FOUR CABINET Ministers resigned last night to pave the way for a reshuffle planned by Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
The move is designed to enable Mr Cowen thwart efforts by the Green Party to block the reshuffle.
Mary Harney, Dermot Ahern, Noel Dempsey and Tony Killeen gave their letters of resignation to the Taoiseach late last night.
A Government statement said that in accordance with the Constitution the Taoiseach will submit these letters of resignation to the President with a recommendation that they be accepted. All of the Ministers who resigned have announced that they do not intend to contest the forthcoming election.
With the resignation of Micheál Martin on Tuesday night, Mr Cowen now has five cabinet vacancies to fill.
The appointment of the new Ministers is expected to take place in the next day or two.
Ms Harney was the first of the four to tender her resignation, as Minister for Health, as speculation grew last night that major changes in the Cabinet will be announced by the Taoiseach in the coming days. She had told the Taoiseach of her plans a week ago.
Mr Cowen told Green Party leader John Gormley informally of his plans to appoint new ministers during a one-hour meeting yesterday morning but they later met with opposition from some members of the junior Coalition partner.
Last night Mr Gormley expressed reservations about the move, saying it might be viewed negatively by the public. He said the Green Party expected to be consulted on any reshuffle. “It will affect the make-up of Government in the run-up to the general election and I wonder whether that is a wise move,” he said.
A Green spokesman said that such decisions were the Taoiseach’s prerogative, even though the party would have to be consulted. No Green TD would be involved in the reshuffle, said the spokesman.
He said that if the reshuffle was to happen the Greens would insist that it could not delay the holding of the general election by the end of March.
Last night, after Ms Harney announced her resignation, Fianna Fáil sources suggested that if the other Ministers who were not contesting the election also resigned from the Cabinet there could hardly be an objection to the vacancies being filled. A short time later the resignations of Mr Ahern, Mr Dempsey and Mr Killeen were announced.
The appointment of new ministers would have to be ratified by the Dáil. It is understood Michael Lowry and Jackie Healy-Rae, the two Independents who have backed the Government since 2007, will vote for any new ministers proposed.
Speculation about those being considered for promotion centred on prominent Junior Ministers such as Dick Roche, Barry Andrews, Dara Calleary and Peter Power.
However, some Fianna Fáil backbenchers expressed doubts about the wisdom of making new Cabinet appointments at this late stage. “It’s like throwing holy water on the toaster after it has gone on fire,” said one rural TD who said he had a better chance of holding his seat as a backbencher than as a minister.
Government sources said the appointment of new ministers at this stage would not give them extra pension entitlements as they would not be in office long enough to benefit.
Also yesterday, Mr Gormley said it was the firm conviction of his party that the election should take place in March. “We do need an election in March. As far as we are concerned, to let it drift beyond March into April will be unacceptable,” he said.
The Greens want the election to be called once the Finance Bill has completed its passage through the Oireachtas, but there has been speculation that Mr Cowen wants to delay the election until April.
Mr Gormley expressed confidence that the Finance Bill and other key pieces of legislation, including the Climate Change Response Bill, could be steered through the Oireachtas before the election. However, the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture yesterday rejected the proposed climate legislation.