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LUCINDA CREIGHTON, THE junior minister who voted against the Government in the abortion bill, has said that she was asked by the Taoiseach to resign and she did so – because she didn’t want to “drag it out”.
Creighton, who has been Minister for European Affairs since the Government came to power in March 2011, lost the Fine Gael party whip immediately after voting against the Government in an amendment on the Bill. In the early hours of this morning, she also voted against the entirety of the Bill.
Speaking via video link from Leinster House to TV3′s Tonight With Vincent Browne, Creighton said that she gave her letter of resignation to the Taoiseach immediately after her vote, saying:
So, that’s the end of that.
When probed by Browne why she had done that, she said: “Quite frankly because I was asked to. I had already lost the whip of the party so the consequences were pretty apparent to me and I didn’t really want to drag it out.”
She confirmed:
The Taoiseach asked me (for the resignation) this evening and I responded.
Creighton revealed that she had “respect” for Michelle Mulherin, the Fine Gael Mayo TD who told the Dáil yesterday that she would vote for the bill – against her instinct to vote against it- because she didn’t want to be “booted out” of the party. Creighton said Mulherin had spent hours in the Health sub-committee and speaking to Minister James Reilly about her concerns and had shown a “real commitment to the process”.
On her own reasons for voting against the legislation, Creighton said she had grave difficulty with the suicide clause and reiterated her demand for a “pathway of care” to be legislated for pregnant women with suicidal thoughts. She said she had discussed suicide ideation with a psychiatrist last week who told her about a woman who presented with suicidal thoughts at a hospital. The woman later had her baby, Creighton said, and came to the hospital to thank them “for not encouraging her” to travel for a termination or for providing one in the hospital.
But she admitted:
I think it’s extremely difficult and there are no simple answers with this..If you believe there are two lives involved, you want to help anyone in that horrific position.
The live link to Creighton was lost just as Vincent Browne was asking about her future plans but said he thought Creighton was “quite impressive”.
Meanwhile, it emerged last night that FG Dublin Central TD Paschal Donohue is favourite to replace Creighton at her junior ministry post. Then at 1.55am, it was confirmed that Donohue would indeed be the new Minister of State for European Affairs. The Taoiseach thanked Creighton for her work over the past two and a half years in the same statement – he said he accepted “with regret” her resignation.
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The amount of hedgehogs and their babies dying because the council are strimming hedgerows is shocking.
Follow The Hedgehog Society. It’s illegal to do it this time of year but sure they do what they want with not a thought for wildlife.
@Deirdre McDonnell: it’s not illegal for them. It’s usually done under the guise of ‘road safety’. However, it is bad management on their behalf. Most of it is not required.
@Deirdre McDonnell: It’s hilarious that we’re now looking to ‘protect’ tiny runs of boundary growth when there’s 1000′s of hectors of ‘potential behind them.
Hopefully people can start treating this lovely island with more respect.
We could start with banning the unnecessary trimming of beautiful grasses and wild flower along our parks and roads. They even do it along the canals now, where there is zero traffic. It results in an ugly mess of dead grass, with not a flower in sight.
My local council doesn’t do that, we have plenty of wildflowers and butterflies and bees. Surprised that they’re so shortsighted. But they’re probably afraid that a homeless person might catch a few hours of sleep there.
Surely noteworthy has it wrong, Ireland is a heaven for flora and fauna…I’d never believe we could be that bad at protecting of wildlife, like its not like we have bait diggers tearing up our SPA SAC mudflats where wading birds get their much needed rest and food, or our dog walkers letting pooches and fluffy off their lead where ground nesting birds breed and raise their vulnerable young….or I fully sure farmer Brown is letting that blacket bog that he raped and pillaged over the last century is letting it replenish…no you must be wrong noteworthy if you think our fine government’s would let this happen..
We could start by holding the OPW to account for REPEATEDLY breaching EU environmental law and burying rivers in concrete and dredging up salmonid waterways all over the country.
Arrogant Pr1cks.
Ah yes, the randomly appointed nature 2000 areas, very popular due the subsidies involved. As per the latest info not always compatible with the climate goals of the EU. Also so random that on side of a land border -Netherlands- everything is done to preserve an area even leading to farms having to close (buy out by government) due to high nitrogen emissions, while on the other side of that border the same land is dug up/ploughed to turn it into very good farm land, with associated farms…
@Lars: yeah man, it’s all a conspiracy.
@Aranthos Faroth: it’s not a conspiracy and conservering nature is very important. Unfortunately the EU once again managed to turn it into a bureaucratic subsidy driven program that doesn’t seem to get the best results for the money invested. The program itself is quite outdated (pre 2000) and should reviewed…
Absolutely not, I’ll be watching the guy that will be watching his washing machine going around, that’s a fantastic watch..
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