Labour leader calls on Harney to resign

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has called on Health Minister Mary Harney to resign.

Eamon Gilmore said Mary Harney is "a politician without a party and a Minister without vision".

His comments follow a week of controversy over spending on expenses bills at the State's training agency FÁS.

It emerged that the agency paid for a wash-and-blow-dry hair do for Minister Harney during a trip to Florida in the US in 2004.

Speaking at the Labour Party's annual conference last night, Eamon Gilmore said Minister Harney should resign because she has failed in her current role - and he blamed any excessive spending in FÁS on the Government.