POLL-TOPPING Roscommon County Councillor John Kelly (49) is due to be announced as a new recruit to the Labour Party today.
Confirming speculation that he was joining the party, Mr Kelly told The Irish Times: "About six months ago, I started looking more intensely at Labour and everything that I would be saying, they seemed to be saying."
He was contacted “out of the blue” four weeks ago and asked if he would be interested in joining.
“They are mirroring my policies and I am mirroring theirs,” he said.
Mr Kelly is a native of Oran, Co Roscommon.
He topped the poll and got elected on the first count with 2,230 votes in the Castlerea electoral area in last June’s local elections.
Running as an Independent in the 2007 general election in the Roscommon-Leitrim South constituency, he secured 4,539 first-preference votes, getting eliminated on the third count.
Mr Kelly also topped the poll in the 2004 local elections when he ran in the Ballaghadereen electoral area.
He has been the community welfare officer for the Ballaghadereen area for more than 24 years.
Mr Kelly says that he was “motivated to pursue a seat on Roscommon County Council by the complete lack of action by the incumbent candidates or political parties”.
Married with three children, he was educated at St Bride’s NS, Ballintubber and CBS Roscommon.
Party leader Eamon Gilmore is expected to hold a news conference with Mr Kelly at Leinster House this morning followed by an afternoon media event in Roscommon town.