Micheál Martin will put Votegate TDs into Cabinet

FF will always put party before country – McEntee

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is ready and willing to put Votegate TDs Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins into Cabinet.

European Minister Helen McEntee said today it is the same old Fianna Fáil who will always put the party first.

Minister McEntee was speaking after the Fianna Fáil leader refused, when repeatedly asked, to rule out returning the double voter (Collins) and absentee voter (Dooley) to his party’s front bench and cabinet.

She said, “This is quite unbelievable and clearly displays the old Fianna Fáil trait of party first, country second. They played fast and loose with the responsibility given to them by the electorate to cast votes on their behalf in the Oireachtas and now they want it all forgotten.

“The investigating Dáil committee hasn’t even given its verdict on these two TDs but the Fianna Fáil leader clearly has.

“Is he so willing to overlook this issue because he knows he is lacking when it comes to his frontbench and even the former spokespeople at the heart of the voting controversy are better than nobody?

“Micheál Martin repeatedly says he has a strong team, but who are they?

“Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins? The last time they made national news was for when Niall Collins voted in the Dáil for Timmy Dooley who was elsewhere in country.

“Micheál Martin is right on one thing. People haven’t forgotten the crash. And they cannot forget what Fianna Fáil, with him as a senior cabinet Minister, did to this country. And now he is asking the public to believe that they have gone through a catharsis?

“People will not forget so easily. Fianna Fáil put this country through untold hardship which had far-reaching consequences and now they expect to be given another opportunity to do the same?

“What is absolutely clear is that Fianna Fáil are bringing little to the table: They have no plans, no teams and no solutions,” Minister McEntee concluded.