Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly became emotional as he strongly defended claims he leaked information about the party to the media.

During an address to the Labour parliamentary party on Wednesday night, Mr Kelly insisted he was not the source of a leaked analysis which claimed the party could lose up to 20 seats in the general election.

The Labour party deputy leader is said to have “welled up” and insisted he nor his staff had any role in the information being made public.

Mr Kelly told the meeting he was a party man who loved Labour and insisted he would do everything he could to help the party maximise its chances in the general election campaign.

While Labour had spent time focusing on this story Fine Gael was making policy announcements, he said.

“It was an emotional call to show solidarity and dismissed any notion that he or his staff were the leak,” a source said.

“His message was to focus on the election and insisted Labour could have a good one if we put our minds to it...Many of the people who had accused him of being the leak were shaking his hand at the end.”

A number of TDs also spoke at the meeting and urged the party to focus on how to sell the Labour message in the upcoming campaign.

Dublin Central TD Joe Costello said Labour needed to explain the role it has had in Government to voters.

He said the party needed to outline the effect it has had in the key economic decisions that have been made over the past five years.

Move on

Tánaiste Joan Burton also addressed the meeting and encouraged members to move on from the leak. The issue has dominated Labour’s parliamentary party meeting for a second week in a row.

A number of TDs spoke out at last week’s meeting and identified Mr Kelly as the source of the leak.

Mr Kelly was not present to address the party at that time and this was the first opportunity for the Minister to confront the ssue.

The deputy leader has denied leaking the information to The Irish Times and other media outlets.

The analysis outlined how the party could win between 10 and 16 seats at the next general election, compared with the 37 it took in 2011.

TDs and Senators reacted angrily to the publication of the information and called for an investigation into the source, with some blaming Mr Kelly.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin have denied the existence of such an analysis.

The latest Irish Times/Ipsos MBRI poll showed support for Labour has declined to 7 per cent.