Taoiseach defends handling of mini-shuffle
He also dismissed the suggestion that those close to him congratulated Sean Haughey beforehand.
Mr Ahern told the Irish Examiner the political fall-out was unfortunate but was unapologetic about the way in which he chose to fill the vacancy left by Ivor Callely.
He said he deeply considered the claims of 15 of his backbenchers. He also confirmed he had agreed to meet with, or received representations on behalf of, a number of those TDs, including Mary Wallace.
Mr Haughey complained this week that his request before Christmas for a meeting had been turned down.
Mr Ahern responded to this by saying: “As for Sean, we didn’t have a formal meeting. I got the message. I knew what Sean was looking for. As you saw, there were plenty of articles written over the Christmas period. I knew Sean was in.”
Suggesting Mr Haughey’s claim was no greater than many others, Mr Ahern said he was on the shortlist, but that the shortlist was 15.
In what could be seen as a rebuff to another assertion made by Mr Haughey this week, Mr Ahern denied that those close to him congratulated the Dublin TD in the run-up to Mary Wallace’s appointment.
He also intimated that by appointing Ms Wallace, he was honouring a commitment or conversation he had with her following her demotion in 2002. She shouldered the blame for the failure of the first Disability Bill and Mr Ahern said it left her deeply upset.
“I’m just human. If I’ve spoken to people before and let them down, or worse still, fired them or had discussions with them, I have to take into account what I’ve said to them on previous occasions.
“Somebody the other day interpreted that as he must have made a promise (to Ms Wallace). You don’t make a promise. But you say ‘I do understand your effort. I do understand your problems. I will remember that’.”
Confirming he had spoken to her this time, he said that despite stories she was boycotting the Dáil, she never gave him “any grief.”
He also said electoral considerations in relation to the new constituency of Meath East played a part in his thinking. And he explained the stir caused by the Callely affair, his trip to India and Pat the Cope Gallagher’s request to move from Marine added to the delay.
“I wanted to think a lot about the vacancy anyway. And I had 50 people who were keen on the job and, in real terms, 15 who I thought deserved my deep consideration.
“Some of them spoke to me, some came to me, other representatives of the organisation contacted me or wrote to me. By the nature of these things, I have to at least give them a hearing...
“If I move like a rocket filling it, you stop people making that case to you.”
On the eve of the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, Mr Ahern said his own announcement of a renewed Easter commemoration at his own Ard Fheis was not done to recapture the 1916 mantel from Sinn Féin, or to promote Fianna Fáil ahead of other parties.
He said Ireland’s history belongs to everybody.
He also hinted for the first time that, if returned to power, he may serve out the full term as Taoiseach.
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