Fahey accused of assaulting committee member

FORMER junior minister Frank Fahey has been accused of assaulting a member of the Oireachtas agriculture committee to protect his reputation.

The incident is alleged to have happened because the unnamed member criticised Mr Fahey’s role as champion of the maligned Lost at Sea scheme.

Fine Gael TD Tom Sheahan said Fianna Fáil’s attempts to thwart discussion on the scheme were driven by Mr Fahey’s anger at how it had been assessed by the Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly.