Tanaiste defends McCreevy's comments

The Tanaiste has defended the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, over his recent comments on the Nice Treaty vote, but has described the stance taken by the Minister of State for Rural Development, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, as "strange".

Ms Harney also expressed guarded optimism that the 400 jobs at the Irish ISPAT steel plant in Haulbowline, Cork, could still be saved. "I might be too hopeful," she said, but "it is not a fait accompli. I believe there is the capacity to work to save the company and hopefully that can be achieved."

Speaking in Galway, where she announced 185 new jobs in the medical device industry, the Tanaiste described Mr McCreevy as a "colourful Minister for Finance" who had his own way of expressing his point of view.

"He expressed it very forcefully in Gothenburg, and I believe he was saying no more than what he might normally say in these kinds of situations," she said. If he was "misrepresented", this would be "a pity".

Mr McCreevy, who was attending the EU summit in Sweden, described the Irish rejection of the Nice Treaty as a "remarkably healthy development" and an anti-establishment statement of which the people should be proud.

The Tanaiste said she would not be pressing for an early referendum on the treaty. "I don't think that would be a good idea. I think we have to accept the democratic outcome, we have to establish the National Forum on Europe, and we have to have a healthy debate in Ireland on the future direction of Europe. We have got to ensure that we separate out the enlargement issue from other issues because on this occasion I think people were confused."

Referring to an RTE radio interview on Sunday with the Irish EU Secretary-General, Mr David O'Sullivan, in which he had said some people may wonder if Ireland had taken a different view now that it was not going to be a net beneficiary, the Tanaiste said she hoped this would not be the case.

"We are not selfish," she said, and Ireland was one of the biggest contributors to the EU in terms of overseas development aid on a per capita basis. Irish people had worked all over the world for humanitarian causes.

Asked if there were divisions in the Cabinet, Ms Harney said the position taken by Mr O Cuiv was "very strange". She had met people in Connemara over the weekend who had been asked personally by the junior minister and Galway West TD to vote in support of Nice.

She stressed the importance of EU enlargement for Irish business.