Comment on What you want to say… Open Thread, 13th March 2013 by Paddy Healy

Another South Tipp Co councillor Resuigns from Labour Party
Cllr Bobby Fitzgerald has resigned from the Labour Party and from his seat on Tipp S.R. County Council. He says that Labour policies at national level are leading to “untold hardship and misery and Labour has lost it’s core values and needs real leadership”
Less than 12 months ago Cllr Darren Ryan (Tipp SR Co Council and Clonmel Borough Council) resigned from the Labour Party. In his resignation statement he said: “ I have found my position as a Cllr to be untenable in a Party that has lost its traditions and values, Labour in Government has completely turned its back on the very people it claims to represent.”
A year earlier Cllr Gabrielle Egan(Clonmel Borough Council) resigned from Labour Party in protest at the closure of Kickham Barracks and threats to local hospitals.
The resignation of Bobby fitzgerald in recent days follows an intensive campaign by Seamus Healy TD and WUA for the restoration of cuts in fuel allowances and the heating period by Minister Burton (Labour Deputy Leader). Academics had pointed out at the recent energy conference that there were 1200 extra and unnecessary deaths due to fuel poverty on the Island of Ireland each year. The St Vincent De Paul Society had pointed out that its expenditure on fuel aid to families had increased from 4 million to 12 million euro in recent years. In a reply to a parliamentary question from Seamus Healy TD last week, Minister Burton had refused to restore the cuts to fuel allowances