Government survives confidence vote but ministers fail to express support for Kenny

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s crumbling coalition survived an opposition attempt to remove it from power last night, despite a tirade of opposition abuse over how the Maurice McCabe scandal has seen it go from “doing nothing” to “doing harm”.

The Fine Gael-Independents minority government won a motion of confidence in itself after Fianna Fáil controversially abstained from the high-profile vote.

The motion was put down in response to Sinn Féin’s motion of no confidence in Government due to the fallout from the coalition response to the unprecedented false Tusla sex abuse claims against Sergeant Maurice McCabe.