On the basis of established behaviour, Minister of State for Training and Skills John Halligan finds participation in a Fine Gael-led Government so uncomfortable that he will eventually find a compelling reason to leave it. The Independent Waterford politician has, on four separate occasions, raised the prospect of bringing down the minority Government and has required intensive soothing by his Alliance colleagues. At this stage, understanding and political wriggle room are in short supply.
Having made his name through left-wing activism, Mr Halligan is in a cold place. On the day he voted to elect Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, he received a letter of comfort from Michael Noonan in which the Minister for Finance agreed to fund additional cardiac services at Waterford University Hospital "subject to a favourable recommendation from a clinical review". It provided local cover for participating in Government and he referred to it repeatedly while causing problems for Fine Gael on a number of controversial issues.
Soon after the Government was formed, Mr Halligan raised the prospect of supporting a Sinn Féin motion on water charges. He then changed his mind. Support for Mick Wallace’s Bill on abortion was subsequently offered in the teeth of Constitutional advice. Last week, following the EU ruling on Apple, he favoured spending the money and wanted the Dáil, rather than the Government, to decide on strategy. Once again, a change of mind was linked to hospital improvements. It represented ongoing political instability.
Rejection by an independent clinical review of proposals for a second catheterisation laboratory in Waterford undermined Mr Halligan’s pet political project and led to lengthy meetings with the Minister for Health – only concluding late last night – as efforts were made to find a compromise. In time, if those concessions disappoint Mr Halligan and he resigns, it may not – as he suggests – cause the Government to collapse. Fatigue arising from his behaviour is not confined to Fine Gael ministers. Quiet efforts are being made to locate a more reliable replacement.