Cuffe ‘lacked political cop-on’

GREEN Party TD Ciarán Cuffe lacked political cop-on by holding onto shares in unethical companies, his party colleague MEP Patricia McKenna said yesterday.

The Dublin MEP admitting the party was damaged by the revelation that the Dun Laoghaire TD held more than €1 million worth of shares in companies which included chemical and petrol corporations.

Ms McKenna said she and many of the party were shocked when they realised Mr Cuffe held shares in companies they had campaigned against.

“We took it as a foregone conclusion that a party member would not hold shares in such companies,” she said. Stating that Mr Cuffe made two mistakes, she said his first was not acting soon enough to sell the shares.

“The second was not having the political cop-on to realise this was a time bomb he was holding,” she said.

Since the disclosure, Mr Cuffe has resigned as Environment spokesman for the Green Party. The decision to give up this portfolio was right, Ms McKenna said, but she did not believe he should resign as a TD over the matter.

“It would be grossly unfair to resign his Dáil seat,” she said.

Fellow Green MEP Nuala Ahern said she was in favour of people owning shares, provided they were in ethical companies, but stressed that Mr Cuffe had inherited his shares upon his mother’s death.

“You can’t hold people responsible for what their parents do,” she said. Yet, Ms McKenna was less forgiving and was deeply scathing in her criticism of her colleague, saying the exposure of Deputy Cuffe’s ownership of the shares did not do the party any favours, but she did not believe it was a deceit on his part.

Meanwhile, a Fianna Fáil MEP yesterday described Ireland’s neutrality as a sham. FF Dublin MEP Niall Andrews said neutrality was used to mollify certain elements in the country. Recently, FF has robustly defended Ireland’s neutrality but Mr Andrews refrained from directly criticising the Taoiseach or the Government, adding that he was retiring from politics next year and his remarks were valedictory.

The veteran MEP also said the country was being held to ransom by hospital consultants. Comparing the less expensive and more efficient health service in Belgium with that in Ireland, he said it was disgraceful that the Minister for Health Micheál Martin was being attacked for proposing to reform the system.

Also yesterday, European Parliament President Pat Cox refused to comment on political speculation he wants to become Ireland’s next European Commissioner. The term of office of present European commissioner David Byrne runs out next summer. The Munster MEP merely said he was determined to focus on his present job and was not going to consider his future until some time next year.