McNamara carded by Ceann Comhairle ‘referee’

RELATIONS between the Labour party and Clare TD Michael McNamara were not strained even though his party colleagues voted for his suspension from the Dáil last week, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has confirmed.
As he visited Shannon last Saturday, the Tánaiste said there had been no issue with Mr McNamara after his suspension following a disagreement with Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett.
“Oh, relations are very good. Michael McNamara is an outstanding TD; he’s a great representative for the people of Clare. I suppose it’s one of those occasions where great players can get in trouble with the referee.”
The Tánaiste said although Labour voted for him to be excluded, this was just to comply with standard procedure.
“Once the Ceann Comhairle names somebody the practice is that Government parties support the Ceann Comhairle. But I have the height of respect for Michael McNamara and I respect the issues that he has raised. I know that he feels very strongly about it and I think that the people of Clare can be very reassured that they have a Labour TD who will fight night and day on their behalf.”
He said he had spoken to Deputy McNamara straight after the incident and that there had been no ill feeling.
Mr McNamara’s suspension came after an exchange in which he claimed the Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, had inadvertently misled the house, and that the HSE were “running rings” around the minister. When he attempted to raise the matter, the Ceann Comhairle ruled it was not in the Order of Business.
Speaking at Shannon Airport just before Vice President Xi Jinping touched down, the Tánaiste stressed the importance of developing Ireland’s relationship with the world’s most populous country.
In the run up to the visit, Amnesty International Ireland released a statement in which it criticised China’s human rights record, which it branded “appalling”.
Mr Gilmore said he would have a broad discussion with Mr Xi, but his focus was clearly on economic matters.
“First of all I want to say that this visit is hugely significant for Ireland. Ireland is the only member state of the European Union that the Vice-President of China has visited as part of this international trip that he has undertaken.
“I think it would be a hugely significant visit as the Irish Government seeks to promote increased trade with China and investment from China. This is part, as far as Ireland is concerned, of our economic recovery.
“Trade with China and investment from China is an important part of that. Like any international visit, we will have a wider discussion on political matters and international issues and, in that context, we will discuss with the Vice-President issues concerning human rights, including Ireland’s candidacy for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations this year.”
Some commentators say that attracting Chinese visitors is crucial for European tourism and Mr Gilmore said he would like to see Ireland attracting some of them.
“I would hope that we would be able to see that. China has a population of 1.3 billion people, almost three times the entire population of the European Union. The latest figures I have seen for Chinese tourists travelling abroad is 100 million a year. If we could get a proportion of that it would make a very big impact on our tourist industry. I think this visit will contribute to that. We will certainly be building on the back of it and Tourism Ireland will have a strategy on the back of it.
“The new arrangement that we’ve made for a visa waiver, whereby people coming from the United Kingdom, who have a UK visa, will also have that visa valid here, I think that will probably help it as well.”
After taking the reins from a despised government, the new administration enjoyed a very long honeymoon. They have found things more difficult in recent months, with further cutbacks made and the introduction of a household charge but Mr Gilmore said the reality of Ireland’s financial position can’t be ignored.
“We had to make an adjustment of €3.8 billion and that is always going to be difficult but one of the things we have to bear in mind is that out of every €10 that the Government spends on social protection, paying salaries in the public sector, keeping services going, out of every €10 spent, three is borrowed. We can’t continue doing that and we have to get it down and that means adjusting the budget. Adjusting the budget isn’t the only arm we have to deal with it, we have to promote jobs and growth and that is why we published a jobs action plan this week. That is why we are putting such an emphasis on getting investment in from other countries. That’s why this visit is so important to us, to bring investment into the country, to create jobs and get the economy moving again. Yes, we have difficult things to do in the budgets, difficult things to do but they have to be done. And while we’re doing that we will continue to work to promote investment and jobs.”
He feels Ireland’s efforts to deal with the crisis are being recognised abroad.
“I think that what is increasingly understood internationally, and I hear it a lot as foreign minister from people in other countries, is that the approach that Ireland has taken to its crisis is entirely different.
“We have made it clear that we are going to pay our way, we’re going to return to the markets, we have succeeded in getting a renegotiation of our interest rate, we are now in the process of discussing with the Troika how we can deal with the money that was transferred to the banks, a lot of it before we came into office. That’s increasing confidence in us internationally, which in turn will lead to increased investment, which in turn will lead to increased numbers of jobs and that’s the best way of getting out of the economic mess.
“I think that internationally there’s an entirely different perception of Ireland than there is of Greece. Mind you, a couple of months ago some of the Opposition in the Dáil and some of the commentators were advising us that we should go down the same route as Greece. I think now most people can now see how unwise that would have been.”