Quinn got Cabinet post at Shortall's expense, insiders claim

JUNIOR MINISTER Róisín Shortall had been in line for a Cabinet position until Ruairí Quinn succeeded in his last-minute demand for a post, according to Labour Party sources.

Ms Shortall, Labour’s former spokeswoman on social protection, was passed over for senior office last Wednesday before subsequently being appointed Minister of State for Primary Care.

There was some surprise when Mr Quinn, a former minister for finance and ex-party leader, was named Minister for Education.

“Róisín was in line and her name had been pencilled in, and then there was an about-turn. The plan would have been to have her in Cabinet and Quinn was the one that threw a wobbly,” a Labour source said.

Another party insider said Ms Shortall “was obviously very unhappy, she was of the view that she was included until the last minute”. Neither Ms Shortall nor Mr Quinn could be reached for comment yesterday.

Ms Shortall has been critical of Mr Quinn in the past and refused to accept a post on his front bench when he was leader in 2002.

She featured prominently towards the conclusion of the party’s election campaign and on the Public Accounts Committee in the last Dáil. Some within the party have speculated that Mr Quinn had originally been earmarked for the super-junior position, which was expected to have been in the economic area but went to Willie Penrose with responsibility for housing and planning.

Discontent in the party about the allocation of ministerial posts, which last week centred on the appointment of Joan Burton as Minister for Social Protection, has not dissipated. “I think the appointments by the Labour Party, the methodology and the process was a disaster,” a source said.

Ms Burton broke her silence about the controversy at the weekend, admitting she was “surprised and a bit bewildered” when Tánaiste and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore told her she would get the social protection ministry. She had been widely expected to be appointed to the new Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which was awarded to Brendan Howlin.

“The difficulty for me at that moment was that having been so concentrated on the economy, the banks and the structures of the renegotiation of the deal, I then had this challenge which I had 60 seconds to make up my mind on,” Ms Burton said. She felt surprise and bewilderment “mainly because I had to shift a gear”, she said in an interview on RTÉ Radio One on Saturday.

Meanwhile, former Fine Gael minister for education Gemma Hussey was critical of Mr Gilmore’s vote management in his Dún Laoghaire constituency. “If Eamon Gilmore had organised himself to get 200 votes less and Ivana [Bacik, his running mate] 200 votes more, she’d be in Dáil Éireann today,” Ms Hussey said.

Ms Hussey said she empathised with Ms Burton when addressing the inaugural Dublin meeting of the 50:50 Group, which is dedicated to equal representation of men and women in Irish politics. “Twenty-six years ago I was shafted by the male political establishment and found myself in social welfare . . . the political establishment has been shown up for what it is. They haven’t changed.”