Lee and O’Dea resign

Yvonne Reddin looks at George Lee and Willie O’ Dea’s resignations

Just two weeks after George Lee’s shock exit from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil have over stepped them with the resignation of Willie O Dea, Minister for Defence

Mary Mitchell O’Connor (FG) Councillor from the Dun Laoghaire constituency said “I was very saddened when George Lee left and believed he had a huge Dáil career ahead of him.  He came in with 23,000 votes, he was on a honeymoon period and he did have to fight for his place on the frontbench.  He had a lot to offer as an economist but it is a tough career move and you need to be very tough yourself.  We are talking about Willie O’Dea this week, two weeks ago it was George Lee, you can only resign once and you move on.”

She added “I would really like to see an emphasis and focus on job creation and getting our country back to a good economic footing and stop all the theatrics. Some politicians will be delighted that the spotlight is off the economy, NAMA, unemployment and the dole queues.  Focus has been taken away from the real picture and real people’s problems.”

O’Dea’s resignation has spurred an alliance between the Greens and Fianna Fail and Enda Kenny said “When politicians were appointed to Cabinet, they signed up to certain standards such as truth and integrity.”

He added  “Fianna Fail don’t recognise that (values) and the Greens are now probably looking for an exit strategy and the sooner this charade ends, the better.”