The Minister for the Environment has been accused of abusing his office by introducing regulations which the Fine Gael TD, Mr Michael Ring, has claimed will favour Fianna Fáil candidates in the local elections.
He demanded to know why the Minister had to introduce the regulations just two days before nominations closed on May 21st. In an angry outburst, he alleged it was "Fianna Fáil abuse at its worst" and said the Tánaiste had allowed it to happen.
Mr Ring, who lost his High Court challenge against the ending of the dual mandate, claimed that the signing of the order on May 19th allowed "family members of Fianna Fáil" who were local authority employees to stand in the local elections.
Taking the Order of Business, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, acknowledged that regulations had been brought in "to allow certain categories of employees of local authorities to stand for local elections".
The Minister signed the Local Government Act, 2001 (Section 161) Order, 2004, which allows local authority employees up to the grade of clerical officer to stand in the local elections.
Mr Ring asked why the regulations had not been introduced before, when the local authority workers were already council members, who had been co-opted by outgoing members of the Oireachtas.
