Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On 6 December 2016, in response to a question as to what the Minister's intentions were in response to the proposed Celtic media takeover, he stated "I have not made my views known and I am not going to." He said it would be "not appropriate for me to provide any further comment while this case is under consideration". By his own admission, on 12 November the Minister communicated information to a public relations executive. The information was sufficient enough, we understand from what is reported in today's The Irish Times, to allow the company to communicate to one particular shareholder the understanding that the Minister would refer the decision to the BAI. Is that correct? If it is, how can the Minister not understand that this provided privileged information?

The Minister is trying to conflate two issues. He is trying to suggest on one hand that the process is not secret. We know the process is not secret and it is set down. There are three options. What is secret or at least just something known to the Minister is which option the Minister will pick. Will the Minister please explain to us with some clarity how on the one hand he refused to tell the House what his intention was but he was prepared to provided appropriate - as he saw it - information in a secret phone conversation with a public relations executive?

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