Ministers split over McNulty vote

Donegal businessman John McNulty is expected to take up his Seanad seat next week — on the same day Michael Noonan will deliver his budget to the Dáil.

Senior ministers are split on whether or not Coalition TDs and senators should proceed to vote for Mr McNulty, who announced last week that he was no longer seeking the seat. However, sources from both Fine Gael and Labour expect him to be elected.

Voting will close this Friday and the result will be known later that day. If elected, Mr McNulty will automatically be deemed a senator and will have to go through the official role call procedure before making any announcement on whether or not to resign his seat.

A victory will prolong the controversy for the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, who is likely to come under intense pressure not to accept the seat, which he has said was “not worthy of winning”.

Mr Kenny told the Dáil last Tuesday: “Because my own sense of integrity, and the trust given to me here, did not measure up in this case, this seat should not be accepted in these circumstances.”

However, speaking on Friday, Mr Kenny, said he would not speculate about the outcome of the vote.

The Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, has demanded that the Taoiseach “come clean and be honest” about how he intends to vote.

He said Mr Kenny “seems to have changed his mind two or three times” and, even though he has apologised for allowing his standards to slip, “he has fallen short of directing his members about how to vote in the by-election.”

The health minister, Leo Varadkar, said yesterday he will not vote for Mr McNulty, adding that the election of a candidate who has withdrawn would “cause further embarrassment to our politics and parliament”.

Junior minister Damien English said he was keeping his options open and would decide who to vote for after meeting today with the Independent candidate, Gerard Craughwell.

“Like any Fine Gael person, it will be difficult to vote for a Fianna Fáil-backed candidate or a Sinn Féin-backed candidate,” he said. Mr Craughwell is an Independent but had the signatures of a handful of Fianna Fáil TDs, as well as Independents, on his nomination papers.

Foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan has said he will vote but would not publicly indicate who for.

Labour Party deputy leader Alan Kelly has said he will vote for Mr McNulty.

Losing the Seanad seat would equally spell trouble for the Coalition because it would leave the Government in a minority of two votes in the Seanad.

This has prompted some concerns about the passing of the Social Welfare Bill — which legislated for a range of welfare payments — and which the Upper House has the power to delay by 90 days There is some nervousness around the bill, given it was almost defeated in 2012. However sources say that, because it is highly unlikely to contain any cuts, the bill is less likely to be opposed by Government-appointed independents in the Seanad.

McNulty appointment shows ‘contempt for arts’

The Government displayed “contempt for the arts world” and particularly the Irish Museum of Modern Arts (Imma), by appointing Fine Gael by-election candidate John McNulty to the gallery’s board. The claim was made by artist Robert Ballagh, who said the “real story” in the debacle is that it “paints a very depressing picture” of the attitude of this Coalition to the cultural sector.

He said this was his own view and that of the “arts world” in general. “It really does highlight how this Government in particular — and all the governments before — have chronically failed the arts,” he said.

He said funding for the Arts Council has been cut from €85m in 2009 to €56m this year. Funding for the arts has increased by 24% in Co Kerry, he claimed, “and the fact that the past two arts ministers came from there is entirely coincidental”.

“Sadly cronyism seems to be part of the DNA of Irish political life. That is pretty shameful but that seems to be the way it is,” said Mr Ballagh.

Arts Minister Heather Humphreys has said she appointed Mr McNulty to the board of Imma “on merit”. She made the appointment after being approached by a Fine Gael official.

However, she has not disclosed the nature of that conversation and said she is not “at liberty” to identify the official involved because it is “a Fine Gael matter”.

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said she felt sorry for Ms Humphreys but that she has to answer questions. “I don’t think it’s acceptable that this is a private Fine Gael matter,” said Ms McDonald. “Appointments to State boards are a public matter. They are a matter for Government; they are a matter for the Dáil.”

Ms Humphreys has been invited to appear before the Oireachtas Arts Committee to answer questions surrounding the handling of the appointment.

Fianna Fáil has urged her to appear before the Dáil on the issue.