Senior Labour Party figures have said they want the party to "pull the plug" and resign from Government soon.
As talks on government-formation continue almost six weeks after the party suffered significant seat losses, Labour members believe the party needs to move on and cannot indefinitely stay in a caretaker role. One TD said there was no point in the party continuing to have “zombie ministers” .
The TD, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, said the situation where Labour figures, some of them no longer TDs such as Alex White and Ged Nash, were continuing as Ministers was making less and less sense. "It is holding the party back from moving on. It just keeps everything in suspension. We just need to get into opposition and begin to rebuild." However, under constitutional provisions ministers in a caretaker government are technically not in a position to resign until such time as a new government is formed.
It is understood that most but not all of the Labour parliamentary party favour returning to opposition and having the party’s leadership question settled within the six months required by its rules.
There has been no move as yet to challenge the position of party leader Joan Burton.
Brendan Howlin is interested in the position but only if it is uncontested. Deputy leader Alan Kelly is also keen to contest but he may struggle to get the required support from within the seven-strong parliamentary party. Cork East TD Seán Sherlock would also be willing to stand were Mr Howlin to decide against doing so. Irrespective of any such development, there may be tentative moves in the next few days by Labour to explore the possibilities of a pact or deal of some kind with the Green Party and the Social Democrats.
At the party’s post-election meeting in CityWest last week, there were several calls for the party to consider going back into government. However, the overriding sentiment expressed was that the party had been rejected at the polls and would be best to stay out of government. Most senior figures in the party oppose going back into government.
