Two of six Labour Party members on Limerick City Council, Mr Sean Griffin and Ms Judy O'Donoghue, have resigned from the party after expressing dissatisfaction with the local organisation.
Mr Griffin, who is chairman of the corporation's housing subcommittee and a representative on the Shannon Estuary Port Company, said he was disillusioned with the local party organisation. "The whole party locally depended on the late Jim Kemmy to carry it through. They have lost touch with the ordinary voters and have ceased to bring politics to the people."
He said he could not understand why, as a member of the council, he had no vote at a weekend convention to select a candidate to replace Mr Kemmy on the council. He claimed that people there on a casual basis had been allowed to vote.
Mr Griffin, the only Labour alderman after the death of Mr Kemmy, joined the party in 1962. He left in 1977 but rejoined in 1988.
Ms O'Donoghue, who is chairwoman of the roads traffic study committee and the corporation representative on the City Enterprise Board, also resigned immediately after the selection convention.
Ms Jan O'Sullivan, acting leader, who is expected to be the Labour nominee for Limerick East in the by-election, said she would be bringing the resignations to the attention of the party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn. "I am extremely disappointed, but I intend to ensure that the party works in unity and consensus. If people do not feel happy with the organisation since the death of Deputy Kemmy, they should get in there and see that it works," she said.