Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, my acceptance of responsibility last Friday came in my capacity as uachtarán of the party that I lead, and I did so for two reasons. The first was that it was a case of bad judgment and not having followed through on the process that was put in place for the validation of persons who were looking for nomination to the Seanad by-election, and the second was not having followed through more quickly on the internal structures that we agreed at our think-in on Fota Island just a few weeks ago. It was for those reasons that I said I accepted responsibility for this. It happened on my watch. It was beneath the standards that I have always applied to the consideration of names for nomination to Seanad elections.

The position is that, as president of the party, I let my own standards slip in that regard. I wanted to accept responsibility for that on Friday and did so.

In respect of the appointment to the board of IMMA, that was made by the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, exercising her right as the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in respect of examining the qualifications of Mr. McNulty, who is a completely innocent person in this regard. Mr. McNulty was formally nominated on 17 September.

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