Beverley's back but ministerial hopes in hands of new boss
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Friday April 04 2008
BEVERLEY FLYNN sensationally returned to the Fianna Fail party last night in one of the last acts of Bertie Ahern's reign.
The Taoiseach fulfilled a promise to the controversial Mayo TD by personally proposing her re-admission to the party at an evening meeting of the National Executive. Following Mr Ahern's surprise tabling of the motion, the readmission was passed unanimously.
"I am absolutely delighted," Ms Flynn told the Irish Independent. "I always felt that Fianna Fail was my natural home, and it was never my wish to be on the outside.
"I think the general consensus within the organisation has been very positive."
Asked about whether she could rely on Mr Ahern's apparent promise that she would become a junior minister within the lifetime of this Government, Ms Flynn was non-committal.
"I am taking it one step at a time," Ms Flynn said. "I have no idea what the future holds."
It is understood there have been behind-the-scenes moves to reassure Ms Flynn that her prospects of becoming a junior minister have not disappeared with the imminent departure of Mr Ahern.
Expel
Tanaiste Brian Cowen, his likely successor, was the man who proposed the motion to expel Ms Flynn from the Fianna Fail party after she lost an appeal against a High Court jury ruling in a libel action that she had not been defamed by an RTE news programme.
Mr Cowen is unlikely to look kindly on Ms Flynn of his own volition. The pair would not be bosom friends within the party.
Ms Flynn will now be formally re-admitted to the Fianna Fail parliamentary party at the meeting next week that is also expected to see the confirmation of Mr Cowen as the new party leader. A Fianna Fail spokesman yesterday backed up comments from Ms Flynn that her junior minister deal was still safe.
"We expect that to be the position," the spokesman said.
Last year, Mr Ahern paved the way for Ms Flynn's return to the party when he said he would like to have her back as soon as she settled the €2.84m costs of her failed libel action against RTE.
She was expelled from Fianna Fail in 2004 after losing her Supreme Court appeal against the station -- which she took following its reports that she had encouraged or assisted clients to avoid tax when she worked as a financial advisor with National Irish Bank.
Ms Flynn told her local radio station, Mid West radio, that she was confident the deal with Mr Ahern would stand regardless of who his successor was.
"It was designed with the best interests of people in Mayo. The agreement will remain the exact same," she said.
Mr Ahern had promised her a junior ministry at some stage in the lifetime of the Government in a verbal -- rather than a written -- deal. Ms Flynn has yet to make a membership application to re-join Fianna Fail but the local consultation process promised by the party hierarchy is completed.
However, Ms Flynn will now have to rely on Mr Cowen to promote her to a junior ministry, if the second leg of her deal is to be fulfilled.
But Mr Cowen will also have to take into account the competing demands of backbench Fianna Fail TDs, such as Peter Power, Sean Ardagh, John Curran and John Cregan -- the final two being close allies of his.
According to Government sources, Mr Cowen will also have to consider the claims of Fianna Fail's only current Mayo TD, Dara Calleary, who has continued to impress since being elected to the Dail for the first time last May.
- Senan Molony and Michael Brennan
