Labour General Secretary to Step Down

[krayZpaving]

Mike Allen, General Secretary of the Labour Party, has announced that he will step down from his post in the Autumn. Allen, who was appointed to the post under the leadership of Ruairi Quinn, has been the administrative head of the party for more than eight years.

My eight years as General Secretary, serving under three party leaders - Deputy Ruairi Quinn, Deputy Pat Rabbitte and Deputy Eamon Gilmore - have been a period of huge internal change and modernisation for Labour. Ireland needs a strong and effective Labour Party more than ever, and I believe I leave the party better able to contest elections in a determined and professional manner. I intend to remain active in Labour Party and I wish my colleagues well in bringing Labour into government after the next election. I plan to take up a new post in the autumn.

Mike has been General Secretary through eight very demanding years that included two general elections, a European election, the local elections and a number of referendum campaigns.
I want to thank him for his eight years of work for the Labour Party a period which has seen a significant growth in party membership, the biggest number of Labour councillors ever reached, and a significant re-organisation of Party structures. I also wish to thank Mike for his assistance to me, since I became Party Leader. I understand and respect his wish to move on and I wish him every success in his future.

More:
Ireland.com
Press Association
Labour Press Office

[L.O. Dublin S.C.]

Any idea who might take over?

[The Beara Rose]

No but having met and corresponded with Mike I wish him the best in his future career.

[Ferdia]

I wish Mike the very best in whatever he does in the future. He deserves well of the Labour movement. He is a man of idealism, but practical and effective in his approach to politics as well. If the Rabbitte / Langan duopoly had listened to him more they might have avoided some of their more lurid errors and we might be in power now.

[red365]

If the Rabbitte / Langan duopoly had listened to him more they might have avoided some of their more lurid errors...

Such as?

[popper]

Perhaps he senses that the time is right to return to the poverty industry. Wasn't he head of some unemployment thing before? Follow the money. Labour are going nowhere but there'll be lots of people with no jobs

[Wolverine2]

Good luck Mike, a very effective Gen Sec who wore his convictions on his sleeve.

[gentleben]

Perhaps he senses that the time is right to return to the poverty industry. Wasn't he head of some unemployment thing before? Follow the money. Labour are going nowhere but there'll be lots of people with no jobs

Have you ever been in poverty? D1ckhead.

[popper]

Perhaps he senses that the time is right to return to the poverty industry. Wasn't he head of some unemployment thing before? Follow the money. Labour are going nowhere but there'll be lots of people with no jobs

Have you ever been in poverty? D1ckhead.

Has mike? a$shole.

I was unemployed in the bad old days. Labour were in Government funnily enough and most of the people I went to school with emigrated or went on the dole.

If the same thing was to happen again the last thing I would want is someone like him getting paid to talk about my "issues".

[stretchneil]

Perhaps he senses that the time is right to return to the poverty industry. Wasn't he head of some unemployment thing before? Follow the money. Labour are going nowhere but there'll be lots of people with no jobs

Have you ever been in poverty? D1ckhead.

Has mike?

Yes, and he speaks very eloquently about his days of unemployment.

Mike has done a fantastic job in strengthening the organisation of the party, and bringing a new professionalism to everything the party does. He did all this while encouraging member-driven activity, and never flinching in his own politics. It's been a huge privelege to have worked with him over the years, and I wish him all the best in the future.