting.
"This, bluntly, is a distraction we could do without,” he said.
“The bottom line [is] we are in the middle of holidays. Members of staff are away on holidays. We fixed the date before the summer so people could make arrangements to be available,” he said.
