Donohoe says he never wanted to be Taoiseach

By Bairbre Holmes, PA

Former minister for finance Paschal Donohoe insisted he left the Government because of the “opportunity that has presented itself to me”, not because of political issues.

On Tuesday the former Dublin Central TD announced he was “departing from public life in Ireland” to take up the second most senior position in the World Bank, as managing director and chief knowledge officer.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh, the former Dublin Central TD said he had not wanted to be Taoiseach, adding: “The pinnacle of my ambitions was to be able to leave what I inherited from the great man that was Michael Noonan (former Fine Gael finance minister who preceded him in office) in as best condition as I could do and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Asked if his departure weakened the coalition, he said he is “confident in the future of the Government”.

Speaking about Tánaiste Simon Harris, who will take over as Minister for Finance, Mr Donohoe said: “I’m so glad he’s done it as he and I have the same views on our economy.”

When questioned if Mr Harris had put pressure on him to be generous in last year’s pre-election budget Mr Donohoe responded: “Nope.”

And asked about his greatest failure in government, Mr Donohoe spoke about the pandemic and said there were things that happened in that period that “if we had anticipated happening, we would have acted in different ways”.

He said: “when you are presented with the scale of threat to life that we were, having to manage all the pressures around us, that is an experience that I’m glad we have behind us.”

Mr Donohoe thanked the people of Dublin Central for supporting him, saying he has “lived in and represented the best part of the best city in the world and I will always, always be so grateful for the way in which I have been respected and (they) re-elected me”.