The decision by two Fianna Fáil TDs to resign the party whip in protest at the closure of the breast cancer unit at Sligo General Hospital is not a disciplinary matter, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has said.
The move by Sligo-based TD Eamon Scanlon and his colleague Jimmy Devins means the Government now has only 82 assured votes in the Dáil with the combined non-Government vote also totalling 82, with Ceann Comhairle, John O’Donoghue, holding the casting vote.
Speaking at the launch this morning of the Employment Subsidy Scheme which will provide funding of €250 million to protect vulnerable jobs, the Tánaiste said the move was a "disappointment" but emphasised it was not a disciplinary matter.
“There’s an expectation when you join the parliamentary party or otherwise that you abide by the rules and if you’re not in a position to do so you step down from the whip", she said.
"That is the normal parliamentary process and as you know this has happened for many, many years where people have resigned the whip and have re-taken the whip. So, you know, it’s just a disappointment, I don’t see it as a, we’re not into a disciplinary situation.”
Ms Coughlan also said: “I think it’s important to say that the Taoiseach’s view of participation within the parliamentary party is based on principles. It’s based on loyalty.”
Earlier today, Eamon Scanlon said his resignation was in protest at the plan to transfer breast cancer services from Sligo to University College Hospital Galway but was not designed to bring down the Government.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Irelandprogramme, Mr Scanlon said his decision was not taken "lightly" and that he would from no on be voting in the best interests of the people who elected him.
Mr Scanlon insisted that holding a general election would not solve the problem at the hospital.
Lily McMorrow of Save our Cancer Services Sligo said the decision by the two TDs, while “brave”, would do little to keep breast cancer services at the hospital.
Ms McMorrow said:"All they're doing is resigning their whip. There is no concrete move to resume cancer services at Sligo Hospital.”
The election of Donegal South West TD, Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher, to the European Parliament in June has reduced the number of TDs in the Dáil to 165 until the vacancy is filled.
When the Government was formed after the 2007 general election, it enjoyed a majority of 13. That majority has been eliminated by the defection of four Fianna Fáil TDs and the Independent TD Finian McGrath, the death of former minister Seamus Brennan and Mr Gallagher’s election to Europe.
Only one of the four Fianna Fáil defectors, Joe Behan, has resigned completely from the party. The two who resigned yesterday and Dr Jim McDaid, who lost the whip last November over the withdrawal of cervical cancer screening, remain members of the organisation.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said last night he regretted the decision taken by the two deputies, saying it was not possible to resolve their grievance over the transfer of services from Sligo to Galway.
Mr Cowen said that both remained members of the Fianna Fáil party. “In that capacity I would hope and expect, in the current economic circumstances, they will be in a position to continue to support the Government in the many other important and necessary decisions which will have to be taken in the months and years ahead.”
Last night, however, Dr Devins said his support for the Government was not guaranteed.
“I am aware that we are in a serious situation and that there are very difficult decisions to be made,” he said, but continued: “I will look at every vote on its own merits.”
Though the resignations were separate, the move was co-ordinated to coincide with the closure of the unit in Sligo today.
It came after a series of contacts including a 90-minute meeting between both TDs and the Taoiseach last week, and phone calls between Dr Devins and Government Chief Whip Pat Carey over the bank holiday weekend.
Dr Devins, a former minister of state at the Department of Health, and Mr Scanlon, who has been a TD since 2007, separately wrote to Mr Carey yesterday informing him they were resigning from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party. It is understood that the third Oireachtas member in Sligo, Senator Marc MacSharry, is not resigning.
Dr Devins said he was resigning with huge reluctance but that the transfer of breast cancer services from Sligo to University College Hospital Galway was a “fundamentally wrong decision”. Similarly, Mr Scanlon said he was resigning the party whip with “great regret”.
The National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) has proposed the establishment of eight centres of excellence.
The Department of Health last night said that services in some 20 centres around the country had transferred to accommodate the eight centres of excellence and the only protest had come from those who supported the unit in Sligo.
The department also said that the NCCP strategy was supported by every breast surgeon with the exception of the surgeon who is based at Sligo General Hospital.