Fianna Fáil members have voted to ratify the new programme for government, with Tánaiste Micheál Martin describing it as an “emphatic” approval of the coalition agreement by his party.
Mr Martin, who is due to become Taoiseach for a second time when the Dáil meets on Wednesday, said the decision taken at a special ardfheis in Dublin was a “significant step along the way towards the formation of government”.
Some 93 per cent of party members voted in favour of the programme agreed by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independent TDs. Focus is shifting to Cabinet positions, with speculation on Sunday suggesting that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is interested in taking the education brief.
Protesters gathered outside the event calling for the Occupied Territories Bill to be enacted, but Mr Martin confirmed the existing proposal would likely be replaced by new legislation. He insisted this would not be a watered-down version, but added “it is acknowledged by all sides that the Bill was unconstitutional as drafted and in other areas was deficient”.
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Asked about a report in the Mail on Sunday which said the Bill was going to be dropped over fears it would damage corporate and diplomatic relations with the US, he said: “I’m not responsible for that report. What I can say is that I instructed my officials prior to the general election to work on amendments to the then Occupied Territories Bill.
“All that work has been done and in fact every single line – well, not every single line – but virtually every section of that Bill will have to be amended. So the issue is whether we have a new Bill, which I think we probably will move towards, a new Bill in respect of imports into Ireland from the occupied territories because I think it needs a full debate in the Dáil at second stage.”
The Bill was put forward by the opposition in 2018 having been introduced by Independent Senator Frances Black, but it has since been blocked by governments over concerns it could fall foul of EU trade rules. In the weeks before the general election the coalition committed to supporting a reworked version of the legislation.
Following the vote to ratify the programme for government, Mr Martin was asked if he stands by his previous condemnation of Michael Lowry, a key Regional Independent Group negotiator.
The Moriarty tribunal’s final report, published in 2011, found that Mr Lowry, a former Fine Gael minister, helped businessman Denis O’Brien to secure the State’s second mobile phone licence in 1995. It criticised his behaviour as “profoundly corrupt”. Mr Lowry denies the findings made against him by the tribunal, while Mr O’Brien said the report was fundamentally flawed and insisted he never made any payment to Mr Lowry.
Gardaí recently sent a file relating to its investigations of the tribunal’s findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr Martin was highly critical of Mr Lowry when the report was published. On Sunday he said that his criticism from 2011 “stands”, and that what was revealed by the tribunal was “shocking”.
“I have an overriding obligation now to form a government and to work to form a government, and it’s with quite a number of Independents, not just Michael Lowry, but all the others who get forgotten about in all of the assessment of this and commentary.”
He told reporters: “Michael Lowry is not in government ... I met all of the Independents myself before we got down to negotiations and we’ve negotiated a policy platform, which I think is a good, positive policy platform for the next five years, and that’s it.”
Mr Martin also said he did not agree with Regional Independent Group TD Barry Heneghan’s view that a lot of taxpayers’ money was wasted on the Moriarty tribunal.
He was also asked about an ongoing row over some members of the Regional Independent Group seeking to remain on the opposition benches despite some of its members planning to serve in government. He said “the public aren’t excited about an issue like that” but he would take advice on the matter and form an opinion then.
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