GREEN PARTY TD Paul Gogarty has suggested that Fianna Fáil members of the cabinet were kept “in the dark” about the level of discussions taking place between Ireland and representatives from the EU and IMF.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning, Gogarty suggested that some ministers weren’t fully briefed on the nature of the talks taking place, referencing Batt O’Keeffe’s denial that any discussions were taking place and suggesting that O’Keeffe simply hadn’t been told what talks were taking place.
Discussions between Green leader John Gormley and the Taoiseach Brian Cowen had been described as “jesuitical”, Gogarty said, and had laboured the point of ”when is a discussion not a bailout”.
Gogarty also admitted his party faces electoral slaughter in the upcoming general elections – but said he doesn’t believe his party will lose all six of its seats in the Dáil.
Going into the election with six seats, Gogarty believed the party could hope to retain four – or, as a worst case scenario, remain with just a single TD, acknowledging the significant public frustration at how the party had supported a massively unpopular Fianna Fáil government.
The Dublin Mid-West TD added that he genuinely felt there was genuine confusion among members of the cabinet about the level of discussion taking place between Ireland and the EU and IMF before the government formally acknowledged that bailout talks were underway.
The party had made its decision to withdraw from government at a meeting of the parliamentary party on Saturday, he told Ryan Tubridy, after having “an internal debate about the situation and what we thought was going to be done”, and had initially intended to announce its decision on Sunday evening.
When it became clear that Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan were to announce an application for a bailout at that time, Gogarty said, the party instead chose to delay the announcement until Monday morning.
Gogarty also responded to criticism about his choice to bring his daughter Daisy (19 months) with him to yesterday’s statement, saying that her grandmother ordinarily acts as a childminder on Mondays, but was unavailable yesterday. Rather than leaving her with a stranger, therefore, he decided to take care of her himself.
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