Shortall exit could be cure that kills
Ms Shortall’s supporters insist Eamon Gilmore moved to cut her loose following her incendiary contribution to last week’s Dáil debate on whether James Reilly was fit for high office.
Her terse four-minute speech — effectively a four-minute warning of the bust-up to come — bristled with frustration at the slow pace of health service reform under Dr Reilly.
Many Labour deputies were sympathetic to Ms Shortall’s well-argued critique — even if the very public nature of its airing caused some unease — but the party machine warned them off taking to the airwaves to defend her in a deliberate snub that deeply angered the junior minister.
Dark mutterings about leadership negotiating a deal with Fine Gael over the concessions they would receive if they turfed Ms Shortall out began to surface at the weekend, but a swell of grassroot support for her stalled any direct action from Gilmore.
A meeting billed as “peace talks” between the warring parties on Monday night was little more than window-dressing that would presage the inevitable exit.
The 30-minute face-off soon descended into a “tense and difficult” exchange of views as Dr Reilly again refused to shed much light on his criteria for tampering with Ms Shortall’s shortlist of planned primary care centres — adding two sites in his constituency to the five places added.
Thwarted within the department and cut adrift by Labour leadership without, the end was inevitable, and Ms Shortall’s resignation statement drips with frustration at the way she feels she has been treated.
“It is no longer possible for me to fulfil my role because of a lack of support for the reforms in the Programme for Government and the values that underpin it.
“The public have a right to expect that decisions on health infrastructure and staffing will be made in the public interest based on health need and not driven by other concerns,” she announced with pointed swipes at both Dr Reilly and Mr Gilmore.
Ms Shortall’s semi-detachment was underscored during Leader’s Questions on Tuesday when she was noticeably missing as the opposition pounced to exploit the open warfare in health policy.
An unusually downcast Dr Reilly was accompanied into the Dáil by an equally glum-looking Labour junior health minister Kathleen Lynch — Shortall’s absence speaking volumes.
The festering sore in the health department may be bandaged over for now, but Mr Gilmore risks wider contagion from the wound.
Free of the Labour parliamentary whip, Ms Shortall can become a lightening rod conductor for the widespread discontent within the party at the many compromises and precious few victories secured in coalition with Fine Gael.
With what Taoiseach Enda Kenny describes as the worst budget the Government will face during its intended five-year term just weeks away, Ms Shortall will have the freedom, experience, and gravitas to articulate and direct the anger that many Labour voters — and an increasing number of backbench TDs — feel about the direction of the Coalition.
The fuse has been burning down to Ms Shortall’s explosive walk-out for so long that the failure of either Dr Reilly or the Tánaiste to prevent the detonation leaves the Coalition shaken and both men dangerously exposed.
Labour moved with ruthless immediacy to wipe any trace of Ms Shortall from the official party website’s list of TDs last night — but in reality Mr Gilmore will not be rid of her that easily.
A tough-talking, no-nonsense politician in opposition, Róisín Shortall did not tone down her stubborn streak to operate within the constraints of coalition government.
But the traits that would have made her a genuinely reforming minister also contributed to clashes with her equally stubborn senior colleague, Dr James Reilly, that ultimately turned out impossible to resolve.
In last year’s general election Ms Shortall got the highest vote share of any Labour candidate and succeeded in helping running-mate John Lyons over the line to win two seats for the party in Dublin North West.
This, as well as being one of the party’s most effective media performers during the election campaign, might have legitimately entitled her to a full cabinet position.
As spokesperson on social protection in opposition, she strongly opposed the closure of the Combat Poverty Agency. She also hit out at “elitist” plans to extend Seanad voting rights for university graduates.
As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, Ms Shortall challenged the €1.1m payoff to former Fás boss, Rody Molly.
It was not surprising then that, in the days running up to the unveiling of the cabinet in 2011, colleagues had been talking up her chances, and her abilities. But it was not to be and she had to settle for a seat on the junior benches.
Her proposal to ban alcohol sponsorship was met with a cool reaction among her colleagues in Government, including Dr Reilly and some in her own party.
In April Ms Shortall indicated brewing divisions between Fine Gael and Labour on the issue of abortion. She said there were “issues and challenges” which society must address.
It was not to be her only pointed Dáil speech. Just last week she issued a thinly veiled rebuke of Dr Reilly during a no-confidence motion against him tabled by Fianna Fáil.
One of Ms Shortall’s stated priorities was the development of primary care centres with areas of deprivation being given priority.
Her initial proposal — to convert State properties, such as Garda stations — into care centres was publicly criticised by developer, AJ Noonan, a Fine Gael donor whose company, Rhonellen Developments, was chosen to develop a centre in Balbriggan.
The addition of this location, along with one other in Dr Reilly’s constituency, appeared to have been the final straw in the relationship between the two.
Róisín Shortall is the fifth person to lose their Government party whip during its tenure.
* July 2011: Fine Gael’s Denis Naughten was the first to go, four months in. He voted against the decision to close the emergency & department in Roscommon Hospital.
* Nov 2011: Labour’s Willie Penrose was the first Cabinet casualty. The housing minister quit over plans to close the army barracks in Mullingar.
* Dec 2011: Less than a month after his Labour colleague departed, Tommy Broughan’s expulsion came after he voted twice with the opposition.
* Dec 2011: Less than a week later, and 41 days after he won a by-election, Patrick Nulty said he would vote against parts of the budget, ensuring his loss of the party whip.
Statement of resignation as Minister of State with responsibility for Primary Care at the Department of Health:
“It is with regret that I have today tendered my resignation as minister of state at the Department of Health to An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. I have also informed the Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, that I am resigning the Parliamentary Labour Party whip.
“It is no longer possible for me to fulfil my role as minister of state for primary care because of lack of support for the reforms in the Programme for Government and the values which underpin it.
“The public have a right to expect that decisions on health infrastructure and staffing will be made in the public interest based on health need and not driven by other concerns.
“This decision comes after repeated and lengthy efforts to reach agreement on the implementation of the Programme for Government both within the Department of Health and across Government.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
