DUBLIN NORTH East TD Tommy Broughan has urged other Labour TDs to join him on the Opposition benches following his expulsion from the parliamentary party.
Mr Broughan said he would like to see all of the other Labour TDs lining up with him in opposing elements of the Government’s economic policy.
He told The Irish Timeshe had opposed going into government last March because he feared the Coalition would engage in a rerun of the Fianna Fáil approach to the economy, and those fears had been proven correct. Mr Broughan said he didn't doubt the sincerity of the Government but he couldn't accept budget cuts of €4 billion next week.
The TD was promptly expelled from the parliamentary Labour Party shortly after his initial vote against the Government in the Dáil yesterday morning.
It followed his vote with the Opposition on a procedural motion seeking more time for debate on a Government motion extending the bank guarantee for another year. The TD later voted against the motion, which was opposed by the Labour Party when introduced by the previous government in the autumn of 2008.
Labour Party chief whip, Deputy Emmet Stagg, informed Mr Broughan that his decision to vote against the Government had automatically led to the removal of the party whip.
“His actions today are regarded as a grievous breach of party discipline and he has been expelled from the parliamentary Labour Party with immediate effect,” said Mr Stagg in a statement.
Mr Broughan became the third TD to leave the Government benches since the formation of the Coalition. He joins party colleague Willie Penrose and former Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten on the Opposition side of the Dáil.
The 64-year-old Mr Broughan has been in regular conflict with the leadership of his party since he was elected to the Dáil in 1992, although he served as the party’s deputy whip for a considerable period.
He first lost the party whip in 1994 during the Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition when he came into conflict with the government over the decision to sell Team Aer Lingus, but he returned when that coalition collapsed at the end of 1994. He was appointed deputy party whip in 2002 and again in 2007 but clashed with the party in July 2009 when he refused to vote against a government Bill giving gardaí extra powers to deal with gangland crime.
A year later he refused to vote against the Wildlife Bill containing the ban on stag hunting proposed by the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government.
