Labour has urged voters in Tipperary South not to return a second Independent candidate in the by-election to be held this month.
Opening its campaign in Clonmel, Labour claimed it was clear following the election of Mr Seamus Healy in last year's by-election in the same constituency that Independents could highlight issues but were powerless to deliver results.
The claim was strongly rejected by Mr Healy, whose colleague in the Clonmel-based Workers' and Unemployed Action Group, Ms Phil Prendergast, is contesting this election. In a joint statement they accused Labour of neglecting Tipperary South while in government for four years in the 1990s.
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said the party's candidate, Mr Denis Landy, was the only candidate of the left who could make a difference and ensure that commitments and investment were delivered in Tipperary South.
Mr Landy (39) is a former telecoms employee and now a full-time politician.
He said Mr Healy and Ms Prendergast were fine local representatives but claimed Independent TDs could deliver "next to nothing" at national level.
"In reality, unless an Independent props up the Government, they have little or no power and no capacity to deliver change," he said. Mr Healy and Ms Prendergast said it was remarkable that Labour had not begun its remarks on neglect of the constituency by apologising for its own record in government.
In his last budget as minister for finance, Mr Quinn had given special tax status to 33 locations but ignored Tipperary South, they said.
