Clare’s Sinn Fein TD says her party’s motion of no confidence in Simon Coveney comes down to ‘transparency and accountability’.
The Dáil returns after its summer recess on Wednesday, with one of its first pieces of business now to deal with the motion in the Foreign Affairs Minister.
Sinn Fein’s decision to table the motion the failed appointment of Katherine Zappone to a UN Special Envoy role, a saga which has rumbled on for a number of weeks now.
It’s involved Minister Coveney appearing before the Oireachtas Committee for Foreign Affairs twice – a Committee which has now invited Ms Zappone to answer questions before it too.
Sinn Fein says it wasn’t done in a tranparent process, and amounted to cronyism, while also falling below the standard expected of Government.
The party doesn’t believe Minister Coveney has been effectively sanctioned by the Taoiseach, though Micheal Martin disputes this.
The Fianna Fail leader has expressed confidence in the Foreign Affairs Minister, and believes ‘perspective’ is needed on the issue.
Clare’s Sinn Fein TD, disagrees though, saying publicly declaring no confidence in Minister Coveney is being done to maintain ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ in Government.
Dail arithmetic means the motion is unlikely to pass.
However, Kilrush-based Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne says it’s an important use of Dail time, and is expressing concerns about what she believes is ‘yet another scandal’ at the Cabinet table.
