Labour TDs take pragmatic view on Penrose situation

EAMON GILMORE has lost one of his ministers before the Government even passes a budget.

And one of his MEPs, Nessa Childers, is telling all and sundry about a warning call she got from a senior party politician.

On the surface, it appears as if the Labour leader’s authority is cracking just months into office.

But Labour TDs — even those not always enamoured of Gilmore’s leadership — see yesterday’s developments in a different light.

They say Gilmore has, in effect, cracked the whip and sent a clear signal to the Labour backbenches.

By allowing Willie Penrose to resign as the “super junior” minister, Gilmore has made it clear that he won’t cave into revolts over constituency interests.

“He’s not going to take any threats,” said one Labour TD.

“The message of the day is that if you’re going to jump, just jump.

“The line has been drawn now for TDs. If somebody at Cabinet couldn’t exert that kind of influence [to protect a constituency interest], no TD will either.”

As for Childers, she doesn’t seem to be garnering much sympathy amongst party colleagues, despite the fact they do not entirely disagree with her argument.

Childers had been raising questions about the nomination of Kevin Cardiff, the secretary general of the Department of Finance, to the European Court of Auditors.

Both Fine Gael and Labour want to move Cardiff to Europe, as they desire a change of leadership at finance.

Hence, it is not surprising Childers would have got a call from a senior figure in Labour reiterating the party’s motives for the move and requesting her to get on board.

What is surprising is the force of the pressure that was applied — Childers says she was threatened with expulsion if she did not fall into line.

Gilmore says he wasn’t the one who made the phonecall, and his spokeswoman shook her head yesterday when asked if the Labour leader had instigated it.

Nonetheless, there is recognition among party TDs that the message would have been delivered on Gilmore’s behalf, and that it was simply par for the course.

“The Childers thing is more of a reflection of her own inexperience,” another TD said.

“We’ve all got bollockings at different times, but you don’t go to the media to say you’ve got a bollocking… If she doesn’t like it, resign.”

The TD added that the Government was facing five years of tough decisions, and any party member who thought the Kevin Cardiff decision was a tough one to swallow needed to “get real”.

This seems to be the prism through which most — though not all — Labour TDs will view the Penrose and Childers controversies.

With a tough budget to come, and several tough budgets after that, it’s too early to be throwing strops, they say.

Nonetheless, Gilmore doesn’t escape without some of the blame for the Penrose resignation.

When making his first Cabinet selection in March, he caved into Penrose’s demands and found him a place at the Cabinet table — even if in the so-called super-junior ministry rather than a full ministry.

Perhaps yesterday was Gilmore demonstrating that he won’t be so soft again. But his choice to replace Penrose will tell a story on that score.

As for the Government as a whole, it won’t be pushing any panic buttons just yet. Penrose’s defection leaves the coalition parties with 112 TDs — 29 more than required for a Dáil majority.