GREEN PARTY chairman Senator Dan Boyle said last night that he did not have confidence in Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea, despite the motion of confidence in the Minister passed by the Dáil yesterday with the support of the Green TDs.
“As regards to Minister O’Dea, I don’t have confidence in him. His situation is compromised. Probably be a few chapters in this story yet,” Senator Boyle said on his Twitter site.
The Green Party chairman said he was not happy with how the matter had been dealt with yesterday.
“Not happy with what happened today,” he wrote on Twitter. “Believe we bounced into supporting motion. Next week would have been fine.”
The Green Party was only told of the decision to hold yesterday afternoon’s confidence motion a few hours before it took place.
Earlier, a meeting took place between party leader John Gormley and Mr O’Dea at which the Minister for Defence outlined his position.
Green Party TD Paul Gogarty said last night that while Mr O’Dea had not done himself any favours in terms of his overall behaviour, the substantive issue of whether he committed a serious offence that would warrant his resignation had not been established.
Earlier in the Dáil, the motion of confidence in Mr O’Dea was passed by 80 votes to 69 after almost two hours of debate.
Mr O’Dea told the Dáil he had made a “genuine and honest mistake” in failing to recall remarks he had made about Sinn Féin local election candidate Maurice Quinlivan. He later saw a transcript of the interview in which he had gone further than what had been quoted in a Limerick newspaper. “Having seen the transcript, I took the initiative. I went to my solicitor and immediately corrected my affidavit. I was not forced or pressed to do this. I did so of my own volition as I then knew that my original affidavit was wrong,” he said.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen attacked Fine Gael, saying party leader Enda Kenny was attempting to divert attention from his own difficulties.
Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan said a High Court judge had ruled in the case which had been settled with damages and costs paid by Mr O’Dea.
“That is the crucial issue: when there was a mistake in the affidavit and something that was not true, it was acknowledged in court, dealt with in court, accepted by the other party and reported in the media as such. It was quite some time ago and I do not have the exact details.”
Mr Kenny refused to accept this and pointed out that, in an earlier hearing, a High Court judge had made a decision based on Mr O’Dea’s false affidavit and that the mistake had only been corrected later when the transcript of a tape showed his original statement to be false.
“It is not simply about the Minister, Deputy O’Dea. This is an act of criminality against the laws of the State,” said Mr Kenny.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore also refused to accept Mr O’Dea’s explanation. “I am frankly amazed that the Taoiseach should seek to retain in Cabinet a man who wilfully committed perjury. If this happened in the neighbouring jurisdiction, a cabinet minister wouldn’t last until the end of the day.”
Mike Dwane, the Limerick Leaderjournalist whose report led to the controversy, said that Mr O'Dea's affidavit had effectively accused him of making up the allegation.
In an article for this morning’s edition of the paper, Mr Dwane said it was “extraordinary” that Mr O’Dea knew that the interview had been recorded but had never contacted him. He said what was recorded in the interview “made a nonsense of the High Court affidavit” sworn by the Minister and added that Mr O’Dea could not possibly have allowed the case to go to trial once he was aware of what was actually said.
“What he had deposed in a sworn affidavit was palpably untrue,” wrote Mr Dwane.