Minister of State Ivor Callely has lost yet another key member of his staff, and a number of others have recently sought transfers out of his office, it emerged yesterday.
Mr Callely's constituency secretary Niall Phelan (27) gave a month's notice on Tuesday to Mr Callely, the Minister of State for Transport.
In a separate letter to several senior figures in the department yesterday, Mr Phelan said Mr Callely tried yesterday morning to persuade him to withdraw his resignation but that his decision was final.
Mr Phelan would not comment on the matter yesterday.
However, other sources in the department said Mr Phelan had been deeply unhappy working for Mr Callely for some time. They said he had not liked his "style of management" but declined to elaborate.
A department spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that Mr Phelan had given his notice, but would not explain the background.
Mr Phelan is a political appointee rather than a civil servant. Ministers and Ministers of State are entitled to appoint non-civil servants to certain positions. They are contracted to the Minister's department only for the duration of that Minister's term of office.
Mr Phelan is a Fianna Fáil member, and has been active in Mr Callely's constituency since 1997. He was appointed as a personal assistant to run the constituency office in 2002 when Mr Callely first became Minister of State.
The precise reasons for this resignation are not connected to that of Mr Callely's private secretary, Una McDermott, less than a fortnight ago.
Ms McDermott resigned after Mr Callely asked her to attend a function which she saw as political. Civil servants above the rank of clerical officer are debarred from attending political functions, and it is understood that the department accepted Ms McDermott's view. She is now working elsewhere in the department.
Reliable sources said yesterday that several other civil servants had recently applied for transfers out of Mr Callely's office.
The department spokeswoman would not comment on this, saying such matters were internal personnel issues.
Mr Callely's next private secretary will be his third since he moved to the department from Health in last autumn's Government reshuffle.
As a Minister of State for Health from 2002 to 2004 he had three successive private secretaries.
The Department of Health pointed out yesterday that "private secretaries leave Ministers' offices for various reasons" such as "operational matters in the department" or for personal reasons.
Attempts to contact Mr Callely yesterday were unsuccessful. He refused to comment last week on Ms McDermott's resignation.