Shane Ross dismisses criticism of his performance as Minister

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross has said the Coalition Government comprising Fine Gael and members of the Independent Alliance could last for another three or four years.

The Independent Alliance Minister has also admitted he sometimes feels uncomfortable in government.

He dismissed criticism of his overall performance as Minister has been poor but did accept he had made mistakes, including posting a tweet from Rio at the time of Pat Hickey’s arrest which stated there was “shellshock in Rio”.

Mr Ross was interviewed on the Late Late Show last night as part of an Olympic Special.

He rejected an assertion by programme host Ryan Tubridy that the non-statutory inquiry into the Olympic ticketing controversy was “toothless”.

He pointed out there were provisions to allow the retired judge change the nature of the inquiry to a statutory one if required.

He accepted he had been “bested” by Mr Hickey during the meeting in Rio, where Mr Ross had demanded an independent person on the Olympic Council of Ireland’s internal inquiry into the ticketing controversy.

“I had heard he had bested several Cabinet Ministers before and he was not very fond of Cabinet Ministers and he had us for breakfast, and he did that day,” he said.

Mr Ross said that at least three times since entering Government his instinct had been to vote against a resolution.

He instanced the vote on a motion demanding a commission into the handling by Nama of the Project Eagle portfolio.

He said he was “not going to collapse the Government” every time there was a controversy or something he did not agree with.

He also disclosed that Enda Kenny had never mentioned Mr Ross’s heavily-criticised description of the Taoiseach as a “political corpse” during government-formation negotiations.

He said he has a very good working relationship with the Fine Gael leader.

When asked about the longevity of the Government, he said: “I do not know but at the moment it’s working … it will go on for three or four years.”