Labour starts EU campaign

Jemma Curran
22nd April 2009


Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore has announced that it would like to increase the party’s representation in Europe in the next election.

The party, which only has one Minister of European Parliament (MEP) at this time, is hoping for an increase to four MEPs.

Unveiling the candidates for the June 5th election, Mr Gilmore said these would be the most important European elections Ireland had ever had.

He said Ireland's future "depends crucially" on what happens in Europe and that Labour, together with its sister parties in the Party of European Socialists (PES) would campaign on a platform “that is about jobs and fairness”.

“Europe is facing its worst economic crisis since the 1930s. More than 19 million Europeans are now unemployed, and the number is rising. In February alone, half a million Europeans lost their jobs,” Mr Gilmore added.

Nessa Childers is running in the East constituency; Alan Kelly is running in the South; Susan O’Keeffe in the North West and sitting MEP Proinsias De Rossa is running in Dublin.

Mr Gilmore said he was proud of the candidates the party was putting forward. “They are people of calibre and integrity. People who are passionate and committed. People who will be a strong voice for Ireland in Europe.”

Mr Gilmore said Susan O’Keeffe, a campaigning journalist was “a person of outstanding courage and integrity”. Nessa Childers came “from a family with an unrivalled record of public service”. Senator Alan Kelly, the party’s Seanad finance spokesman, had campaigned vigorously on the jobs issue, he said.

And Mr Gilmore said if anyone wanted to know why it matters who sits in the European Parliament, they should look at the record of Proinsias De Rossa.

Mr De Rossa said that by winning extra seats, Labour and its sister parties across Europe could be the largest political group in the European parliament and in “a powerful position to take Europe in the new direction developing progressive social, economic and environmental policies which puts jobs and justice at the top of the political agenda”.