McDaid threatened to vote against Government

A THREAT by Donegal TD Jim McDaid to vote against the Government earlier this week has further highlighted the precariousness of the Coalition’s majority.

Dr McDaid wrote to Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae on Tuesday, ahead of a close Dáil vote on legislation to ban stag hunting, saying he would also oppose the Wildlife Amendment Bill.

“It is my intention to join you, not because I oppose the Bill, but because I have been calling for a general election for over a year now,” Dr McDaid said in an e-mail to Mr Healy-Rae.

“Should this Bill fail, the agreement between Fianna Fáil and the Greens will result in the aforementioned consequence.”

In the event, Dr McDaid, who is without the Fianna Fáil whip, backed the Government.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South West Christy O’Sullivan has told Taoiseach Brian Cowen he voted for the legislation against his judgment.

Tipperary South TD Mattie McGrath’s vote against the Government, and the defections of previously loyal Independents Mr Healy-Rae and Michael Lowry resulted in the Bill passing by just 75 votes to 72. If Mr McDaid and Mr O’Sullivan had voted against the Bill, the Government would have been defeated by a vote.

Mr O’Sullivan, in a letter to Mr Cowen on Thursday, said: “I supported the Wildlife Amendment Bill against my better judgement, but also mindful of the fact it was part of the programme for government and had the potential of bringing down the Government.”

He said Fianna Fáil had “honoured our commitment” and he expected Mr Gormley to “honour his commitment” to exempt clubs registered with the Hunting Association of Ireland from the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill.

Mr O’Sullivan and Mr McGrath abstained in a vote on the legislation to ban stag hunting, but while Mr McGrath voted against the Government in the final vote, Mr O’Sullivan sided with the Coalition.

Mr McGrath later became the sixth member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party to lose the whip since the last election.

Dr McDaid, who represents Donegal North East, was expelled from the parliamentary party when he abstained in a vote on the cervical cancer vaccination programme in November 2008.

Dr Jimmy Devins and Eamon Scanlon resigned from the parliamentary party in August 2008 after the loss of cancer services in their Sligo-North Leitrim constituency but, like Dr McDaid, they remain party members and consistently vote with the Government.

Joe Behan left Fianna Fáil and became an Independent TD over 2008 budget cuts. Senator Denis O’Donovan, from Bantry, Co Cork, lost the whip last week after abstaining in a Seanad vote on the Dog Breeding Establishment Bill.

While Mr Healy-Rae and Mr Lowry, who have backed the Government since 2007, voted against the Bill to ban stag hunting, Independents Finian McGrath and Maureen O’Sullivan had previously signalled their intention to vote for the ban.