De Búrca: ‘I was assured promise of Green post’

FORMER Green senator Deirdre de Búrca said party leader John Gormley had assured her the Taoiseach promised a Green choice in the inner circle of Ireland’s new EU commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn in return for the party supporting the appointment.

Hitting back at claims she had promised to “damage” the Greens if she did not get a plum European job, Ms de Búrca said the two Green ministers withdrew support for Pat Cox for the commission as part of the deal, but they failed to make Brian Cowen stick to the agreement.

“John Gormley told me clearly he had negotiated a position for a Green in her new cabinet as a basic condition of Green Party support for her (Geoghegan-Quinn’s) nomination.