If there’s any doubt, step down

THERE is a whiff of the Ciarán Cuffe affair about the controversy bubbling around two junior ministers, Tim O’Malley of the PDs and Fianna Fáil TD Sean Power.

Both Ministers of State at the Department of Health, they have been accused of breaching conflict of interest rules by owning shares in two large pharmaceutical companies about to enter price negotiations with the department.

In the Cuffe furore, the Green Party TD was criticised for holding shares in two oil companies, which he sold off, and in a German condom company, which he defended. According to Mr O’Malley, the Standards Commission found he was under no obligation to dispose of shares in a wholesale company, which he had declared on entering the Dáil, as they did not represent a conflict of interest.