Taoiseach withdrew from their deal, says Cork deputy

Mr Ned O'Keeffe has accused the Taoiseach of withdrawing from a deal that would have transferred him to another junior ministry instead of resigning.

"The Taoiseach has withdrawn from everything, I have to admit, and the deal has gone by the board," Mr O'Keeffe told RTE on Saturday, after he announced his resignation as Minister of State with responsibility for food.

He said this deal had been struck with Mr Ahern before Christmas. "There was a further meeting last week in his office and he said to me: `You know, I'll be transferring you', so there was an arrangement."

Mr O'Keeffe insisted he had come under no pressure from Mr Ahern to resign.

He said he had tendered his resignation at 4 p.m. on Friday for two reasons: to concentrate on proving his innocence in the investigation by the Public Offices Commission, and to save embarrassment to the Taoiseach.

"He was getting a lot of badgering, he was being questioned and he was being annoyed, and it was getting very aggressive for him so I decided I didn't want to damage the Government and I didn't want to damage the Fianna Fail organisation," he said.

"Ned O'Keeffe is there to defend the Fianna Fail party and defend his Taoiseach and Government."

He said he was confident that an investigation into an alleged breach of ethics would exonerate him. The Public Offices Commission is investigating a claim by the Labour Party that Mr O'Keeffe failed to declare an interest in November when the Dail debated a motion calling for a meat-and-bonemeal ban.

The Labour Party argued that Mr O'Keeffe's family farm had a licence to feed meat-and-bonemeal to pigs and so he had a material interest in the vote.

He has since said he did not want to contest the motion brought by the Labour Party, but had no choice. "Ned O'Keeffe is the person being hung out to dry on this issue," he said.

The Cork East deputy also accused officials within Mr Ahern's Department of undermining him.

Claiming that one official rang him to encourage his resignation, he said: "He was looking for my head or even my whole body, and that was the attitude . . . This is why I'm worried about democracy and really worried about our democratic system when we have this kind of attitude and those kinds of gurus and those kinds of self-styled generals, unelected people, working in departments, who think they have the right."

These unelected advisers and officials should take up the challenge and run for election, Mr O'Keeffe said.

He predicted an early general election due to factors such as the world economy and the difficulties in the beef industry, which would rule out a giveaway budget.

"An early general election is on the cards, and don't let anyone try to tell you anything else . . . I don't see for the life of me any going beyond the next few months with no general election," he said.

Anne Lucey adds:

A ploughing match in Co Kerry yesterday afternoon turned out to be Mr O'Keeffe's first official disengagement.

The Abbeydorney Ploughing Association, founded in 1856, was still expecting its guest of honour to show up until midway through the event when a spokeswoman from his Department rang to cancel his appearance.