Greens deputy leader blasts de Burca

Green Party deputy leader Mary White has described as "deplorable" the behaviour of Deirdre de Burca, who resigned this week from the Senate and from the party saying she believed it had become an extension of Fianna Fail.

Carlow TD Ms White in a letter to Green Party members today said the criticism levelled by Ms de Burca at party leader John Gormley was scathing, unfair and totally groundless.

She also accused Ms de Burca of threatening to damage the party if she did not secure a senior job in the EU.

Ms de Burca announced on Friday that she was resigning from the parliamentary party and the Seanad saying that the party had lost its integrity while in Government with Fianna Fáil.

But Deputy White said her decision was driven by her failure to secure a senior EU post in Brussels as a member of Commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn's advisory team.

"It is a simple fact that Deirdre’s behaviour was driven by her failure to secure a senior EU post in Brussels," the letter read.

"It is less known that she threatened John Gormley and her party colleagues that she would set out to damage the party if she did not get that job.

"It saddens me to say that I have found her behaviour to be deplorable."

Deputy White said the party had publicly backed her candidature for the role on Ms Geoghegan Quinn's staff, but that the newly-designated Commissioner for Research and Innovation "had other plans".