Greens reduced to circus act with conflicting stances, says White

SEANAD:THE GREEN Party had reduced itself to a circus act by taking conflicting stances in the Dáil and Seanad on the controversy surrounding the Minister for Defence, Alex White (Lab) said.

Frances Fitzgerald, Fine Gael leader in the House, had earlier announced that her party was tabling a motion of no-confidence in Willie O’Dea.

Mr White asked what credibility could attach to any government when senior members of it claimed to have confidence in a Minister in the Dáil but not to have confidence in him in the Seanad.

The deputy leader of the Upper House, Dan Boyle, had stated that there would be several more chapters to this story. They should be revealed without delay.

Ms Fitzgerald said that Seanad leader Donie Cassidy had heaped praise on the Minister. “Yet, we read of Senator Boyle using Twitter and Facebook to tell the world . . . that he had no confidence in the Minister, that he felt the Minister was compromised and the Greens had been bounced into supporting the Government.”

Liam Twomey (FG) said it was clear the Greens had a policy of ambiguity when it came to staying in government with Fianna Fáil. Using Twitter to inform the nation what the party thought was an insult to our democracy, he said.

Terry Leyden (FF) said he believed it was unprecedented to have a vote of confidence in a Minister in the Seanad. Mr O’Dea had performed his ministerial duties in a most exemplary manner.

Paschal Donohoe (FG) said: “It says an awful lot about the value that Senator Boyle and his colleagues place on the institutions that they pretend to respect, that he is quite happy to sit in his office tweeting away about matters about standards in politics, but he won’t come into this house to . . . make clear his own views.”

David Norris (Ind) said the apparent behaviour of the Minister raised certain ethical issues, but he did not think it was the most important issue confronting the country at the moment.

Fine Gael justice spokesman Eugene Regan said politics and politicians were held in low regard and a lot of it had to do with low standards. Yet, when one raised the issue of standards, it was trivialised by statements such as, “Ah, sure it’s just a simple mistake.”

Ronan Mullen (Ind) said what was at issue was the conduct of politicians. They were back to the culture of looking for a head, which seemed to enthuse the media and politicians like nothing else on earth.