Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on collision course over Finance Minister role

Former junior minister Robert Troy said he will be a candidate in the next general election

Minister Michael McGrath (left) said there has been no discussion about allowing Paschal Donohoe (right) to stay on as Finance Minister after the changeover of Taoiseach in December.
File photo: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are on a collision course over who will be Finance Minister once Leo Varadkar becomes Taoiseach again.

Fine Gael is agitating to keep Paschal Donohoe in his current post despite a working agreement that he will vacate it as part of the changeover. There has been no discussion about allowing Mr Donohoe to stay in the position after the changeover of Taoiseach in December, Minister Michael McGrath has said.

In recent days, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and various media reports have sought to emphasise the importance of Mr Donohoe’s role as President of the Eurogroup of Finance Ministers in a bid to see him keep his current post. However, Fianna Fáil has made it clear no discussions have yet taken place.

“It hasn’t been raised with Fianna Fáil, it has not been discussed. The most appropriate time to discuss this in the fullness of time is when the budget is over,” Mr McGrath said in a direct response to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.

Barry Cowen’s sacking as Agriculture Minister was about his failure to account for his actions over his drink-driving incident in the Dáil and not the incident itself, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

It was reported at the weekend that a Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission report has found Mr Cowen did not seek to avoid a Garda checkpoint 2016. Mr Martin said his decision to remove Mr Cowen from Cabinet was about a basic failure to be held to account by the Dáil.

“But the decision taken at the time was not in respect of GSOC at all,” Mr Martin said.

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He rejected the charge that he failed to allow due process to occur in Mr Cowen’s case saying ministers have to be responsible to the Dáil.

“Barry and I may disagree. There are issues that I've been pretty consistent on that nobody could be happy about in terms of the release of personal information pertaining to Barry at the time. I wasn't happy about that,” he said.

Mr Martin said he has not yet seen the GSOC report and was led to believe that it is not concluded yet. “So yes, I look forward to seeing the GSOC report. But I haven't seen it,” he said.

Robert Troy

Speaking at the same press conference, former junior minister Robert Troy, who had to resign from his position over errors in his property declarations, said he will be a candidate in the next general election.

“For my own part, I dealt with the unintentional errors that I made. I issued a fulsome apology, and I do so again today,” Mr Troy told reporters.

He said he was still prepared to answer questions on any matter should he be required to do so.

“I'm more than happy to answer any questions in relation to any of my dealings. I have made a very fulsome statement. I've answered questions comprehensively,” he said.

When asked by reporters about his involvement in the State’s rent-a-room scheme, which would allow a person to earn up to €14,000 a year tax-free, Mr Troy said he let a room and advertised it.