Quinn urged to clarify position on Reilly
A spokesperson for Mr Quinn said he had expressed confidence in his colleague in the past week and there was no reason to believe his position had changed.
Responding to the reports, party leader Eamon Gilmore, speaking in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, said: “That’s not Ruairi Quinn’s view... The entire gover-nment is unified. James Reilly has a particularly difficult job to do.”
Asked if he had spoken to Mr Quinn about the reports, the Tánaiste said: “There’s no need for me to speak to him about them, I know that they’re not his views.”
It was reported that at a Labour parliamentary party meeting last Wednesday, one backbench TD, Aodhan O’Riordan, said Mr Reilly should be sacked. The Dublin North Central TD was reported to have said Mr Reilly “is not up to the job of being minister and in my view should go”.
Mr Quinn allegedly said “your sentiments are shared by your cabinet colleagues”.
However, he warned younger TDs not to go “looking for a head on a plate” and urged them to keep a cool head.
Fianna Fáil has called on Mr Quinn to publicly clarify his position on whether the health minister should resign and said the alleged private comments shows “the cynicism and hypocrisy of the Labour Party in Cabinet.”
The party’s health spokes- man, Billy Kelleher, said the education minister “must make a statement at the earliest opportunity to confirm whether the remarks attributed to him are accurate”.
He said reports of the comments would leave many people angry and frustrated: “This coming Wednesday, we are likely to see in very stark terms the effects of James Reilly’s failure, as health services are slashed. Will Minister Quinn have the courage to say in public what he is telling friends... Will Labour ministers again stand to applaud him in public, while continuing to condemn him in private?”
Fianna Fáil is to table another no confidence motion in Mr Reilly over his handling of primary care centres. He survived a similar motion in September.
“If the Labour Party recognises that James Reilly is not the person to lead positive change in the health service, why did they make speeches and vote to support him in September when Fianna Fáil sought his removal?” asked Mr Kelleher.
“Why did they back him when their own colleague Roisín Shortall was forced to resign her position? Why do they continue to support him as the health budget spirals out of control and front line services bear the brunt of his mismanagement?”
