MRS Maire Geoghegan Quinn will depart the front line of national politics with a concession from the Government later today to hold a separate inquiry into the plight of haemophiliacs.
In her last act as health spokeswoman before her imminent resignation from the Fianna Fail front bench, she is expected to win a promise from the Government to hold an independent investigation into the concerns of the Irish Haemophilia Society after the hepatitis C tribunal concludes its deliberations. The Cabinet will consider the precise form of its amendment to her private members motion this morning.
Mrs Geoghegan Quinn's sudden announcement that she will retire from politics at the next general election sent shock waves through the political establishment. Her decision, which she described as "irrevocable" in a statement issued before 8 a.m. yesterday is being openly acknowledged as a major setback to Fianna Fail in the run up to the election.
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, who had been informed of her impending announcement at the weekend, and other close colleagues were adamant that she would not reconsider her position.
Mrs Geoghegan Quinn, one of Fianna Fail's most formidable performers, intends to resign from the party's front bench at the end of the week, after moving the Dail motion to amend the terms of reference of the hepatitis C inquiry to deal with the problems of infected blood products for haemophiliacs.
The former Fianna Fail minister, who is 46, cited the growing tendency to invade the privacy of, spouses and children "as if all of them had put themselves up for election" as the primary reason for her decision not to contest the forthcoming election. The clearest example, she said, involved her 17 year old son, named in prominently displayed stories in several newspapers after "a school fracas". She believed that if his mother had been a homemaker, an architect or a businesswoman, this would not have happened.
"Politics demands - and rightly demands - energy, commitment, idealism and resilience," she stated. "When politics demands - and wrongly demands - that a TD's family members serve as expendable extensions of the elected member, I will not serve."
The publicity surrounding the expulsion of her younger son from boarding school, however, was seen by her colleagues and political opponents as "the last straw" on the road to her decision to quit politics. Some of those closest to her believed that she felt personally damaged by the events leading up to the fall of Mr Albert Reynolds's government in late 1994, the facts of which were contested by the Attorney General of the day, Mr Eoghan Fitzsimons. The Dail inquiry into those events launched her into a Fianna Fail leadership contest with Mr Ahern which she could not win.
It is known that she refused to appear as a witness for Mr Reynolds in his libel action in the High Court in London last year because "I never want to hear about 1994 again for the rest of my life."
Her shock announcement of her departure from politics brought a flow of tributes yesterday to the woman who could have been Taoiseach. Mrs Geoghegan Quinn, who won her late father's seat in a by election 22 years ago, made history by becoming the first woman Cabinet minister since Countess Markievicz and the first woman Minister for Justice. The fact that each Fianna Fail leader since Mr Jack Lynch had appointed her to high office spoke volumes for her "talent, toughness and tenacity", Mr Ahern stated.
Informed of her intention to retire on Saturday and following a meeting to dissuade her on Sunday, Mr Ahern said that her decision came "totally out of the blue".
Mr Ahern is expected to take soundings on her replacement at today's, front bench meeting.
