STRONG CRITICISMS of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment were expressed on last night’s Late Late Show by dismissed junior minister John McGuinness.
Asked by presenter Pat Kenny if there was “a paralysis within government” he replied: “There is, to a degree as we are faced with such global difficulties in terms of how we perform.”
According to Mr McGuinness, “We have to get back to the core values of Fianna Fáil, a party which I have represented almost all of my life, first elected in 1979.”
Asked what the backbenchers in the party were saying about the leadership, he answered: “There is a lot of discontent in the party at the moment.”
There was unhappiness in the organisation over the way headquarters was selecting local election candidates and elected representatives were “not being listened to” at leadership level.
There was a “disconnect” between the parliamentary party and the leadership.
Asked if he had full confidence in Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s ability to deal with the economic crisis he replied: “I have confidence that Brian has the ability, he’s a decent family man that understands the normal troubles of people’s lives but he needs to shift his mindset from being the leader of Fianna Fáil to having a clear understanding that he is now the leader of the country.
“We need to put the country first. I’m here with you because I want to put the country first. I believe we need to look at everything in a very new and radical dynamic way and I think that if Brian grasps that and goes back to the soul and the core values of Fianna Fáil that we will lead ourselves out of this.”
Mr McGuinness added: “If not, he risks losing the confidence of the party. He risks above all losing our place as an economy within this global market.
Denying that he was washing “dirty linen” in public he said: “We have reached a point where it should be respect more than loyalty.” He said his main message for Brian Cowen was “to listen more, to listen to the parliamentary party”.
On whether he was a “troublesome priest” in government, he replied that he had been “a troublesome person, troublesome in the Department because of my strong views and my business opinions”.
Asked if he believed there were people in the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment who “hadn’t a clue about the real world”, he said that senior staff in this and other departments “are out of touch, they need to listen more to business”.
Mr McGuinness was asked if he had full confidence in Mary Coughlan as Minister for Enterprise.
He replied: “I don’t believe that she’s in the right position. I believe she was good in Agriculture, it’s not a personal comment on her but you need to be equipped differently now, you need a far more radical approach”.
Having worked closely with the Minister what mistakes and incapacities had he seen, he replied: “There is a need for a greater understanding of business, of the challenges of business, the need to reach out to business and there is a need for a different approach in terms of how you form policy and fulfil it and unfortunately, in my opinion, that’s not existent within the Department either on the political leadership side or indeed within the bureaucracy.”
Asked if there had been a “set-to” between himself and the Minister he said: “You can have many a set-to with Mary, it’s very easy to happen.
“She’s very personable of course but in the interests of change there is always going to be that conflict between strong personalities and I’ve got a strong view of where we need to go in this country.”
He was asked if he had told her to her face that he did not have full confidence in her ability to do the job at this time. He replied: “Yes.”
Of her reaction to this, he said: “We had a strong exchange of views.”
Mr McGuinness said action should have been taken earlier to prevent the loss of jobs at Dell’s computer plant in Limerick.