O'Keeffe resigns FF party whip

Fianna Fáil backbencher Ned O'Keeffe has resigned the party whip in protest over the health controversy.

Earlier this week the rebel Cork East TD said the Minister for Health should resign.

Minister for Health Mary Harney tonight survived a vote of no confidence over her handling of a crisis in breast cancer services.

Ms Harney rejected calls for her resignation over the controversy which has affected hundreds of women at three of the country’s public hospitals.

A Government amendment rejecting the motion tabled by the opposition Labour Party was carried in the Dáil tonight.

The Government won the no confidence motion by 83 votes to 73.

Ms Harney has come under intense pressure after a review of more than 3,000 mammograms at a midlands hospital revealed nine women were wrongly given the all clear for breast cancer.

Investigations are also ongoing into diagnosis blunders at public hospitals in Galway and Cork and a private facility in Limerick, causing distress to hundreds of women and plunging the country’s health system into crisis.

It is the second no confidence vote taken against the Government in the last six months.

In September, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern survived by 81 votes to 76 after opposition leader Enda Kenny of Fine Gael brought forward the motion over concerns about Mr Ahern’s personal finances.

The Taoiseach was grilled for four days that month by a public inquiry probing his finances while he was Minister for Finance in the mid-1990s.

During an at times heated debate in the Dáil tonight, a number of TDs joined with Mr Ahern in supporting Ms Harney.

Debate opened last night with calls from Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Labour for the Minister to stand down.

Mr Ahern said the Ms Harney had made herself accountable for what happened in both the House and to the Irish people.

“The Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney is accountable and has indeed given an account, both in this House last night and on other occasions and more generally to the public through the media,” he said.

The Taoiseach added Ms Harney was not to blame for the cancer crisis and highlighted her years of public service.

The Green Party also supported the embattled minister.

Leader John Gormley said sacking Ms Harney would not help improve the health system, but that a root and branch reform of the Health Service Executive (HSE) was needed.

“The main question is this. Will sacking the Minster improve the situation of these women or improve the health service?

“I think that if we are to answer the question in both cases and if we’re to be entirely truthful the answer is no,” he said.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Ms Harney had failed in her role.

“The Minister for Health has failed.

“Failed to lead our health service, failed to deliver on commitments made by this Government and ultimately failed those who use the health service and especially the women of the midlands,” he said.

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, who opened the motion last night, closed the debate.

He said patients were not getting the quality of health service they deserve and for which the tax payer is funding.

Tom Kitt, Government Chief Whip, confirmed Mr O'Keeffe had resigned the parliamentary party whip.

“I regret that Deputy O’Keeffe felt it necessary to resign the party whip.

“He has been a longstanding member of Fianna Fail, a great servant to his own electoral area of East Cork and hopefully he will be back in the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party in the future,” Mr Kitt said.