The constituency secretary to Ivor Callely has claimed the Minister of State offered him a personal gift of a new car this week in a vain effort to persuade him not to resign.
Niall Phelan, who gave a month's notice of his intention to resign this week, wrote to Mr Callely on Wednesday referring to this offer. He said it was made at a meeting in a coffee shop on Wednesday morning, the day after he had sent his resignation letter to the Minister of State.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said yesterday that the question of the offer of a car was "a private matter between the Minister of State and his personal assistant". There was no question that the department would pay for this car - a point acknowledged by Mr Phelan in his letter when he refers to the offer as being of a "personal gift" from Mr Callely. The department said it had "no level of awareness" of the matter.
The full circumstances leading to Mr Phelan's resignation have still not been made public. His letter of resignation, seen yesterday by The Irish Times, said: "There are now overwhelming factors supporting my course of action." Sources in the department say Mr Phelan had been deeply unhappy for some time, and did not like Mr Callely's "style of management".
It was confirmed yesterday that several civil servants - possibly four - have also recently sought transfers out of Mr Callely's office. His private secretary also resigned a fortnight ago, saying she had objected to being told to attend a political function, although civil servants of her rank are debarred from attending such events.
Mr Phelan sent his letter of resignation to Mr Callely on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning he met Mr Callely. He wrote to Mr Callely again that afternoon referring to this meeting and to the offer of a car."
In his initial resignation letter he said: "I have made this decision with regret as I am very conscious of our long and close association. However, I believe that there are now overwhelming factors supporting my course of action. My decision is irrevocable." Mr Callely and Mr Phelan declined to comment yesterday.
Letter to Minister
"I refer to our meeting at 09.10 hrs this morning at Javaholics Coffee Shop, when you requested me to reconsider my decision of yesterday afternoon to resign my position as your Personal Assistant.
"As I stated to you during our meeting this morning your offer today to personally gift me a new car to encourage me to remain on in my role is wholly inappropriate. In my view you should not have made such an offer and I reject it utterly.
"My decision to resign from my role is, as already stated, irrevocable and I have no wish to receive further representations or offers from you in an attempt to dissuade me from this course. The reasons for my resignation were clearly set out in my conversation with you yesterday afternoon and in my e-mail to you transmitted at 15.07 hrs."