GOVERNMENT REACTION:FINE GAEL'S decision to enforce stricter pairing arrangements was described as the product of a "fit of pique" from party leader Enda Kenny by Minister for Enterprise Batt O'Keeffe.
Speaking in Mallow, Co Cork, Mr O’Keeffe said it was “unpatriotic” and “foolhardy” to adopt a policy that prevents Ministers “going out to sell Ireland” abroad.
“It’s very hard to see where they are coming from. It looks like one of these fits of pique that the leader of Fine Gael has from time to time and he wants to stamp his authority every time he doesn’t do particularly well in polls.
“It is unpatriotic to block a Minister from going out to sell Ireland and bring education business into Ireland, to go out with the IDA and meeting international companies and bring enterprise. I think it’s foolhardy, and it’s a policy which should be revisited by Fine Gael.”
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said Government would get on with its business. Speaking in Co Louth after a meeting with Stormont Minister for Justice David Ford and Scottish cabinet secretary Kenny MacAskill, he played down the threat posed by Fine Gael’s withdrawal of Dáil pairing arrangements.
“The Opposition have to be realistic. If Ministers have a job to do selling the country and trying to get a bit of business into the country they should be let do it. But if they [Fine Gael] are going to play, as somebody said, ‘silly buggers’ so be it. Governments always have problems; if you put your mind back to any time the Dáil comes back you always have this type of issue. It happened last year and the year before. We’ll get through it.”
Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley said Fine Gael’s decision to pull out of pairing arrangements was “regrettable” and about “putting Fine Gael first instead of the country”.
Mr Gormley, speaking in Dublin, said the pairing arrangement had always been in place and there was an understanding that, “despite the adversarial nature of politics”, people had to do what was best for the country.
“Sometimes you have to put the country first, and they’ve decided to put Fine Gael first.”
Pairing involves a TD agreeing not to vote on an issue so another TD’s absence from the Dáil will not affect the outcome of the vote.