Two rules of thumb in modern politics now apply to Niall Collins’s situation: George Bush adviser Karl Rove’s dictum that when you are explaining you are losing; and the rule attributed to Alastair Campbell (wrongly) that if your scandal spends ‘X’ days in a row capturing the headlines, you are in severe danger politically.
Mr Collins is hoping that his Dáil statement this week on his wife’s purchase of a property from Limerick County Council in 2008 will draw a line under it.
However, as Pat Leahy reports in our main story this morning, the fact that he will make a statement and not accept questions is being met with an increasing clamour from the Opposition.
The Opposition has also challenged the Government’s insistence that he broke no laws when he did not remove himself from a council subcommittee meeting that discussed the issue of the council disposing of the site, or made fellow councillors aware his wife had expressed an interest in purchasing the site.
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The allegations were first reported on the investigative news site The Ditch.
Fianna Fáil colleagues have backed Mr Collins full tilt, but there has been less full support from the other Coalition parties. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it would have been “better practice” if he had declared his interest, while Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said Mr Collins should have “recused himself”.
“Although there is nervousness around the Government about the matter, there is also a determination that another Minister should not be lost for what many see as – at worst – a minor issue that took place a long time ago,” Leahy writes.
“But the sense from the Opposition benches was that the controversy is likely to continue to dog the Government over the coming days, at least until Mr Collins makes his Dáil statement.”
The main point of convention is around the issue of Mr Collins’s alleged breach of Section 177 of the Local Government Act which requires those with a pecuniary interest or a beneficial interest in an issue to declare it, and withdraw from any discussion or vote on an issue. Mr Collins did not do it. The Government insisted he did not breach that provision.
However, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy pointed out that Section 177 applied not only to the full council but to meetings of “any committees, joint committees, or joint bodies” of councils. In other words, he has argued that Section 177 captured that critical meeting of Bruff Local Electoral Area committee in January 2007 that decided to dispose of the land.
Mr Murphy claimed Mr Collins’s “failure to recuse himself, his failure to declare a conflict of interest is not only a breach of the code of ethics but a breach of that legislation and an indictable offence”.
Mr Varadkar defended Mr Collins’s intention not to submit himself to a question-and-answer session in the Dáil. He said “this place is a parliament, not a kangaroo court”. As you might expect, that did not go down well with Opposition deputies.
Will he survive? As of now, it is unlikely he will resign unless there is something that adds fuel to the fire.
There will be time set aside for the statement but as yet no slot has been scheduled for today or tomorrow.
No unity within Cabinet on changes to abortion laws
The Government is divided on applying some of the significant changes to abortion legislation recommended by an independent report, authored by barrister Marie O’Shea.
There is some division in the Cabinet about implementing some of its more controversial changes, especially dropping the three-day ‘pause’ period that forms part of the current legislation. A number of Ministers including Simon Coveney, Heather Humphreys, Michael McGrath, Darragh O’Brien and Mr Varadkar are said to have reservations about changing the status of that pause rule, on the basis that its inclusion in the proposed laws was one of the factors that ensured the referendum was passed.
The Green Party, in contrast, fully supports the changes recommended by Ms O’Brien.
However, there is less division among the Cabinet colleagues about dealing with the big disparities between the level of service division geographically.
The report found that in some counties, service provision is reliant on “a handful of providers across primary care and hospital settings. There is a potential risk that these staff may burn out. The service is untenable.”
As Jennifer Bray and Sarah Burns report this morning, Mr Varadkar has pledged the Government will act immediately to address gaps in the service.
“I should say that with relation to the operational recommendations which show gaps in the service, we are going to act on that right away. That is being referred to the HSE for implementation,” he said.
The report will now be considered by the all-party committee on health before being referred back to the Government and the Dáil.
Best reads
Miriam Lord has the ins-and-outs of the Dáil exchange on Niall Collins. She recalls the last time he nipped in to deliver a statement surrounding a personal property matter, it happened late at night when few Deputies were in the chamber.
“Just like that Kit-Kat ad where a panda nips in and out on roller skates when the photographers waiting hours to take its photograph turn away to enjoy a chocolatey snack,” she writes.
A background piece setting out all the events surrounding the sale of a site by Limerick County Council to Mr Collins’s wife.
Jade Wilson reports that Médecins Sans Frontières has raised concerns about the deployment of an Irish Naval vessel to Libya.
Chris Heaton-Harris denies claims he is trying to ‘bully’ DUP back to Stormont.
The Opposition has berated the Government’s plan for public consultations on defence policy and neutrality.
Kathy Sheridan on the demise of some of the political world’s most odious individuals.
Playbook
10:00: Private Members’ Business (People Before Profit-Solidarity): Rent Reduction Bill 2023 (Second Stage, Order for Second Stage)
12:00: Leaders’ Questions
13:05: Taoiseach’s Questions
13:50: Statements on The Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement
17:15: Three debates on legislation. Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Bill 2019; Courts Bill 2023, and Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022.
22:15: Deferred Divisions – Votes on the big issues of the week
22:45: Dáil adjourns
Seanad
10.30: Commencement matters.
11.30: Order of Business
12.45: Proposal for a Regulation on the collection and transfer of advance passenger information for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime
13.30: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022
14.30: Address to Seanad Éireann by GAA President, Mr. Larry McCarthy
16.30: Private Members’ Business: Motion regarding Public Water Connection Charges
(Green Party Senators)
18.30: Seanad adjourns
Committees
09.30: Health Committee
Consideration challenges in emergency departments, bed shortages, and overcrowding.
13.30: Transport Committee
Discussion on the Transport Sectoral Emissions Ceiling with representatives from the Climate Change Advisory Council
17.30: Committee on Budgetary Oversight:
Stability Progamme Update. A discussion with Michael McGrath, Minister for Finance and Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Public Expenditure.
17.30: Agriculture
Disparity in the Cost of Fertiliser. Discussion with farming organisations.
17.30: Select Committee on Children.
2023 Further Revised Estimates for Public Services. Discussion with Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman and Minister of State Anne Rabbitte.
