Fine Gael is to table a motion of no confidence in Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea after he gave a personal statement to the Dáil this evening regarding a sworn affidavit he made in defamation proceedings that he later admitted was untrue.
Mr O’Dea has been under mounting pressure to clarify how he denied in a sworn statement in April 2009 that he told a journalist the previous month that a Limerick Sinn Féin candidate Maurice Quinlivan owned a property in the city where two prostitutes had been recently arrested.
When the journalist’s recording of the interview was later produced, Mr O’Dea admitted he had made a false statement in the affidavit.
Mr O’Dea gave his “personal explanation” of the circumstances behind his affidavit to the Dáil shortly before 7pm this evening in which he defended his position but admitted he had made a mistake.
“There has been much ill-informed, unfounded and mischievous comment in recent days,” the minister said.
“What has appeared has been comment masquerading as facts.”
The Limerick TD denied he had lied while under oath and said he had moved to rectify the situation as soon as he realised he had made the mistake.
“When I later saw a transcript of the interview I saw that I had, contrary to my recollection, gone further in what I had said and what had been quoted in the newspaper,” Mr O’Dea said.
“I took the initiative. I went to my solicitor and immediately corrected my affidavit. I was not forced or pressed to do this. I did so of my own volition as I then knew that my original affidavit was wrong.
“I openly acknowledged and apologised for my own mistake and agreed a settlement in which the other party accepted that there was no intention to mislead.”
He said court evidence and testimony are routinely corrected without allegations and assertions of lying and perjury being levelled.
Speaking shortly afterwards, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny told the Dáil that it was his intention to propose a motion of no confidence in the Limerick minister.
Earlier, and during a heated session of Taoiseach’s questions, Opposition leaders repeatedly pressed Mr Cowen about when he was first informed about the matter.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked the Taoiseach when the issue was brought to his attention by the Government’s communications unit, and if he was satisfied that the code of conduct pertaining to ministerial office had not been breached by Mr O’Dea.
Mr Kenny asked if Mr Cowen was happy that there was not “a person sitting at his Cabinet that may be guilty of perjury”.
Mr Cowen said he did not recall being informed about the matter last December by the communications unit, but he believed Mr O’Dea had been acting in a private capacity when he made the affidavit, and had not been in breach of any ministerial code of conduct.
The Fianna Fáil leader said he was confident that Mr O‘Dea’s statement would “clear the matter up”.
Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin questioned why such a “serious issue” had not been brought to the Taoiseach’s attention by the communications unit.
“We have a situation where a minister wrongly damns a citizen in the full throes of an election,” he said.
But Ceann Comhairle Séamus Kirk said he would not allow a debate on the matter develop as it was contrary to Dáil procedures.
With the matter coming under renewed and increasing scrutiny over the past week, the Minister’s spokesman yesterday said that Mr O’Dea has spoken to Taoiseach Brian Cowen about the matter and will have “no difficulty” in making a full statement to the Dáil, if the matter is raised by the Opposition.
Mr O’Dea has denied perjury in the case. He has told The Irish Times: “I apologised. I put my hands up. I made a mistake.”
In the Limerick Chronicle on March 10th last year, Mr O'Dea responded to criticism by Mr Quinlivan of the high cost of having six civil servants working for the Minister on constituency matters.
“I suppose I’m going a bit too far when I say this, but I would like to ask Mr Quinlivan is the brothel still closed,” the article quoted Mr O’Dea as saying.
In other sections of the recording, which did not appear in the article, Mr O’Dea elaborated on his claim: “Do you know the brothel they found in his name and in his brother’s name down in Clancy Strand?” he asked journalist Mike Dwane.
He continued: “There was a house owned by him that was rented out and they found two ladies of the night operating in there in the last couple of weeks.”
Mr Quinlivan brought proceedings against Mr O’Dea. In an affidavit sworn on April 14th, Mr O’Dea stated: “I most categorically and emphatically deny that I said to Mr Dwane that the plaintiff was the owner of the said apartment,” he said. However, when the recording was produced, Mr O’Dea withdrew the affidavit.
He later apologised in court for making the statements, and then denying having made them, during the proceedings.