THE TAOISEACH won a vote of confidence in his leadership at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party last night.
Brian Cowen’s challenger Micheál Martin resigned from the Cabinet immediately after the vote was announced. His resignation was accepted by the Taoiseach.
Both men later expressed their regard for each other maintaining that the party was unified going into the general election.
Mr Cowen said later that he was very pleased at the outcome. “My view that it was the view of the party that I should stay on as leader of the party has been vindicated and confirmed by the vote this evening at the parliamentary party meeting,” he said.
Mr Cowen said that neither he nor Mr Martin thought less of each other because of what happened and he pledged to use the talents of the Cork South Central TD in the election.
The former minister for foreign affairs said after the meeting that he and the Taoiseach had agreed last weekend that he would not step down ahead of the meeting because of the destabilising effect it would have on Government. However, he said that both agreed that he would resign if the challenge to Mr Cowen did not succeed.
“It is incompatible with staying in office. It is a fundamental principle. It was the proper thing to do and the honourable course of action to take,” he said.
“I was clear that I would insist on my resignation if my views did not prevail in the vote.”
Green Party leader John Gormley and some of his party colleagues will meet the Taoiseach and Government Chief Whip John Curran today to discuss the outcome of the confidence vote.
In a statement, the Green Party said it would discuss a timetable for passing the Finance Bill and outstanding legislation as well as the timing of a general election.
The outcome of last night’s vote was not disclosed and the ballot papers were shredded after they were counted by tellers Rory O’Hanlon and Michael Moynihan.
Before the meeting, 41 of the party’s 71 TDs had pledged to vote confidence in Mr Cowen, 14 said they were voting against and 16 would not say.
Mr Cowen opened the debate at 5.45pm and spoke for more than 20 minutes on the motion which he had tabled for the meeting. It took place in the Fianna Fáil rooms in Leinster House.
While that speech was described as “low key”, Mr Cowen made a strong defence of his personal reputation in his winding-up speech.
Mr Martin was the second speaker and made what colleagues described as “an impassioned speech” explaining why he was voting against the motion.
He said Fianna Fáil faced huge losses in the forthcoming election as the party had lost credibility with voters and needed radical change at the top.
Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin told colleagues she would vote in accordance with what she had said to the Taoiseach in their private conversation about the leadership.
Ms Hanafin did not disclose what she had said in that conversation although it is widely believed she told him he should stand down.
One of the strongest speakers against the motion was Kildare South TD Seán Power who said he did not believe Mr Cowen “could do in eight weeks what he couldn’t do in two years”.
Earlier, Minister For Finance Brian Lenihan declared his support for Mr Cowen, saying the Taoiseach was the best person to lead the party, into the election despite “lapses in judgment” at the Galway meeting of the parliamentary party last September and his golf game with Seán FitzPatrick.
A number of Fianna Fáil backbenchers – Seán Power, John McGuinness and Michael Kennedy – expressed surprise at Mr Lenihan’s announcement, claiming that he had given them a different message in recent weeks.
Asked about conversations he had with TDs, Mr Lenihan said: “I made it clear at all stages that I was very flattered at their interest in me being leader of the party . . . but made it clear that current financial matters made it impossible for me to disrupt the good working relationship.”
The Labour Party spokesman on constitutional issues Brendan Howlin said that while Mr Cowen may have survived at leader of Fianna Fáil, the events of the past week had removed any remaining shred of credibility that his Government may have had.
“It is clear that Mr Cowen no longer enjoys the confidence of a significant number of his own backbenchers and an unknown number of his Cabinet colleagues and has now lost the services of one of his most senior Ministers,” Mr Howlin added.
“In addition, it is evident that many Fianna Fáil backbenchers are incensed by what they regard as the duplicitous behaviour of Brian Lenihan.”
