Ceann comhairle approach would be discussed

The Labour Party's spokesman on justice, Brendan Howlin, has said that if a senior member of the party was approached this week to become ceann comhairle of the 30th Dáil, it would be given "very careful consideration".

He recalled that when Labour's Carlow-Kilkenny TD Séamus Pattison was approached in 1997, in similar circumstances, to accept the position of ceann comhairle, he asked Mr Howlin for advice. "I told him it was a great honour for him and for the party," he said.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One's This Week programme yesterday, he said "anybody who respects parliamentary democracy understands that the ceann comhairle position is an important one", and that if an approach was made to a member of Labour to accept it, "I'm sure they would give very careful consideration to that".

He was not aware that any party member had been approached on the matter, but he was sure there would be discussions within the party were that to happen. He agreed Labour would not vote for Bertie Ahern as taoiseach on Thursday, as that was what it had offered the people in the general election campaign.

He felt that "a lot of decisions had to be made" by Labour, and criticised the party's tendency to "impale ourselves on strategy and miss the bigger picture", which was about "shaping the political agenda of our country".

Mr Howlin didn't think the party faced leadership change in the aftermath of the general election, but that the current leadership would "run its normal course" of a further 18 months to two years.

He did not know whether he would himself be a contender then. "God knows. I have travelled that road twice," he said, recalling that on both occasions, he began as favourite to win.