Behan: I have no alternative but to resign

JOE BEHAN said he had “no alternative” but to resign from Fianna Fáil after measures announced in the budget became the final straw in his growing disillusionment with the party.

As well as the move to means test the over-70s medical card, he said as a primary school principal, he could not support the cuts in the education budget that would lead to an increase in pupil-teacher ratios.

“As I see it, the Government and the Cabinet members have effectively decided that the young and the elderly are going to pay the price for the economic and financial difficulties we have at the moment,” he told RTÉ radio’s Drivetime programme.