The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said action will be taken if former Deputy Leader Éamon Ó’Cuív campaign’s against the Fiscal Compact Treaty during the forthcoming referendum.
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Micheál Martin said the jury was out on the scale of the bank guarantee
Mr Ó’Cuív has said he will vote for the Bill clearing the way for a referendum when it comes before the Dáil thereby avoiding any threat of expulsion from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party for defying the party whip.
On tonight’s The Week in Politics the party leader, Mr Martin was asked what was the position if Mr Ó’Cuív were to then campaign for a No vote.
“Given that the party has taken a position on this, in terms of supporting the Treaty, it would not be acceptable that someone would campaign against the Treaty,” he said.
Pressed about whether all TDs would be expected to support the party line, he added: “Yes, absolutely.”
Asked again what would happen if any TD didn’t maintain support for the party line, he added: “There will be consequences. We can’t have a situation where the parliamentary party has agreed a particular action and people go off and do something differently.”
Guarantee defence: Earlier today, Mr Martin defended the bank guarantee, which was introduced while he was a serving cabinet minister in September 2008.
Mr Martin said the Governor of the Central Bank, and many other analysts, suggested that if it was not given there would have been an immediate and catastrophic impact on the economy. On RTÉ’s This Week, he said the jury was out on the scale of the guarantee, but insisted he was not apologising for the guarantee itself.
He said instead that he was apologising for certain policies that were followed which undermined Ireland’s capacity to withstand the economic crisis that emerged.
His comments came hours after his address to the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis in which he offered an unequivocal apology for mistakes that were made when his party was in government.
The former minister for foreign affairs said the crisis demanded complete reform of public life and called for a move away from a system of government that had become too centralised.
McIlroy now number 1
and top of the world rankings after his Florida victory
No 1 
Rory McIlroy ended Luke Donald’s nine-month reign as world number one with victory in Palm Beach
Rory McIlroy became the first world number one from the island of Ireland, and just the 16th player to top the rankings system since their introduction in 1986, after a stunning victory at the Honda Classic in Florida.
The milestone man reached yet another landmark after carding a 69 that saw him finish on 12 under, two shots clear of his nearest rivals.
The 22-year-old displayed immense composure despite an impressive final-round charge from Tiger Woods.
The former world number one started the day nine shots adrift of McIlroy, but claimed the clubhouse lead courtesy of a scintillating eight-under par 62 that eventually left the 14-time major champion tied for second place with Tom Gillis on 10 under. Lee Westwood was two strokes further in back after starting the day 27th.
Woods’ spectacular finish, one outside the course record, was the lowest final round of the American’s career and it came to a crescendo when he followed a 24-foot putt for birdie on the short 17th with an eight-footer for his second eagle at the last.
That was just like the good old days for Woods – and it came moments after Westwood had equalled his lowest score in the States with a 63.
All eyes then turned back to McIlroy and he was up to the task as he became the second youngest number one – after Woods – since the rankings began.
The US Open champion had just had his first bogey of the day on the 12th to be 11 under par, but he came straight back with an eight-foot birdie on the next.
McIlroy then saved par from deep rough beside the 14th green, but still to come was the three-hole stretch known as the “Bear Trap”.
Ahead of him Justin Rose went into the water on the short 15th and fell out of contention, but McIlroy got up and down from the back bunker there and then did it again at the 190-yard 17th.
That took him to the tee on the 556-yard last still two in front and he made the safest of pars to capture a third PGA Tour title.
He won at Quail Hollow in 2010 with a closing course record 62 and then last June, of course, was the youngest winner of the US Open since 1923 – by eight shots and with a record score by four.
McIlroy said: “It was tough today, especially seeing Tiger make a charge.
“I knew par golf would probably be good enough and that’s what I was trying to do, so to shoot one under is very nice and I was able to get the job done.
“My short game all week has been very good and it’s what you need on a tough course like this. You know you are not going to hit every green.”
He is the fourth European in a row to head the rankings following Westwood, Martin Kaymer and, for the last nine months, Luke Donald.
The coronation could have happened a week ago, but McIlroy lost the final of the Accenture Match Play in Arizona.
Nobody can deny the Holywood golfer’s right to be there. Since the USPGA Championship last August he has played in 11 ranking events and finished outside the top five in only one of them.
That was the Dubai World Championship in December where he came 11th while suffering from suspected Dengue fever and during that run there was also his victory in the non-ranking Shanghai Masters.
