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With Fiona O’Malley and now Mary Harney coming out questioning Bertie Ahern handling of his affairs.
Minister for Health Mary Harney has called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to break his silence over evidence given at the Mahon tribunal last week.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin this morning, the former Progressive Democrats leader said the Taoiseach was the only person who could dispel public rumours following the testimony of former secretary Gráinne Carruth.
“What I am saying is that the public disquiet has to be dispelled, and that is a matter for the Taoiseach, and only the Taoiseach can dispel that public disquiet”, she said.
“I am not being specific as to what the Taoiseach should actually do. That is a matter for the Taoiseach.”
“I am simply saying there is considerable public disquiet as a result of Gráinne Carruth’s evidence last week, and that public disquiet needs to be dispelled quickly,” Ms Harney said.
However, she said she still had confidence in the Taoiseach.
P.ie has an interesting discussion on it and what this could mean to the greens
It’ll be interesting if the PDs, teetering on the brink of extinction, have their history bookended by moves against a FF leader.
I also wonder precisely what Harney was referring to in the “rumours” following Grainne’s testimony. There have been rumours on p.ie in additional to the conflicting testimony.
The Greens’ realpolitik has just run out- it’s not sufficient to be arsing ’round and mincing out the “wait for the outcome of the tribunal” line any more and hasn’t been for a long time. Mary Coughlin’s claim of unanimous support around the Cabinet Table, while Harney has made a shite of today, was still another barb for the Greens. They’re just hurting themselves at this stage.
And remember, Mary Harney is an expert on sinking ships at this stage.
Resign Mr. Ahern etc.
UPDATE: Newstalk reporting John Gormley has called for a statement of clarity from Bertie Ahern.
It is interesting that Gormley would make such comments only a day after stating that any comment would ‘pre-judge’ the Tribunal’s own report. It is a measure of the strain that this is putting on all of the government’s components.
Green Ink is right, that Harney beat the Greens out of the traps is not a great sign. I appreciate that we are all being pragmatic now but the Green’s are looking complicit and whipped by keeping schtum rather than that whole critical distance idea.
The question is did Harney only come out on this issue as she is aware that rumours will only speed up the decline of Ahern’s tenure (and her own?) and these are at the worse end of that scale?
Cian i wonder is there internal PD politics here. With O’Malley on the anti bert side and cannon on the pro-bert side and harney on the O’Malley side. That this is a move against Cannon (or how ever he spells his name).
The greens are going get some doing for getting scooped by the PD’s
Harney at the very least has displayed her coalition government experience, of which Gormley has none. He now looks a follower than a leader, and on a few levels at that.
The PDs will be motivated by the tenuous grip they have on existence at the moment in their actions/statements over the Bertie farce. This isn’t so much a concern for the Greens at the moment. But as Simon says Harney getting in there first has damaged an already strained credibility for the Greens. They shouldn’t have been scared to ruffle a few feathers before now; any feathers they ruffle from now on will be be viewed as reaction to the PDs getting in there first.
Harney could be trying to provoke movement from within Fianna Fail without getting her hands dirty. She’s not out to get Bertie directly but his continuation as Taoiseach will effect the stability of this government in the longer term so the sooner the transition to the new Taoiseach (why is Cowen so cagey?) the sooner things can settle down and the fewer bumps a damaged party has to deal with. Don’t forget PD interests on local authorities mainly hinge on the voting blocs they form with FF, and if Bertie’s still there for the locals FF will probably get hammered.
Green is right, there is little or now way to avoid that perception. I know there is talk of this coming from a PP meeting last night but today’s paper (linked above) has the same old line trotted out yesterday of waiting for the tribunal report.
Green has a good point, however if Harney is trying ot keep her hands from getting dirty and prompting internal action – she may have to wait. The opposition are doing their best to pin as much of this on Cowen as they can and there will be little appetite in FF to appear to be dictated to by the opposition. Its harder to ignore two-thirds of the coaltion partners though.
The Green idea was critical engagement and in appearing to follow the PDs rather than lead the way (and consistently drawing a line between the ethics of different government parties when it might not always have been necessary) there is damage done.
“Rumours”: that’s rather a coy way of putting things, isn’t it?
The ethics issue was always going to be a problem for the Greens but no-one expected it to manifest like this. If Gormley had been smart he’d have pounced, or at least weakly clawed, after O’Malley.
Your right Green and listening to Noel Ahern on the radio this morning, the government seem keen to remind the Greens of their relative position. Talking of GOrmley being ‘stampeded’ into it is an attempt to minimise the importance of their utterances.
However, no statement from Ahern before May’s evidence, no statment before he visits Congress and the High Court next week.
Plus ça change.