Shortall: Resignation coming for a long time after initiatives 'blocked'

on 29/09/2012 11:33:20

Roisín Shortall has said she thought long and hard about her decision to resign her Junior Ministry in the Department of Health.

"The reality is that it had been coming for a very long time," she said in an interview this morning with Marian Finucane on Radio One, saying that months of work ended in initiatives, particularly in primary healthcare, being "blocked".

She said she was also disappointed not to receive more support from the Labour Party towards the end of her time on the department.

Deputy Shortall also said it was untrue that she had resigned in an email to Eamon Gilmore, and said she had spoken to him by phone, as he was in New York when she decided to step down on Wednesday.

She said her inclination was to vote no in the recent motion of confidence in James Reilly, but she did not do so as she felt a no vote would be a "one-day wonder" that would not resolve the difficulties she says she faced.