Tomás Ó Flatharta

A very unstable start to the FFFGGG coalition – statement by Paul Murphy TD, RISE.

Barry Cowen has been sacked as Minister for Agriculture by Michéal Martin after he refused to answer questions in the Dáil. It was the socialist left who led the calls for accountability for Ministers.

However, this should not be the end of the matter. Michéal Martin knew about the Garda report referring to Cowen attempting to evade a Garda checkpoint. He knew about it before Cowen made a statement which didn’t make reference to it. He clearly agreed with Cowen that he would not include this very important information. It also part of the reason they voted against having any questions.

Martin has emphasised the fact that he only “saw” the report today. But that is a distraction. Whether he had actually seen the report or not, he knew about its contents more than a week ago.

I have no sympathy with Cowen – he should have simply agreed to answer questions in the Dáil.

But the sacking is an attempt by Martin to avoid blame spreading to him. He knew about this very important information, and colluded in not informing the Dáil or his coalition partners, about it.