On the 6th November last I went to the Taoiseach to advise him of my intention of not standing in the next election. At that meeting I raised the matter of my stepping down as Minister of State.
I was immediately told by the Taoiseach to carry on with the job in hand. I suggested that a time limit should be set for my stepping down as Minister of State.
The Taoiseach and I agreed that I would vacate that position in December 2006.
To suggest that the Taoiseach was signalling for me to resign when he talked about the tradition in the party is a complete fallacy.
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The Taoiseach and I are friends for many years and we had an agreement on this issue dating back to 6th November 2005.