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Brendan Howlin Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

I'm out: Brendan Howlin tells colleagues that he doesn't want to be Labour leader

There is still no firm indication as to whether anyone else will battle for the Labour leadership with Joan Burton though junior minister Alex White has not ruled himself out.

Updated 22:49pm 

PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND Reform Minister Brendan Howlin has told the Parliamentary Labour Party that he will not run for the leadership of the party.

Howlin told TDs and Senators at a meeting in Leinster House this evening that he will not seek to become leader after Cabinet colleague Joan Burton earlier declared her intention to seek the leadership in the wake of Eamon Gilmore’s decision to step down.

Howlin’s move comes after two previous attempts to become leader in 1997 and 2002 failed.

The meeting lasted for over two hours with sources describing it as emotional, saying there was a general appreciation within the party at way in which the Tánaiste’s departure was handled and announced.

Members of the so-called ‘gang of eight’ – TDs and a senator who tabled a motion of no confidence in Gilmore prior to his resignation announcement on Monday – are said to have expressed regret at tabling the motion without discussing it with the Tánaiste first.

Junior Minister Alex White was no clearer about his leadership ambitions with differing views from Labour TDs and Senators as to whether he will run.

However it has emerged that though he did not threaten to resign if Gilmore remained as party leader he was prepared to support the no confidence motion.

Despite speculation that Burton will be unopposed there was a general view among members that “people want a contest”, as one parliamentary party member put it.

Nominations for the Labour leadership contest close next Tuesday at 12 noon after which there will be a postal ballot of around 5,000 members with a result to be announced on 4 July.

If no one else contests the leadership then Burton will be automatically elected as Labour leader unopposed as soon as nominations close next week.

This means that she could conceivably become Tánaiste by the end of next week.

Originally published 18:22

Earlier: ‘The limits of austerity have been reached’: Joan Burton confirms her Labour leadership bid

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92 Comments
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    Mute Mark Costello
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    Dec 6th 2022, 3:03 PM

    I’m more interested in how much it increased from 2021 to 2022 and more to the point from January 2020 to December 2022 ..

    199
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    Mute Edward Natali
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    Dec 6th 2022, 5:25 PM

    It’s all so backwards. Energy providers are claiming the price increase is due to increased fuel costs, yet they are all reporting massive profit increases during the same period. Price gouging and war profiteering at it’s finest and the Government/Regulators are doing nothing about it.

    144
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    Mute David Mc Cabe
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    Dec 6th 2022, 3:23 PM

    Does anyone think it will ever go back down in price again?

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    Mute Stephen Walshe
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    Dec 6th 2022, 3:28 PM

    @David Mc Cabe: never once up it’ll stay there.

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Dec 6th 2022, 5:57 PM

    Go with the storage heater like David suggested. 1.5KW per hour would cost you your ESB rate per hour. Say your rate is 40 cents per KW (unit) then it would cost you 60 cents per hour to run it. If you had it on for 4 hours it would cost you €2.40.

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    Mute Julie
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    Dec 6th 2022, 3:42 PM

    Can someone advise, which is more cost efficient, a storage plug in heater or a fan heater? Thank you

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Dec 6th 2022, 4:09 PM

    @Julie: Get the wattage off both units and I will run the calculations for you.

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    Mute David Mc Cabe
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    Dec 6th 2022, 4:46 PM

    @Julie: I think an oil storage plug in heater is better, fan heaters need to be always on and when switched off you notice the temp. drop within 5 min. Oil radiators will switch off when a set temp. is reached and switch back on if the temp. falls below a certain amount also keep dont go cold quickly after they switch off.

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    Mute Julie
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    Dec 6th 2022, 5:46 PM

    @David Corrigan: Thank you David, the fan is 2000 watts and the storage heater is 1.5kw

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    Mute Julie
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    Dec 6th 2022, 5:46 PM

    @David Mc Cabe: Thank you David!

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    Mute John Keane
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    Dec 6th 2022, 6:02 PM

    @Julie: @Julie: looks like the heater will use 25% less electricity over an hour and be on less because it stores a certain amt of heat. Keeping the heater on level 1 over an extended period is the way to use them.

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    Mute David Mc Cabe
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    Dec 6th 2022, 6:42 PM

    @Julie: I have one of the Oil Filled Radiators 1.5kw, it has 3 setting 700w, 800w and 1.5kw. It has a min – max temperature dial. I mostly just use the 800w setting with the temp turned about 60-70% full. (Large Double Bedroom) At this setting it will switch on for 15 min, and turn itself off for about 10 min. So using a full hour of electric power it is actually on for 1hr 40 mins. I believe the price for this was about 16c – 20c per hour. ( 1hr 40mins of actually being on consuming power)

    I only use the 1.5kw setting on the really colder days.

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    Mute Julie
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    Dec 7th 2022, 9:02 AM

    @David Mc Cabe: you are a star thank you!!

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    Mute Julie
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    Dec 7th 2022, 9:22 AM

    @John Keane: Thank you John

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