Vindicated... so now will Frances get her job back?

Backbenchers want to see Mrs Fitzgerald back in the Cabinet after she is praised by tribunal judge

FINE Gael backbenchers are demanding Leo Varadkar welcome back Frances Fitzgerald into high office after she was thoroughly vindicated by a tribunal report yesterday.

The clamour for the former tániste’s restoration to the Cabinet stems from their anxiety to ‘right the ship’ of Government after the shock resignation of Denis Naughten yesterday.

Fine Gael backbenchers believe morale would be boosted by bringing back Mrs Fitzgerald – which would also be ‘one in the eye’ for Fianna Fáil, the party which forced her departure last December.

Education Minister Richard Bruton will temporarily take on the additional duties of Communications Minister after Mr Naughten resigned over meetings with the head of a consortium bidding for a multi-million euro contract to provide rural broadband.

Now Fine Gael rank-and-file want Mrs Fitzgerald brought back soon after Judge Peter Charleton’s praise of her actions.

Mrs Fitzgerald had been forced to resign as justice minister last December amid claims that she had ignored warnings from her officials that counsel for the Garda Síochána was preparing to aggressively question whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe at the O’Higgins Commission, the forerunner to the Charlton Tribunal.

However, Mr Justice Charleton said he accepted her decision not to interfere ‘was not a lazy dodging of the issues but rather a considered response’.

Fianna Fáil had last November threatened to table a motion of no confidence over Mrs Fitzgerald’s handling of the emails.

But Judge Charleton yesterday was highly critical of how the controversy had nearly brought down the Government at a ‘crucial juncture for Ireland in the Brexit negotiations’.

He goes on to praise Mrs Fitzgerald who, rather than allow the Government to fall, ‘selflessly decided to resign in the national interest in November 2017’.

Last night, Fianna Fáil admitted the report had supported Mrs Fitzgerald’s view that she was correct not to interfere in the matter, but claimed she had lost the confidence of a majority of the Dáil by last November.

It is understood the Taoiseach is firmly of the view that it is too soon to bring Mrs Fitzgerald back into the Cabinet. But he also believes that certain Opposition politicians now need to correct the Dáil record on both her and former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan after calling for their heads.

Many of Mr Varadkar’s backbenchers however believe the restoration of Mrs Fitzgerald cannot come soon enough, pointing to her vast experience, proven competence and popularity throughout all levels of the party.

She sat behind the Taoiseach yesterday as he announced that Mr Bruton would replace Mr Naughten, who resigned after it was revealed that he had had more private dinners than he had previously disclosed with the leader of sole remaining bidding for the national broadband rollout programme.

Mr Varadkar did not speak to Mrs Fitzgerald yesterday as he grappled with a rapidly deteriorating political situation – but many backbenchers were seen to shake her hand as she circulated between formal sittings.

One Fine Gael TD told the Irish Daily Mail last night: ‘Bring her back as a minister. It will strengthen the party and remind Fianna Fáil that they are not, actually, in the driving seat.

‘She doesn’t have to be tánaiste. But it would be good to have her there on the front bench – a permanent reminder of their [FF’s] incompetence.’

Mrs Fitzgerald told the Mail she had not spoken to Mr Varadkar – who had predicted she would be vindicated by the tribunal – in the wake of its endorsement of her stewardship of the Department of Justice.

‘The Taoiseach has had a lot on his mind today,’ she said, referring to Mr Naughten’s resignation. She declined to say whether she entertained hopes of an early return to the corridors of power.

But on the Charleton Report she said: ‘On a personal level I am pleased that I have been found to have acted appropriately, used my judgement well, and that my evidence has been accepted as truthful.’

She said she had established the Tribunal in the first place ‘to find the truth about very disturbing information given to me when I was Minister for Justice’.

She said she was pleased that it is proving effective in the quest for the truth in complex matters. ‘There are many lessons to be drawn from the report, which requires thorough and careful reading.’

Mrs Fitzgerald, whose position as tánaiste was taken by Simon Coveney, said: ‘It is tempting to jump to conclusions in complex situations in both politics and the media. But this must be tempered by respect for facts and due process.’

She said she had at all times

‘One in the eye for Fianna Fáil’

abided by these principles. She said she wish to thank the Taoiseach for his support ‘during and since the controversy erupted.’

Mrs Fitzgerald said his words at the time of her resignation had been ‘prophetic’. Mr Varadkar told the Dáil late last November: ‘In the past few days a drip-drip of information may have made certain things seem greater than they are.

‘There was a feeding frenzy, and it became impossible for her [Frances Fitzgerald] to get a fair hearing based on the full facts.’

Mrs Fitzgerald paid tribute to her support base on the Fine Gael backbenches. ‘I also want to thank my Fine Gael colleagues and all of in constituents for their support – and of course, my family,’ she said.

A Fine Gael deputy said last night: ‘Bringing her back, when and if, is a matter entirely for the Taoiseach. But I personally believe it would be very popular within Fine Gael and with the people of Ireland.

‘Everyone respects Frances Fitzgerald and I also think she is going to play a major role for the

‘Selflessly resigned in national interest’

party in the next election, whenever it comes.’

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan last night accepted Mrs Fitzgerald had been vindicated by Tribunal report.

He said: ‘The report supports the evidence given by former minister Frances Fitzgerald that she believed it was correct to do nothing in response to the memo she received from a senior civil servant in her Department on May 15, 2015.’

‘Although former Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald is entitled to point to today’s findings, it is important acknowledge that no finding of the tribunal can change the fact that last November Fianna Fail, and indeed the majority of Dáil Éireann, had lost confidence in her position.

‘This was in part because of inaccurate statements made by the Taoiseach on her behalf in Dáil Éireann on November 14, 15 and 21. Government ministers are accountable to Dáil Éireann for statements made in the Dáil.’

IT is the bizarrest of coincidences that on the same day that Denis Naughten was forced to quit the Cabinet, a former Cabinet minister, Frances Fitzgerald, was publicly vindicated after having had to stand down. Ms Fitzgerald was forced out of her role as Justice Minister by Fianna Fáil last year amid allegations that she had known about a Garda strategy to attack Sgt Maurice McCabe, but had done nothing to prevent this. Yesterday the Charleton Report found that Ms Fitzgerald had done nothing wrong.

It is worth remembering that Ms Fitzgerald strongly proclaimed her innocence at the time: faced with the prospect of the Government being collapsed and the country being forced into an unwanted general election, however, she chose to step down. Since then she has maintained a dignified silence.

Now that she has been cleared of any wrongdoing, it is only right that she should be restored to her position in Cabinet. Normally, this might pose problems for a Taoiseach who has no ministerial office to give: but Mr Naughten’s resignation allows Ms Fitzgerald to return to the Cabinet forthwith. Failing to return her to a senior position would not only be politically foolish: it would compound the unfairness that was done to her in the first place.