Cowen bids to keep rebels in line

BRIAN Cowen’s future hung in the balance last night as he decided whether he had enough support to survive as Taoiseach while the threat of rebellion continued to grip Fianna Fáil.

A day of frenzied political activity saw FF ministers divide sharply over the desirability of Mr Cowen remaining in power as the Taoiseach battled to keep backbenchers in line.

Tourism Minister and contender for the top job Mary Hanafin warned of ‘unease’ in the party over Mr Cowen’s continued leadership, while junior minister Conor Lenihan said there was an appetite for change at the head of the party as he called for those in the frame to replace the Taoiseach, like his brother Brian Lenihan, to show their hand.

Front-runner to replace Mr Cowen, Micheál Martin avoided the limelight, with sources close to the Foreign Minister saying he was waiting for the Taoiseach to complete his consultation process before making any further move — but that it was expected to be “an interesting weekend”.

With Mr Cowen braced for yet more revelations about his close connections to Anglo chiefs, Labour threw a wild card into the mix by tabling a Dáil no-confidence motion.

This immediately opened up a bitter rift with their would-be post-election partners Fine Gael, who accused Labour of throwing Mr Cowen a lifeline which would reunite the coalition around him and extend the lifetime of the administration — especially as the motion was against the Government as a whole, not the Taoiseach personally.

The move also created an unseemly spat with FF as Government Chief Whip John Curran made it clear he would break with convention and not surrender Dáil time to debate the motion, but push it into Labour’s own parliamentary slot in the week after next.

With Mr Cowen’s position dangling in the balance, his loyalists rallied to his defence, with Social Protection Minister Eamon Ó Cuív attempting to smoke out rebels by insisting it would be ‘invidious’ of them to remain in Cabinet while plotting behind the Taoiseach’s back.

Green leader John Gormley also waded into the blame game, warning that the FF leadership crisis had plunged the Government and country into ‘instability’.

The Taoiseach’s woes continued to mount after Anglo’s former boss David Drumm alleged Mr Cowen had urged the National Treasury Management Agency to bail out the bank in April 2008 when he was finance minister.

Mr Cowen’s spokesperson dismissed the claims and former NTMA chief executive Michael Somers said he did “not recall” Mr Cowen putting personal pressure on him to deposit money in Anglo, but said there had been pressure to do so from within Government.

Ms Hanafin said she expressed her leadership views to Mr Cowen during a phone call, but would not divulge what was said.