CRITICISM OF Fianna Fáil over the Government’s handling of the crisis in the Quinn Group was not deserved, two senior Ministers said yesterday.
Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey strongly defended the response of Government, including its actions following the announcement of 900 job losses in Quinn Insurance.
E-mails sent to Fianna Fáil TDs in Cavan-Monaghan, including Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, have claimed that they let employees down by their inaction and their lack of intervention.
“I think any criticism of Fianna Fáil in relation to this is undeserved,” said Mr Dempsey in rejecting those contentions.
Ms Coughlan and Mr Dempsey were speaking in Trim, Co Meath, the venue of one of two Fianna Fáil regional conferences held over the course of the weekend.
The future of the Quinn companies, which incorporate insurance, construction, glass and hospitality businesses, was one of the dominant themes of yesterday’s conference. Many hundreds of people living in Co Meath work at company offices in Navan, Blanchardstown, and Cavan.
Ms Coughlan said job losses were unfortunate, but that the administrators were appointed by the court with a brief to ensure the viability of the company. They had to make their decisions on that basis, she said.
In her speech to the meeting, attended by several hundred party activists, Ms Coughlan acknowledged that the situation had caused anxiety for many families.
“We’re all shocked at the level of redundancies required by the administration and the wind-down of the loss-making UK business,” she said.
She asserted that the earmarking of significant funds and the appointment of Dan Flinter to head a group looking at replacement jobs, and the possibilities of retraining and upskilling workers, showed how serious the Government considered the matter.
Ms Coughlan defended the Government’s record in the years preceding the global financial crash in 2008 and its handling of the crisis since then, telling the meeting that Ireland could not be compared to Greece.
“Had we not acted, had we not remained firmly on the path this Government set itself, Ireland today would be in a much weaker position,” she said.
Ms Coughlan said that the regional meetings allowed the party to share its key messages on public finance, on the banks and on its strategy for the next general election.
Speaking in Roscommon on Saturday, Mr Dempsey and Minister of State for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary both accused the Labour Party of posturing on the Croke Park pay agreement.
Mr Calleary said the Labour Party’s refusal to express an opinion on the pay agreement was unacceptable.
“Wanting to be everything to every person is not leadership. It’s populist politics.
“To say that the [agreement] is none of their business is a cop out for Labour,” he said.
Mr Dempsey portrayed the Labour leader as sitting on the fence on every issue and as a result having “many splinters in his backside”.
In response to the remarks, Jack O’Connor, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, urged politicians in all parties to refrain from commenting on the proposed Croke Park agreement on public service reform while staff are balloting on the plan.
“Attempts to make a political football out of the issue do it a great disservice,” he said.