Quinlivan calls for O'Dea's resignation

The Sinn Féin councillor Maurice Quinlivan, who Defence Minister Willie O’Dea falsely linked with a Limerick property being used as a brothel, has called for Mr O’Dea to resign.

Mr Quinlivan said a Cabinet minister should not be making damaging remarks about a fellow politician.

Mr Quinlivan said: “The only victim in this is myself. The minister smeared me and he did not get away with it.

“If he’s the victim, he’s the victim of his own making.”

Mr Quinlivan urged Mr O’Dea to quit his Cabinet post.

“I think he should resign. I don’t think it’s acceptable for a Cabinet minister in the midst of a local election campaign to be smearing fellow politicians,” he said.

The minister denied in a sworn affidavit to the High Court ever making the claim but has since said he made a mistake in recollecting the interview and corrected the error when he realised.

He has also paid undisclosed libel damages over the slur, apologised today and retracted the remark.