Labour’s troubles compounded with the first TD to completely depart the party…

Irish governing coalitions are notorious brittle… There are fragments of former Fianna Fail deputies from the last government still hanging on to their independent status (which is one reason we know FF are still a long way off their former glories). But the news that Patrick Nulty (who took Brian Lenihan’s Dublin West seat at the bye election in October 2011) is leaving the Labour party does nothing to allay the impression that the party is fracturing under the pressure.

Nulty’s success in that by-election coincided with the party’s last poll rating over anything around the 20% mark.. right now not only are several TDs (including the party’s chairman) not taking the parliamentary whip, but it’s languishing dangerous at 10% and less in current polling…

Chairman of Wicklow County Council Tom Fortune and Wicklow councillor Barry Nevin are to leave with him…

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.