Labour ministers defend Dara Murphy

Labour ministers have backed their ministerial colleague Dara Murphy but said that his use of a garda car to travel from Cork to Dublin Airport was not an “appropriate use of resources”.

Several junior ministers yesterday told the Irish Examiner that they had never availed of a special ‘protocol’ agreement with gardaí, which Mr Murphy says he used when his car broke down.

The Fine Gael minister has defended his decision to ask gardaí for a lift, when his car recently broke down outside Mitchelstown, Co Cork while travelling to Dublin Airport in the middle of the night.