Gilmore’s ‘not an inch on Vatican’ sparks crisis

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By DANIEL McCONNELL Chief Reporter and JOHN DRENNAN

Sunday February 05 2012

THE Government has been plunged into its first crisis after Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore yesterday categorically rejected Fine Gael calls to reverse the decision to close the Irish embassy to the Vatican.

The astonishing row over the Vatican embassy comes on the heels of a series of spats between the coalition over cuts in the Budget, which have led to a significant deterioration of relations between FG and Labour in recent weeks.

Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, the Labour leader has delivered an unequivocal rejection to his coalition partners, saying “no, the decision will not be reversed. It was a government decision”.

“I have set out the position as to why it was necessary to do so. It was one of three embassies we closed. Like everyone else, the Department of Foreign Affairs had to cut its cloth to measure.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.