Environment Minister Alan Kelly has become a protruding thorn in Joan Burton’s side, due to his erratic and bullish behavior in recent days.
The party’s electoral campaign launch got off to a bad start, becoming completely overshadowed by Alan Kelly’s ostentatious ambitions of power and especially, his much-publicised confrontation with Newstalk radio host Chris Donoghue. Alan Kelly took issue with the line-up for the show, and vociferously complained that he should have got preferential treatment over a constituency rival. When this self-serving whim was denied, some bad language was allegedly used.
Kelly’s camp has now moved to refute all these allegations, but the PR damage is already done. Coupled with the minister’s blithe overseeing of the introduction of water charges and extra bin charges, his fate at the polls is now almost certainly sealed.
The party’s internal rift over Kelly’s delusional ambitions to oust Joan Burton were made clear by comments recently made by party sources: “It’s the Alan Kelly show. He needs to realise that it’s time to be a team player.”