The Cedar Lounge Revolution

Labour man leaps from bridge of ship to… er… the deck. November 15, 2011

Well, that happened quickly enough. Funny we should be talking about signs of discontent in the Labour Party, or if not quite discontent a sense that the formerly monolithic front presented to the world hides at least some intriguing dynamics behind it. There’s Willie Penrose, who the news comes today in the Irish Times that:

…he has resigned his post today after a Cabinet meeting on the closure of the Army barracks in Mullingar.

I’m always interested in Ministerial resignations. Granted Penrose was a Minister of State, but nonetheless, a resignation is a resignation. Of course it’s not quite like leaving a political party. Now there’s a journey that so far only Denis Naughton has taken, and him from Fine Gael as well.

And Penrose doesn’t yet seem likely to follow him…

The Tánaiste said the proposal to close barracks had been on the agenda for months and added that the issue of Mr. Penrose resigning the party whip “does not arise at present.”

And perhaps because of that reason this is unlikely to overly perturb either Gilmore or Kenny, still sitting on their super majority. But perhaps they should be a little bit concerned because all this is in advance of the main show of the Budget.

Funnily enough there was some discussion in the media back in March when the Cabinet was announced that some people weren’t entirely happy about being left in or out of the names…here’s something from that week:

Mr Penrose said today he sought clarity on what exactly his ‘super junior’ role would involve before accepting it. “I asked Pat Rabbitte for advice. I wanted to make sure it was an opportunity to make a contribution.
“Maybe, being a barrister, I’m overly pedantic but I wanted to ensure I was fully au fait with the precise terms of the job I was getting,” he said.
Mr Penrose said his seeking clarification did not cause the half-hour delay yesterday in announcing members of Cabinet.

And here’s a very tactful piece from Harry McGee in the IT from that time…

Accepting that Ms Burton was disappointed, he dismissed the suggestion that there had been any agitation behind the scenes. He said the only person who had raised questions was Willie Penrose, who sought clarification on his super junior role from Mr Gilmore.
The spokesman said Mr Penrose’s interjection had nothing to do with the half-hour delay in naming the Cabinet on Wednesday. “The trip to the Áras by the Taoiseach took longer than expected and the Taoiseach also took longer [than anticipated] informing the new Ministers,” he said at yesterday’s Government press briefing.

Anyhow, that was then this is now Penrose appears to have some support amongst LP councillors in the area. The Irish Times notes that:

A number of local county councillors were also said to be considering resigning from Labour over the issue.
The Labour leader on Westmeath County Council, Cllr Michael Dollard, told local radio this morning he would resign from the party if the Government ignored the views of Mr Penrose.
Last month, about 1,000 people protested in Mullingar over fear the barracks may be closed. Mr Penrose told the rally Mullingar’s 200-year military history could not be sacrificed for a proposal “which does not stand up to scrutiny”.

So, now that Penrose has pushed himself out of the window will Dollard go the full way and leave the Labour Party?