Clare’s Fianna Fáil TD has stopped short of calling on the Communications Minister to resign over the INM Controversy.
Denis Naughten says he didn’t give any inside information to Independent News and Media during a conversation with a PR person in 2016.
Deputy Timmy Dooley has said the Minister acted inappropriately and should be sanctioned, but he’s not calling for him to be sacked.
The Communications Minister says he sincerely regrets expressing a personal opinion on what would happen with the proposed INM takeover of Celtic Media.
Denis Naughton has come under criticism for allegedly telling a representative of Independent News and Media, Eoghan O’Neachtain, that the proposed merger would be referred to the Broadcasting Authority for scrutiny.
This came before he made that information public and it’s argued would have given INM a competitive advantage in breach of stock market rules.
But Minister Naughten claims he said sending it to the BAI was likely, not guaranteed, and that he’s done nothing wrong.
Clare’s Fianna Fáil TD insists that the Minister has acted inappropriately and is calling on the Taoiseach to accept that what he did was wrong.
Deputy Timmy Dooley, who is his party’s Communications Spokesperson believes that while he shouldn’t be sacked, Leo Varadkar should determine appropriate sanctions.
