Tánaiste defends controversial decision on Burton selection

TÁNAISTE and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has defended his decision not to appoint Joan Burton to the public expenditure and reform portfolio.

Despite being the party’s finance spokesperson for almost a decade, Ms Burton was overlooked for the crucial economic ministry and handed Social Protection instead.

The decision has created an unwelcome controversy for Mr Gilmore in his first days in office.

In his first public comments on the matter yesterday, he acknowledged that Ms Burton had “a fabulous grasp of economic issues” but he said his decision was based on picking the “strongest team” for Cabinet.

He denied that Ms Burton had been upset when informed of the decision, saying she would still make a contribution to economic decisions at Cabinet.

He also denied that he had overlooked women for key roles, pointing to the fact that Máire Whelan, the firstwoman Attorney General, was a Labour nominee.

“First of all, it doesn’t automatically follow that the portfolio that one has in opposition is the portfolio that one has in government,” Mr Gilmore said of Ms Burton.

“The decision that I had to make was obviously a decision to ensure that we had the strongest possible team in government to do the best job for this country.

“The portfolio that has been allocated to Joan Burton is the highest-spending department in the state — 40% of day-to-day spending is routed through the Department of Social Protection.

“It is an area of huge importance to the country and indeed to the Labour Party,” he told RTÉ.

The public expenditure and reform ministry went instead to Brendan Howlin, a decision criticised yesterday by Susan McKay, director of the National Women’s Council.

“Brendan Howlin has no significant experience of finance, but he’s a man. A safe pair of balls,” she wrote in a newspaper article.