Woods fights the flak again

SHOULD Michael Woods ever return to the front bench, the Department of Defence might be the natural posting for him.

The past few days have seen him mount a dogged defensive action that would do the armed forces proud But the front on which he currently fights for his political and personal credibility is likely to be the only one he sees in future. After the ructions of recent days, he is unlikely to rise from the backbenches again.

That he didn't even make it into a junior ministry after last years's general election was a blow to the Dublin North East TD who had vacated the high-profile education portfolio going into polling day.

Decisions made in the closing days of his term as Education Minister, however, have come back to haunt him in ways that could have serious implications for the career of a serving minister.

Not that Mr Woods, or Woodsy as Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has christened him, sees it as any less important to fight for his reputation as an ordinary deputy. In the Dáil on Tuesday he could barely contain himself as criticisms of the indemnity deal he did with the religious orders flew across the chamber.

Bertie Ahern was fending off the fury from the opposition benches on his behalf but Mr Woods was aching to join in and more than once attempted to intervene while the Ceann Comhairle struggled to limit the debate to those entitled to speak.

He then grabbed every microphone that came his way to try to rationalise the deal and defend his judgment in making it. Persistence does not always pay off, however, and it is looking increasingly like he has lost the battle.

Mr Woods, who will be 68 in December, is one of the Dáil's most senior members also one of the most highly educated.

A father of five born in Bray, Co Wicklow, he studied at University College Dublin, Harvard Business School and the Institute of Public Administration, earning the doctorate in agriculture that is sometimes mistaken for a medical qualification given the three terms he served in the Department of Health.

He worked initially in agricultural research for An Foras Taluntais and had the grand title of Head of Glasshouse Crops and Mushroom Department. Legend has it that during this time he was responsible for inventing that amateur gardener's lifesaver, the grow-bag.

A member of Fianna Fáil since 1968, he was first elected to the Dáil in 1977 on what was his first attempt and rose to prominence quickly, becoming Minister for Social Welfare in 1979 a post he was to hold twice.

He has also served as a junior minister in the Departments of Defence and the Taoiseach, and held full ministries in Agriculture, Education, Marine twice and Social Welfare and Health on multiple occasions.

In 1982 he faced his first major political challenge when, as Health Minister in Charles Haughey's administration, he had the task of framing the wording of the first abortion referendum. He took considerable flak for the "vote no for yes and yes for no" confusion that followed and the legal uncertainty it caused, but he survived and earned a reputation for being a competent administrator with stamina, an impressive appetite for work and someone it was hard not to like and trust.

In 1999, his was one of the names tossed around as a possible contender for the position of Ireland's EU commissioner but he remained in Leinster House where, in the Cabinet reshuffle of the following year, he was moved from Marine to Education.

The portfolio brought him plenty of grief. The teacher strikes were a black period and his appeal against the High Court ruling in Jamie Sinnott's autism rights case had him compared to Michael Noonan taking on the dying Brigid McCole in the hepatitis C scandal.

Even after he left the department, trouble followed him and it was revealed he had ordered the suppression of bad news letters to schools who were to be refused funding in the run-up to the general election.

But that controversy pales beside the revelations of recent days about his handling of the child abuse compensation deal, a row which has renewed speculation about the influence of his religious beliefs on his work.

A devout Catholic, he has twice this year publicly denied that he is a member of Opus Dei and insists his only involvement in the structures of the Church is as a member of Kilbarrack Parish Council.

Kilbarrack may be his parish and he does live in an estate called Kilbarrack Grove but it is at the Raheny end of the north city suburb rather than the Kilbarrack of Roddy Doyle's acquaintance.

He shares certain characteristics with the author's protagonists, however, in that he is resilient and hard to keep down.

Those are weapons in his personal armour that he will need to call into action as this controversy continues with no clear end in sight.