WILLIE O’DEA came to his own conclusion that he must resign from the Cabinet independently and without coercion from him or the Green Party, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said yesterday.
Mr Cowen said Mr O'Dea first indicated he was willing to resign shortly after his interview with Seán O'Rourke on RTÉ's News at Oneprogramme on Thursday.
Mr Cowen also insisted yesterday that the crisis had not damaged the Government, although he said it was “a controversy we could have done without”.
He said that the relationship with the Green Party and its leader John Gormley remained “excellent” and predicted that the Government would last its full term.
Speaking in Navan, Co Meath during a visit to Tara Mines yesterday, Mr Cowen said Mr O’Dea contacted his office and they had a discussion, and suggested Mr O’Dea was already moving towards a decision to step down by the time he and Mr Gormley discussed the matter later on Thursday evening.
Asked whether some backbenchers thought the Greens had taken Mr O’Dea out, Mr Cowen replied: “They don’t think that at all, frankly. I understand that Willie O’Dea himself had indicated to me he was considering his position in the light of developments and he was anxious not to become a focus of attention and be a distraction from the work of Government.
“Obviously, myself and John Gormley had a meeting later that evening and myself and Willie O’Dea discussed it as well.
“It had already been indicated to me by Willlie O’Dea that he was very much of the view that he did not want his presence in Government to become a matter of instability for Government.”
Asked had he himself come to the same conclusion after the News at One interview, Mr Cowen replied: “As I say, contact was made to my office by the Minister to say he wanted to reflect on the situation. I wanted to give him space and time to reflect over those hours and to consult with colleagues and to listen to what they say as well. It’s important that these matters be done in a proper and appropriate way.”
Mr Cowen also rejected the contention that his decision to go ahead with the confidence motion on Wednesday was a strategic error. “I want to be clear about this. A motion of no confidence was put down by the Opposition. It’s the tradition to take up that challenge immediately and not leave that degree of uncertainty about any member of Government and leave that [matter] lying for any degree of time,” said Mr Cowen.
When it was put to him that Mr Gormley had criticised delays in informing the Green whip Ciarán Cuffe about the bringing forward of the confidence motion that day, the Taoiseach said that he was unaware of any problem until now.
“We did not leave the [Dáil] chamber until the Order of Business was over at 12.40pm. The chief whip accompanies me in the chamber for the Order of Business as you know. We informed our Green Party colleagues as soon as possible thereafter.”