THE Fine Gael TD for Laois Offaly, Mr Charles Flanagan, has contrasted the resignations of two Fine Gael ministers with the refusal of the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, to do so. She issued invitations to a £100 a head fund raising dinner at which the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, would be a guest.
Asked on RTE's Questions and Answers last night if she should resign, Mr Flanagan said: "As a Government backbencher I don't think it would be wise for me to answer the question directly, but I would be very concerned at what Eithne Fitzgerald has done."
He added that it was very unfair to compare what Ms Fitzgerald had done with the action of the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, in issuing invitations to a fundraising meal.
"Eithne Fitzgerald issued an invitation to treat . . she invited people to a briefing session with the Minister for Finance in advance of publication of the Finance Bill at a cost of £100."
Mr Flanagan said that every political party had issued invitations to contribute to funds and have a meal. But, he added: "I haven't seen a case where it was stated there would be a rare opportunity to discuss matters of such relevance to a Minister. I think that is the misdemeanour involved.
"I think it must be looked at, John (Bowman), in the context of Eithne Fitzgerald being the person who steered through the Dail the controversial Ethics in Government Bill."
Ms Fitzgerald was one of a number of Labour Party people who were elected to the Dail in the "whirlwind" of the 1992 election and who displayed "an arrogance that hadn't been seen in Leinster House for quite some time".
"She, more than anyone, invited the House to a lecture and lectured members of the House on their ethics and told them she did not want a Marcos type regime.
Mr Flanagan said he was not going to call on her to resign, but he was going to take a leaf from Eamon Dunphy's book and ask people to "look at the case of Phil Hogan and contrast the case of Hugh Coveney with that of Eithne Fitzgerald and say, as Eamon Dunphy would say, that these two men must be as sick as two parrots."
What the Labour Party did, the Labour Party was responsible for, Mr Flanagan said. There would be no pressure from Fine Gael on this issue. "It's their problem."