MINISTERS AT WAR: FINE GAEL IN CHAOS OVER MURPHY VOTE
As Byrne support wavers, Taoiseach threatens sack for FG dissent
THE Government was thrown into chaos last night as two Fine Gael ministers went to war over the housing crisis.
Junior Health Minister Catherine Byrne sparked mayhem in the corridors of power amid reports she threatened to support a motion of no-confidence in Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.
According to senior Fine Gael sources, Ms Byrne said she would deny her support to her party colleague in a Sinn Féin motion aimed at toppling the embattled minister.
Ms Byrne has been involved in an ongoing wrangle with Mr Murphy over the proposed development of 470 new homes in her Dublin South-Central constituency, which she publicly criticised as the ‘worst plan’ she had ever seen.
As a result of her bold show of dissent
ahead of tonight’s vote, there were calls from within Fine Gael to sack her and she was even threatened with such by a seething Leo Varadkar.
Although the Taoiseach said he hadn’t spoken to Ms Byrne about the confidence motion in Mr Murphy – seen by political observers as Mr Varadkar’s righthand man – he warned: ‘If a minister can’t express confidence in their own colleagues then they can’t continue as a minister.’
And last night incensed senior party members said they felt she should be sacked for holding the Housing Minister to ransom over a ‘parish-pump’ issue when even Fianna Fáil was refusing to vote against him.
Given that the Independents and Fine Gael coalition hold a tiny minority in the Dáil, the Taoiseach has ordered all of his party TDs to be present in the chamber for tonight’s vote.
The developing controversy distracted the Taoiseach from his visit to New York yesterday, where he had travelled to promote Ireland’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.
He said of the unfolding nightmare back home: ‘We’re a government, we’re a collective, we make decisions together. If a minister doesn’t have confidence in another minister then obviously they couldn’t continue.’
The Taoiseach and Mr Murphy are to sit down with Ms Byrne for emergency talks today to try to shore up her support before this evening’s vote.
Yesterday Fine Gael ministers Paschal Donohoe and Richard Bruton were of the view that every minister would support Mr Murphy in tonight’s bid by Sinn Féin to take a parliamentary wrecking ball to his position.
‘I hope that everybody will be in a position to express their support for Minister Murphy, and I am not aware of any developments to the contrary,’ Finance Minister Donohoe said.
Mr Bruton added: ‘I believe every Fine Gael minister will support Eoghan Murphy tomorrow.’
But the Fine Gael hierarchy and parliamentary party members were enraged by what they view as a ‘betrayal’ by Ms Byrne.
A senior party source said: ‘If you vote against the party on a motion of confidence there’s only going to be one outcome, and that’s the f ****** sack.’
One disgruntled TD told the Mail: ‘I think she should be sacked anyway. We are in what is a recognised housing crisis, parish-pump concerns like this are not in the national interest. If Fianna Fáil can see that, it beggars belief a Fine Gael minister cannot. For that lack of judgment alone, she should be fired.’
The proposed development that has grated with Ms Byrne consists of 470 houses, 30 of
‘One of the worst plans I’ve seen’
which would be used for social housing with the remainder available on a cost-rental basis.
At the launch of the project over the summer, Ms Byrne took to the stage uninvited to criticise the plan, saying: ‘It’s probably one of the worst plans I’ve seen put forward for this site.’
Tensions between her and Minister Murphy have been strained since, and the row now threatens to spill over in spectacular style, with the very real threat it could bring down the Government.
In a statement released on Twitter yesterday evening, after the Taoiseach threatened to strip her of her ministerial position, Ms Byrne, the Minister for Health Promotion and the National Drugs Strategy, dug her heels in.
She said: ‘As a lifelong resident of Inchicore, I want what is best for my community.’
She went on to condemn the proposal for a large-scale, highdensity apartment development without the investment for ‘services and amenities to support those who already live here’ and the proposed new additions.
Fianna Fáil, on whose support the minority Government hinges, will abstain in today’s motion.
The absence of its 44 votes means Fine Gael will likely need 57 votes to guarantee Mr Murphy, and the Government, keeps their heads above the water.
Fine Gael has 50 TDs, including Ms Byrne.
They can also rely on the votes of Ministers Katherine Zappone and Denis Naughten, as well as the four members of the Independent Alliance, and former junior minister Seán Canney.
Disgraced former communications minister Michael Lowry can usually be relied upon to back his old party in times of need, as can Independent TD Michael Harty. That would put them on 59, just over the threshold required. But it’s all dependent on every voting TD showing up. Ms Byrne was contacted for comment by the Mail but one was not provided.
EVEN someone on a fleeting, first-time visit to this country could hardly fail to notice the extent of the housing problem.
To call it a crisis barely seems like an adequate description at this stage.
Some young families have no alternative but to live in hotels, guesthouses and other types of temporary accommodation unsuitable for their needs.
The problem extends right across the social spectrum.
Many well-paid professional people now find themselves unable to pay the spiralling rents being charged in Dublin and other major urban centres.
Those who can afford to rent are finding it almost impossible to buy a home of their own. Even if they do manage to scrape enough together for a deposit, the combined effects of a restricted credit flow and the new Central Bank rules on borrowing are taking their toll.
And, of course, the entire scenario is exacerbated by the fact that there simply aren’t enough properties to meet demand.
Nor is there any sign of the situation improving. A new KBC survey shows that 60% of would-be home-buyers think finding a suitable new home is more difficult now than it was a year ago.
There has been no shortage of loftysounding proposals from Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, but evidence of progress is thin on the ground.
Against that backdrop, we now have protests on the streets and the unseemly reality of gardaí facing threats on social media. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that Sinn Féin’s opportunity to table a no-confidence motion against Mr Murphy was handed to it on a plate.
Worse still, his colleague Catherine Byrne has backed him into a corner over the issue of housing in her own constituency.
For a junior minister like Ms Byrne to threaten to vote against the Government is a serious matter, especially when the Dáil arithmetic is not in Fine Gael’s favour.
Granted, the probable outcome is that a compromise will be reached. The ground rules of realpolitik suggest that Ms Byrne will most likely secure some sort of concession and Mr Murphy will survive the motion against him.
But surviving to fight another day isn’t enough of a victory. That the Government finds itself in this position does little to suggest the housing crisis is being properly addressed.