ALMOST 900 delegates to the Labour conference in Galway this weekend, which marks the centenary of its foundation, will decide a three-way contest for the influential position as chair of the party.
The contestants are incumbent chair and former Waterford TD Brian O’Shea, along with newly elected Deputies Colm Keaveney from Galway East and Derek Nolan from the Galway West constituency.
Mr O’Shea has served in the office since 2007, and was not expected to run this time but made a late decision to enter the race.
He previously withstood two challenges to his position, and he told The Irish Times: “I believe that I have handled things efficiently and fairly and we’ve had very considerable electoral successes.
“My style of handling meetings has assisted in avoiding damaging internal dissent and conflict.”
Mr Nolan won the Dáil seat vacated by Michael D Higgins prior to the latter’s successful campaign for the presidency.
A trainee solicitor, he formerly worked in the finance sector in Germany and has been employed in business administration in Galway city. Now aged 30, he joined the party 11 years ago and became one of the key figures in the local Higgins organisation.
“The party chair will have a very strong role now that the leader and deputy leader [Eamon Gilmore and Joan Burton] are so busy in Cabinet. There is an important job for the chair in focusing on the membership and the organisation,” he said.
Mr Keaveney is seen as the anti-establishment candidate but will receive a solid trade union vote.
Like the party leader, he is a former president of the Union of Students in Ireland. As a protest he once chained himself to a radiator in the office of Labour’s then-education minister Niamh Bhreathnach.
He went on to serve 14 years as a union official and has secured the backing of the Siptu executive in this contest. After two unsuccessful bids for the Dáil, he finally made it last year. In a letter to delegates he wrote: “The achievements of the party in government are not being communicated well and we are failing to gain political credit for our achievements.”
