Tonight, who else will Micheál Martin blame for his failures?

Micheál Martin’s conduct over the campaign and his unrelenting refusal to take responsibility for his own failures, instead opting to blame others, raises serious questions about his suitability for the Taoiseach’s office according to Minister John Paul Phelan,

Ahead of tonight’s Leader’s Debate, Phelan says that the public is entitled to ask an important question of Micheál Martin – who else will he blame for his failures and disastrous policy decisions?

“Who else will Micheál Martin throw under the bus in his desperate attempt to get into power at any and all costs?

“His litany of failures is nearly as profound as his attempts to blame others. Some highlights include:

• Last Friday he blamed party staff for his flip-flop on rent freezes saying that they called for it, not him. This is despite him saying publicly, and I quote, ‘We will freeze rents to reduce costs for young people’ and voting in favour of the measure in the Dáil;
• The week before, when Fianna Fáil couldn’t work out how many houses it claimed it wanted to build, he blamed ‘typos’, despite the consistency of these ‘inconsistencies’;
• When he was Minister for Health, he blamed his officials instead of taking responsibility for decisions affecting children with disabilities;
• When he imposed illegal nursing charges on thousands of people, he again blamed others and, finally, admitted he never read his Ministerial briefs.

“It is clear he will blame anyone and say anything to get into power. Most recently, the country was left dumfounded when he committed to extending the opening hours of an Emergency Department that doesn’t exist.

“This election is about trust. Considering the frivolous and frantic record of Micheál Martin, and his refusal to take responsibility, the voters are entitled to ask, can they trust Micheál Martin?”