Alan Kelly has stated with certainty today that Joan Burton is indeed "his boss".

In return, the Tánaiste paid the Environment Minister a glowing compliment, when she described him as "an incredibly obedient employee."

Mr Kelly told the Sunday Independent last weekend he was "very much (his) own boss."

After completing the necessary paperwork to dissolve the 31st Dáil earlier this morning, Ms Burton joined Mr Kelly at the Labour Party election Headquarters in Dublin for a press conference.

The Tánaiste issued a rallying cry to the troops, as she told staff at Labour HQ "We really need to go out there now and give it our all."

While launching Labour's election bid she had plenty to say on what the party had achieved during their time in Government.

"We have come a long way and created 135,000 jobs, but have plans to do a lot more.

"Contrast that with a very sterile opposition who really want to paint Ireland as a dull and desperate place," she told reporters.

The Tánaiste said that lower and middle income people need to move from a minimum wage to a living wage:

"Lower and middle income people need to experience a rebalancing of the tax and PRSI system.

"There is no longer a deficit in the social insurance fund.

"We've brought it into balance and have shown that we can maintain it in balance," she said.

Ms Burton also pledged that the Labour party will address the tough issues should they be re-elected.

"We know we've a lot of work to do on housing and we know we've work to do on health but now that we have the resources to do both it can happen."

Online Editors