Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I extend my sincere congratulations to Deputies Calleary, Chambers and Fleming, respectively. The appointment of a new Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine happens at a crucial time for the agriculture sector on our island. Family farms face an uncertain future and the threat of Brexit remains real. It is an important job and I wish Deputy Calleary very well in his role.

Unfortunately, we cannot ignore the circumstances in which the vacancy arose. The controversy, which we discussed again earlier, surrounding the sacking of Deputy Cowen has unquestionably undermined public confidence in this new Government after little more than two weeks in office. I put it to the Taoiseach earlier that the way these matters have been handled has called his judgment into question and raises serious concerns about how he will deal with controversies in the time ahead. He should be in no doubt that the people are looking at this latest mess and they are exasperated, experiencing the terrible sinking feeling that they are in line for more of the same. The Taoiseach has been at pains to say that Fianna Fáil has changed, but the message from this debacle is clear. It is that Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted to do the right thing, that good governance and the public interest always seem to come a distant second to what is politically expedient. One cannot blame people for thinking that it is same old Fianna Fáil, dodging and being less than full with their accounts to the Dáil and the people.

We should be discussing how Ireland can recover from the Covid-19 crisis and we need to discuss solutions to housing and childcare but, unfortunately, because Fianna Fáil cannot change and cannot take up the job of government seriously, we have been discussing a political controversy only a few short weeks after this new Government came into being. I regard that as a failure on the Taoiseach's part. I do not believe he grasps the import or the full consequences of this. People remember previous Fianna Fáil-led Governments and how they operated. They know they cost them very dearly. They are determined, and we are determined, that we are not going down that road again. People deserve a great deal better. Let us remind ourselves that people voted for something better last February. Now, here we are a few short months later with Fianna Fáil back at the helm, and here we go again. The Taoiseach's answers today, frankly, have not been satisfactory. In fact, he failed to answer any of the critical questions I and others put to him, including, interestingly, about the knowledge of the Tánaiste, the leader of Fine Gael, and Deputy Eamon Ryan, the leader of the Green Party, and when they got access to the full facts regarding the controversy and the Deputy Cowen debacle. Instead of being fully forthcoming, the Taoiseach has decided to stick to an approach that muddies the waters. That is not good enough.

I again appeal to him to answer the questions, at some stage, that have been put. He sacked a senior Cabinet Minister because he said he had asked him to answer questions and the Minister steadfastly refused. Irony of ironies, the Taoiseach who did the sacking is himself not prepared to answer in a straightforward way the questions that have been put to him about his actions, decisions and judgment.

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