Gilmore struggles to rally Labour troops
As the budget aftermath continued to rock the Coalition, Mr Gilmore denied that senior Fine Gael and Labour ministers were reduced to “squabbling” at the Cabinet table over the Government’s stance on the looming €3.1bn payment on the Anglo debts.
Despite Mr Gilmore’s appeal for party unity in the wake of the walkout by Labour chairman Colm Keaveney, rebel senators railed against “strong-arm” and “bullying” tactics by the leadership as they threatened to vote against cuts to child benefit in the Oireachtas on Wednesday.
Mr Gilmore called for Labour troops to rally around the leadership: “The Government, and the Labour Party as part of this Government, has been engaged in what can only be described as an economic war.”
He insisted Cabinet tensions had not erupted over the Anglo promissory note payment which is due at the end of March. Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte had insisted it would definitely not be paid.
“Pat Rabbitte and Michael Noonan aren’t squabbling about anything. This Government is united and determined that we will find a resolution to the bank debt deal that the previous government landed us with,” Mr Gilmore told RTÉ.
“We didn’t pay last year and the Government is working on a resolution on that issue and I am confident we will find a resolution.”
Mr Keaveney turned the war analogy around on the Tánaiste and demanded to know why Labour bore the brunt of casualties.
“We are in better economic circumstances now than when we made our election promises on things like child benefit. Fine Gael seem able to safeguard their constituents in this war in a way that we do not — and vulnerable people will now be paying the price for that failure,” he told the Irish Examiner, as he again refused to stand down as Labour chairman despite losing the parliamentary party whip.
Mr Gilmore faced a battle on a new front as Limerick senator James Heffernan warned he would find it difficult to vote through “mean” child benefit and respite care cuts.
“I do have certain concerns about the blanket cut to child care. The cut to respite care is seen by many as a mean cut. I am not going to be strong-armed or bullied into voting one way or the other, I will make up my own mind. I’m unconvinced at the moment,” he told RTÉ.
After a bruising week which saw the greatest blow to his authority yet, Mr Gilmore tried to appease backbench TDs, saying: “I think everybody has concerns about different aspects of the budget.”
Labour senator Denis Landy said he will consult supporters before deciding how to vote on the Social Welfare Bill, which the upper house has the power to delay, but not vote down.
Labour rebels are to meet Social Protection Minister Joan Burton to discuss concerns.
Meanwhile, pro-life Fine Gael TDs have expressed unease that Government action on the X case, due to be announced this week, could be too liberal, with European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton emerging as the focal point of opposition to wider pro-choice reform.
Ms Creighton told RTÉ she had issues with the suicide risk element of the X case judgment: “I have concerns about the whole question of suicide and how it can be defined and there are polar opposite positions amongst the medical profession and indeed in legal opinion as to how the Government should or can act in accordance with the X decision. That’s not clear.”
