David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It must be said that this is quite unprecedented. Many Members came into the House with questions they wished to put to the former Minister, Deputy Naughten, not only on meetings he had but more broadly on the broadband scheme. Deputy Naughten made a quite incredible statement. He was very angry and upset, did not take any questions, resigned as a Government Minister and left. He said he was essentially told to resign by the Taoiseach who does not have confidence in him. We do not know why the Taoiseach did not have confidence in the former Minister. He made a very explicit attack on the Taoiseach, referring to opinion polls and other matters. This is unprecedented.

We are left without answers to questions we have asked. It is important the Taoiseach comes in. I see that the Chief Whip had discussions with the spokesperson for Fianna Fáil on what might be next. He has not had any discussions with Sinn Féin, the Labour Party or anyone else. He seems to be running around like a headless chicken, and was probably caught unawares, as many on the Government benches were. It is only now that we have two senior Ministers in the House. We have never seen anything as chaotic as this in the House. It is quite disgraceful how this has been handled.

It is crucial that the Taoiseach comes to the Chamber today to clarify why he had no confidence in Deputy Naughten as Minister and the nature of that discussion and to clarify other matters. There are questions that need to be put and answered today. The only person who is now in a position to give us answers is the Taoiseach.

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