THE SURPRISE defection of two Fianna Fáil TDs has left the Government in a precarious position in the Dáil, where it no longer enjoys a majority.
The party’s two TDs in the Sligo-North Leitrim constituency, Jimmy Devins and Eamon Scanlon, both announced yesterday that they were resigning in protest at the closure of the breast cancer unit at Sligo General Hospital today.
The development means that, technically, the Government no longer has a Dáil majority.
With the loss of the two Sligo-based TDs, it now has only 82 assured votes in the Dáil with the combined non-Government vote also totalling 82, with Ceann Comhairle, John O’Donoghue, holding the casting vote.
The election of Donegal South West TD, Pat the Cope Gallagher, to the European Parliament in June has reduced the number of TDs in the Dáil to 165 until the vacancy is filled.
When the Coalition Government was formed after the 2007 general election, it enjoyed a majority of 13. That majority has been eliminated by the defection of four Fianna Fáil TDs and the Independent TD Finian McGrath, the death of former minister Seamus Brennan and Mr Gallagher’s election to Europe.
Only one of the four Fianna Fáil defectors, Joe Behan, has resigned completely from the party. The two who resigned yesterday and Dr Jim McDaid, who lost the whip last November over the withdrawal of cervical cancer screening, remain members of the organisation.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said last night he regretted the decision taken by the two deputies, saying it was not possible to resolve their grievance over the transfer of services from Sligo to Galway.
Mr Cowen said that both remained members of the Fianna Fáil party. “In that capacity I would hope and expect, in the current economic circumstances, they will be in a position to continue to support the Government in the many other important and necessary decisions which will have to be taken in the months and years ahead.”
Last night, however, Dr Devins said his support for the Government was not guaranteed.
“I am aware that we are in a serious situation and that there are very difficult decisions to be made,” he said, but continued: “I will look at every vote on its own merits.”
Though the resignations were separate, the move was co-ordinated to coincide with the closure of the unit in Sligo today.
It came after a series of contacts including a 90-minute meeting between both TDs and the Taoiseach last week, and phone calls between Dr Devins and Government Chief Whip Pat Carey over the bank holiday weekend.
Dr Devins, a former minister of state at the Department of Health, and Mr Scanlon, who has been a TD since 2007, separately wrote to Mr Carey yesterday informing him they were resigning from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party. It is understood that the third Oireachtas member in Sligo, Senator Marc MacSharry, is not resigning.
Dr Devins said he was resigning with huge reluctance but that the transfer of breast cancer services from Sligo to University College Hospital Galway was a “fundamentally wrong decision”. Similarly, Mr Scanlon said he was resigning the party whip with “great regret”.
The National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) has proposed the establishment of eight centres of excellence.
The Department of Health last night said that services in some 20 centres around the country had transferred to accommodate the eight centres of excellence and the only protest had come from those who supported the unit in Sligo.
The department also said that the NCCP strategy was supported by every breast surgeon with the exception of the surgeon who is based at Sligo General Hospital.