Greens undermined my authority over 2011 reshuffle, says Cowen

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen has said he chose to resign when the Green Party revolted over a planned reshuffle in 2011, saying that it had undermined his authority.

In a new book called Hell at the Gates, the former Fianna Fáil leader said he had decided to refresh the cabinet, which prompted the Green Party to withdraw its support and an election was called.

Mr Cowen said: “My authority had been undermined. I was constitutionally entitled to do what I was doing,” he said, “I was left in a position where I couldn’t do what I wanted to do: you can’t lead a government on that basis.”

Political capital

Defending his actions in office after the crash, Mr Cowen said: “Certainly I would have hoped that it was not as hard as it was, but there was no political capital to be gained in doing what we had to do.”

His wife and two daughters had suffered abuse, but they were strong enough to counter personal attacks, he said.

“The public debate was getting very personal and things were being said that I didn’t like being said.

“One of my kids was in college; she was well able to look after herself. One was at home [in school in Offaly]. Of course it was challenging. They may have gotten a bit, a little bit [of verbal abuse] but nothing they couldn’t handle.”

The book by John Lee and Daniel McConnell examines the financial crisis in Ireland, interviewing key figures including Mr Cowen, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and former governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan.

Mr Honohan said former European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet had treated Ireland like “a recalcitrant child”, but he was within his rights to threaten to withdraw funding if Ireland had burned bondholders.

Defending his decision to confirm Ireland's request for a bailout on RTÉ's Morning Ireland in September 2008, Mr Honohan said the ECB was "jumping up and down". He said: "I needed to try to stem the uncertainty and the panic."