Gogarty backs education cuts in humiliating climbdown
Green Party TD Paul Gogarty arrives with his wife Heidi at Leinster House yesterday
GREEN Party TD Paul Gogarty performed a humiliating climbdown yesterday as he fully backed Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe, despite his cuts to school funding.
The party's education spokesman had claimed he could not, "in all credibility", stand by the education cuts and threatened his party may "pull out of government" over the issue.
But when it came to the crunch, Mr Gogarty voted with the Government, claiming the party was neither backing out of government, nor climbing down on the education issues.
Just over a week after expressing his protest in a letter to the minister, Mr Gogarty eventually rowed in behind Mr O'Keeffe. "I want to put on the record of this house that I am fully behind the Minister for Education in his attempts to deal with difficult circumstances within the education budget," he said.
However, he pointed out he would remain a "strong critic" of education funding in general. Mr O'Keeffe has remained firm in his view there will be no rowback on the cuts.
The comments come in the wake of a private email in which Mr Gogarty starkly warned his party may have to pull out of government over the cuts.
As revealed in the Irish Independent, the TD said his party may "eventually have to pull out of government on this or combined issues".
Speaking in the Dail during a Labour Party motion seeking a reversal of the spending cuts, Mr Gogarty said he was glad to be looking for a solution to the current crisis.
"I just want say that the Green Party, contrary to media reports, are neither pulling out of government, nor or we climbing down on the education issue," he said.
Reassure
"I want to reassure my colleagues on the opposition benches that there will continue to be progress and I am glad to be part of the solution."
Mr Gogarty said the debate showed lessons needed to be learned and this did not mean tackling the area of education just before a general election.
"I remain a strong critic of education funding in general. I think the onus is on the Minister for Finance, the Taoiseach, the Cabinet and the opposition benches and the Green party to try to work to increase that funding," he told the Dail.
"I am acknowledging the motion here today is a valuable opportunity and there are lessons to learn.
"The education partners have a role to play in this process as well. There are savings to made out there, which all schools will acknowledge," he said.
- Fionnan Sheahan and Patricia McDonagh
