TÁNAISTE AND LABOUR leader Eamon Gilmore has said he is “very proud” of the “overwhelming majority” of public representatives in the party who have stuck with it over the past two-and-a-half years.

Speaking in Dublin earlier today, Gilmore said that while he “regrets” anybody resigning from the party, Labour has had a “very difficult job of work to do”.

He was responding to the resignation of three councillors from the party this week, bringing to 26 the total number who have left Labour as a result of its actions in government, or nearly 10 per cent of its total number of councillors.

He told the media: “The job of work we have to do, and that we had to do, from the day this government was formed, was to bring about economic recovery, to take this country back from the edge that it was on.

“It’s been a very difficult job and I am very proud of the overwhelming majority of the public representatives of the Labour Party – TDs and councillors and members of my party – that have stood with that task very courageously over the course of the past two-and-a-half years.

He said that the mandate from the Irish people was to fix the economy and said that Labour intends to see that task through, adding that the country’s economy has been stabilised and turned around since the coalition came to power.

Three in three days: Another Labour councillor has resigned from the party

More: The 25 other councillors who have left the Labour Party over its role in government