Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This may be uncomfortable for Fine Gael, but the independence of the sector is important regardless of the stroke that Fine Gael tried to pull.

I am entitled as a citizen and as an Oireachtas Member to know what happened. Members of Fine Gael are not entitled to assert that the issue of who told the Minister to appoint Mr. McNulty to the board of IMMA is a party matter. The Taoiseach says the Minister did it and that he was not aware Mr. McNulty was going to be appointed. Apparently, the Minister was aware that he was one of 29 people whom the Minister's party was interviewing to put on the list. The situation has turned into a total and utter farce. The most disappointing thing is that the Minister has used this sector for party political purposes. As a Fianna Fáil Member I will take criticism all day long - and some of it valid - but I outlined in brief earlier some of the achievements of previous Fianna Fáil Governments in the arts and cultural sector. I am entitled to know - and I want an answer today - whether the Taoiseach told the Minister to appoint John McNulty and Sheila O'Regan to the board of IMMA. Did the Minister know that John McNulty was going to be a by-election candidate? If not the Taoiseach, who in Fine Gael headquarters told the Minister that she should appoint him? The Minister said yesterday that he was eminently qualified to serve on the board of IMMA. I disagree with her completely. No one believes the Minister or the Taoiseach on this. If the Minister wishes to draw a line under this controversy, the Minister and the Taoiseach should have fronted up and said what happened. The Taoiseach has apologised, but for what we do not know. Today provides an opportunity to correct the record and stop misleading the House by omission, as the Taoiseach has done. I hope the Minister deals with those issues. This is also an opportunity for the Minister to outline what her vision as Minister is for the sector. The Minister cannot move on as a Minister in this area until she addresses what has happened over the last few weeks and answers those questions honestly. I have a lot of personal regard for the Minister, but she and her authority as Minister have been totally and utterly undermined by what has happened. Her party tried to pull one of the greatest political strokes ever.