January 20 2011 by Paul Gogarty
Ministerial resignations threaten to turn Government into a farce at crucial time
It has come as something of a shock to read that Noel Dempsey, Dermot Ahern and Tony Killeen have joined Mary Harney in resigning from Cabinet.
Mary Harney one can understand, as she is not a member of a party. Micheal Martin has already taken what is an honourable decision in terms of the FF internal leadership discussion process.
However for three other Ministers to resign on the same day as Mary Harney smacks of an orchestrated plan that has little to do with the country’s interest and a lot to do with Fianna Fáil’s interests.
The Green Party stood back as Fianna Fáil sorted out their internal problems. Our focus remained on getting the necessary legislation passed, ie the Finance Bill, with the opportunity to pass other legislation in parallel. Our Party Leader John Gormley indicated our belief that the Finance Bill could be passed by the end of February with an election held in March.
Now we have the surreal situation of five vacant positions in a Government reaching its natural shelf life following our announcement on November 22nd last. You couldn’t invent this stuff.
One can only hope that the Taoiseach will refuse to accept these resignations and tell his colleagues to get on with the important business of State for the remaining few weeks. This seems unlikely, however.
At this stage the least that can be done is to leave some of the positions unopened and let Junior Ministers take over the roles without being handed the senior positions.
No matter what the motivations of the individuals concerned, appointing five new Ministers at this critical juncture would smack of jobs for the boys and cosmetic surgery for endangered candidates in need of a makeover. To do so would show a serious lack of political judgement, a lack of empathy for what the people of Ireland are going through and of course may have unintended consequences. It is the same line of argument that says that political parties should not take monies from vested interests because no matter how honourable the motivation, in doing so you leave yourself open to questioning.
The Taoiseach has yet to indicate a deadline for the holding of the election. He has yet to make any announcements regarding the appointment of replacements or indeed the formal acceptance of resignations.
In terms of a deadline for the election, a timeframe for completion of legislation and a sensible decision regarding ministerial resignations one can only hope that those with the power to make the ultimate decisions have the serenity to accept the things they cannot change, courage to change the things they can and, most importantly, the wisdom to know the difference.
