Tomás Ó Flatharta

Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore, lord-lieutenant to King Kenny in the Dublin Government, is having a difficult time.

Did he have one policy in opposition, and is he following an opposite line in government?

Yes,  we will come to that – but first something completely different –

Gene Kerrigan  reports on the Labour Party leader’s reaction to the defeat of the first Lisbon treaty referendum in 2008:

The evidence suggests that from immediately after the treaty was defeated Gilmore was a fully fledged supporter of a second referendum. And he was entitled to that position. Others took that position and stated it plainly.

Gilmore, however, adopted a public position that the US secret cable now shows to have been in his view “politically necessary”.

Then, at a later date, he purported to have been converted to support for a second referendum, because of a “renegotiation”.

In the face of the Wikileaks revelation, Gilmore suggests still that his mind was changed by “renegotiation” in the months following the first referendum — this flies in the face of the evidence.

Here’s the cable quote, from US Ambassador Thomas Foley: “Gilmore, who has led calls against a second referendum, has told the embassy separately that he fully expects, and would support, holding a second referendum in 2009. He explained his public posture of opposition to a second referendum as ‘politically necessary’ for the time being.”

This is not a diplomat’s interpretation, it is reporting Mr Gilmore’s views, as the Americans claim that he expressed them.

And last week, Gilmore did not claim that anything in the cable was inaccurate.

From this day forward, any time a questioner thinks the Irish Foreign Minister may not be telling the truth the follow-up is:

“Ah, yes, Minister, but is that what you’re telling the American Embassy?”

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/gene-kerrigan/gene-kerrigan-gilmore-hasnt-a-shred-of-credibility-left-2666664.html

On the Shannon Stopover :

The Dún Laoghaire TD said, at the Labour Party Conference which voted for coalition with Fine Gael, that the USA would not be allowed use of Shannon Airport for war purposes.  This, apparently, was Eamon’s interpretation of the commitment contained in the FG-LP Programme for Government.

http://wlcentral.org/node/1815

Had Enough?

There is more.

United Left Alliance TD Richard Boyd-Barrett asked his Dún Laoghaire constituency colleague Deputy Gilmore why he will not meet Irish Citizens travelling on an aid flotilla to Gaza :

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2011/06/02/00012.asp#N12

it seems the lord lieutenant (sorry,  Tánaiste) does not intend to meet the passengers of the Irish Ship to Gaza.

Could this be the same politician who, after the Israeli armed forces murdered unarmed activists on the Mavi Marmara just over a year ago, asked then Minister for Foreign Affairs Mícheál Martin about recalling the Irish Ambassador to Israel?

http://www.labour.ie/blog/2010/06/01/will-the-irish-ambassador-be-withdrawn-from-israel-following-flotilla-attacks/

“Ah, yes, Minister, but is that what you’re telling the American Embassy?”