Dublin North East TD Tommy Broughan called Labour TDs to join him in opposition after he was expelled from the parliamentary party after voting against the Government in the Dáil today.
The issue was a procedural motion on the Order of Business as the Opposition demanded longer time to debate the extension for another year of the bank guarantee.
Later, he voted against the bank guarantee itself, which was extended by Fine Gael and Labour with the support of Fianna Fáil, by 99 votes to 30.
Labour party whip Emmet Stagg told Mr Broughan (64) that his decision to vote against the Government had automatically led to the removal of the Labour party whip from him.
In a statement later Mr Stagg said Mr Broughan’s actions “are regarded as a grievous breach of party discipline”.
The TD “has been expelled from the parliamentary Labour party with immediate effect”.
“What happened today is related to what’s going to happen on Monday and Tuesday. It is cause and effect and today is part of the cause for the reason that we are going to take €4 billion out of the economy,” Mr Broughan said after he refused to support the bank guarantee.
“I couldn’t stand over it. I believe in the interest of the people. That’s always been my strategy and I didn’t feel I could support that scheme.”
Mr Broughan suggested Labour would be better off in opposition. “I argued very strongly that we shouldn’t enter the Government. That we should lead the opposition with our nearly 40 seats,” he said.
I'm hoping that the 37 other Labour Party TDs will join me . . . and that we'll become a very strong opposition," he told RTÉ.
Mr Broughan joins two other former Government TDs, Labour minister of State Willie Penrose and former Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten on the independent benches.
Mr Naughten lost the party whip after he voted with the Opposition over the closure of the emergency department at Roscommon hospital.
Mr Penrose resigned over the proposed closure of Columb Barracks in Mullingar.
Mr Broughan's decision to vote against the Government is not unexpected. He voted against Labour going into coalition with Fine Gael and since the new Dáil was formed, has been critical of Government colleagues and a number of Government policies.
During the debate on the extension of the bank guarantee Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty described the move as the biggest and most expensive U-turn in Dáil history.
Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher said it was "one of the most breathtaking U-turns I’ve ever seen", and it showed the "absolute hypocrisy" of Fine Gael and Labour who had vehemently criticised the bank guarantee in opposition.
But Minister for Finance Michael Noonan accused Sinn Féin of “rewriting history” when Mr Doherty said his party voted against the guarantee.
The Minister said Mr Doherty was the Bart Simpson of the Dáil that "'we didn’t do it. Nobody told us'."
Mr Noonan said Sinn Féin, like Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil’s and independents voted on the basis of the information received at the time of the initial 2009 guarantee, that the crisis was a liquidity rather than a solvency issue.