LABOUR LEADER Eamon Gilmore last night stood over his accusation of “economic treason” against Taoiseach Brian Cowen and called on him to publish all advice and information on which the decision was made to include Anglo Irish in the bank guarantee scheme in 2008.
Mr Gilmore noted the Taoiseach had taken exception to some of the remarks he had earlier made in the Dáil and was insisting the decision to include Anglo was taken in the national interest and based on the best advice available.
“Well there is a simple way to establish who is right and who is wrong. Let him publish all of the papers on which the decision was made together with any of the representations that were made to the Government...” said Mr Gilmore.
It was “simply beyond belief that a decision of such importance and such financial consequence could have been made on the basis of verbal advice alone,” Mr Gilmore said.
Last night the Taoiseach issued a statement defending his actions. He said the decision to provide a guarantee to the main Irish banks was in line with advice provided directly at the meeting by the Governor of the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator, and senior officials of the Department of Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency.
“That advice was based on extensive analysis and monitoring conducted by these authorities over the preceding weeks and took account of the rapidly deteriorating situation affecting the banks concerned. The documentation supporting that analysis that is held by those institutions will be made available to those conducting the relevant inquiry into the ‘banking crisis’ should they deem it relevant,” said Mr Cowen.
Responding to Mr Gilmore in the Dáil earlier Mr Cowen said in his 25 years in politics he had never been beholden to anybody and every decision he had made had been in the in the best interest of his country. “I will not be accused of seeking to commit treason against my country. I consider that to be beyond the Pale,” said Mr Cowen. He said his motivations “were the very same, laudable motivations that would have moved [Mr Gilmore] had he been in my position. I would never come into this House to accuse another Irishman of what he accused me,” said Mr Cowen.
Later at a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party Mr Cowen promised to reflect on concerns raised by his backbenchers and to come back and address them.
A failure of the party to communicate properly was the main problem identified at the meeting.
The only speaker to directly challenge Mr Cowen’s continued leadership was John McGuinness TD, who acknowledged he was in a minority of one. However, other speakers were critical of the Government’s apparent inability to communicate its message, while several expressed disappointment at last week’s reshuffle.
Mr Cowen phoned a number of backbenchers at the weekend to discuss issues to be raised at the meeting.