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TD resigns prior to Health Minister confidence vote 
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has suffered the first significant internal blow
to his authority after high-profile Cork TD Ned O’Keeffe resigned
from the Parliamentary party ahead of abstaining in a crucial Dáil
vote of confidence in Health Minister Mary Harney.
In a pre-emptive strike that took the lustre off the Government’s
victory in voting down the Labour no-confidence motion on the PD leader
Mr O’Keeffe tendered his resignation in a terse one-line letter
delivered to Government chief whip Tom Kitt.
It came hours after a tense meeting between Mr O’Keeffe and Mr Kitt
during which the maverick Cork East deputy claimed he was threatened by
expulsion.
The confidence motion in Ms Harney was passed by 83 votes to 73.
In a statement Mr Kitt said: “I regret that Deputy O’Keeffe
felt it necessary to resign the party whip.
“He has been a long-standing member of Fianna Fáil, a great
servant to his own electoral area of east Cork and hopefully he will be
back in the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary party in the future.”
During the debate itself, Mr Ahern defended Ms Harney saying she was neither
to blame nor blameworthy for the debacle that resulted in a large number
of women being misdiagnosed for cancer and being recalled for surgical
review.
He accused the opposition of using the tragedies that confronted the women
and their families as fodder for political gain.
And Green Party leader John Gormley said: “The main question this
evening is will sacking the Minister improve the situation of these women
or improve the health service?
“In both cases is no.”
But opposition parties tore into Ms Harney’s record and repeatedly
called for her resignation.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the Government had had 10 years to improve
the health service but failed to do so.
Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
also reiterated his long-standing demand for Ms Harney to resign —
saying the cancer mix-up was only the latest in a long series of failures
on her part. |
