Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, it important to say the past few weeks have not been Fine Gael’s finest hour. I am disappointed that at a time when we should have been talking about one of the most successful vaccination roll-outs in the world, about our economy reopening and about hundreds of thousands of people getting back to work, we have instead spent most of the last eight weeks talking about somebody who lost their seat in the previous election. We have nobody to blame for that but ourselves. It is important we acknowledge that tonight. This is not the fault of Fianna Fáil or the Green Party. This was Fine Gael who dropped the ball. We accept that here tonight. When you make a mistake, you hold your hands up and you admit that you got it wrong. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has done that. This has been badly handled. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, accepts that and he has apologised.

However, can I ask a question? Is there anybody in this House who would seriously question the integrity of Simon Coveney?

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