Woods, who had two eagles and four birdies in a flawless display that buried memories of his poor finishes in Abu Dhabi and at Pebble Beach earlier this season, said: “I’ve been hitting it like this, that’s the thing.
“I hit it really good in the wind in Australia [in November] and thought there was no reason I couldn’t do it again – and putt like I did the last two days. It came together.
“I figured I needed birdie-birdie [from the last two holes] to have a chance.”
But, with McIlroy holding his nerve, birdie-eagle did not even prove to be enough.
McIlroy has been dating tennis star Caroline Wozniacki since last summer. She lost her world number one spot in January and has still to win one of her sport’s four biggest titles, but he has now achieved both.
His putting has often been questioned, but it came to his rescue on the final day in West Palm Beach.
On the front nine he saved pars from 13, eight and 12 feet and all day he did not miss once from under 10 feet.
Within minutes Wozniacki tweeted from New York: “Amazing performance. Tournament win and new world number one. Deserves a good celebration.”
It might have to wait. She is playing this week and so is McIlroy in Miami at the second of the season’s world championships.
Two sovereign wealth funds from overseas investors want to fund children’s hospital on Coombe site
Health Minister Dr James O’Reilly is considering an alternative proposal for the site of the new children’s hospital.
The alternative hospital, which may be funded by governments in the Middle and Far East, will be located on lands surrounding the existing site of the Coombe Maternity in Dublin.
The Coombe says that it can house the new National Paediatric Hospital (NPH) — which would also include an adult and a maternity hospital — over seven storeys, rather than the 16-storey proposal at the Mater that was recently turned down by An Bord Pleanala.
The plans were given to Dr Reilly yesterday and it is expected that the new proposal will be discussed when the Cabinet meets on Tuesday to discuss the terms of reference of a new group set up to examine why the Mater site failed to pass the planners.
According to the Coombe, the proposal for its new hospital fulfils all of the criteria established by the McKinsey Report and the Department of Health/HSE National Paediatric Hospital task force.
Two sovereign wealth funds — government-owned and controlled investment vehicles — are prepared “in principle” to invest €500m to build the National Paediatric Hospital (NPH) on a 20.5 acre south inner-city site beside the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital (CWIUH).
The new hospital would be leased to the Government for 25 years by the overseas funds and the State could then opt to buy the hospital after the 25-year lease ends.
Details of the proposed leasing arrangements were not known.
But in correspondence seen by the Irish Independent, one of the overseas investors says that it is prepared in principle to finance the entire project if the Coombe site were to become the Irish Government’s “preferred location”.
Some €35m has already been spent on the design of the Mater site, but the Coombe says that it can build the new NPH next to its current site within 42 months.
Priority: The new hospital, incorporating the NPH, would be built on the existing John Player and Bailey Gibson sites straddling Dublin’s South Circular Road and Cork Street, where the Coombe is currently located.
The promoters said that the south inner-city site is — according to the Dublin City Development Plan 2011-2017 — a strategic development zone; and this is a zone that facilitates projects with economic and social importance.
The lands also form part of the Dolphins Barn Framework Development Plan and already have a mixed-use integrated planning permission from An Bord Pleanala.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Dr Reilly have both stressed that a new children’s hospital remains an absolute priority, and that the project will be built within the lifetime of the Government.
The proposed new Coombe Hospital is close to the Red Luas line and St James’s Hospital and will have car parking for up to 1,000 cars.
Last night St James’s said that it was not involved in the Coombe proposal.
A spokesman said it had told Health Minister James Reilly that it was available “to assist in any way” in the development of a new children’s hospital.
Funding for the Coombe proposal is being handled by former AIB banker Seamus Doherty’s Coleman Capital.
Mr Doherty is the former general manager of AIB in the Asia Pacific region and has been liaising with the Middle and Far Eastern wealth funds on behalf of the Coombe.
Another Galway fatality as Woman of (21) dies after her car hits a wall
The 21-year-old woman who died in a road accident at Ardskeamore near Corofin on Saturday has been named locally as Jennifer Reilly.
Ms Reilly photo above was fatally injured when the car that she was driving left the road and crashed into a wall shortly after 6.30pm on Saturday evening.
The local woman, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene and her body was removed to University Hospital Galway. The road, which links the N63 Galway-Roscommon bypass with Corofin village, was then closed to facilitate a forensic examination.
Ms Reilly was the only daughter of Jimmy and Angela Reilly and worked locally at medical devices company Creganna. She will be laid to rest on Tuesday morning at Kilmoylan Cemetary following a funeral mass at St Colman’s Church at 12noon.
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