By-election "not a good result" for Labour-Gilmore

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has said yesterday's Meath East By-election result which saw their candidate Eoin Holmes gain just 4.6 per cent of the vote was “not a good result” for the party and that he does not intend to ignore it.

“I am quite clear, this was not a good result. I don't intend to ignore it, I don't intend to ignore what we have heard from the people in Meath and we will address it,” he said today.

Gilmore said people acknowledged that the Labour Party had inherited the biggest economic crisis the country had ever faced when they came into office and that they had to make difficult decisions to get the country to turn around.

He added that people acknowledged they had made progress but it hadn't been reflected in the lives and living standards of people who are struggling to pay mortgages and people who have lost their jobs.

“ I think the challenge lies in the period ahead to convert the work we have done in building a foundation to recovery into a real impact on people's lives,” he said.

The Meath East By-Election saw a dramatic collapse in the Labour vote from topping the poll in 2011 with 21 per cent in the constituency to a dismal 4.6 per cent, finishing behind Sinn Féin and Direct Democracy Ireland.

Holmes made a brief appearance at the count centre at Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA Centre on Thursday afternoon but party leader Eamon Gilmore was nowhere to be seen, though Pat Rabitte did attend earlier in the day.