Dublin - The leader of Ireland's Labour Party Pat Rabbitte stepped down Thursday after his party suffered a defeat in May's general election, Ireland's national broadcaster RTE reported. Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern paid tribute to Rabbitte after he announced that he made the announcement.
"Pat Rabitte's capacity and wit has enlivened politics and enlightened public debate over many years. Since he entered the Dail (Irish parliament) in 1989 he has been one of the most eloquent and effective parliamentarians in the house," Ahern, often the target of Rabitte's wit, said in a statement.
The Labour Party under the leadership of Rabbitte performed disappointingly in Ireland's general elections in May.
After forming a coalition with the centre-right opposition party Fine Gael (FG), Labour and FG combined failed to win enough seats to form an alternative government to Ahern's.
RTE reported Friday that many critics considered it was Rabitte's failure to reaffirm Labour's socialist roots that led to this election defeat and ultimately his departure as Labour leader.
In his statement, Rabbitte said he believed that he had done the right thing in offering the electorate an "alternative reforming government." He said the plan had only been unsuccessful by a "narrow margin."
"My staying on for another year would only make sense if I intended contesting a second term. It is not my intention to do so. Therefore at the beginning of the lifetime of a new Dail is the opportune time to elect a new leader and allow him or her find their feet before local and European elections," he said.
Rabbitte had been Labour leader for just five years, although his connections to the labour and union movements went back decades.
He worked for the Irish union movement in the 70s and became its national secretary at a time of feverish industrial unrest, RTE reported.
He was first elected to the Irish parliament in 1989 for the Workers' Party and has retained his seat since.
In 1992 he was part of the split that formed the Democratic Left party, then served in government as a junior minister for science and was active in the merger of the Democratic Left with the Labour Party in 1997.
In 2002 he took over as Labour leader and has since been one of the sharpest critics of Ahern and his Fianna Fail party in the Dail.
"His genuine passion for his cause was married to a forensic intelligence and considerable wit that made him a politician to be reckoned with, as well as parliamentarian who engaged the public's interest," Ahern added in his tribute.
