A COALITION ON THE RACK

Zappone f lies into storm over McCabe crisis after family event in Seattle Kenny faces vote of no conf idence FF insider calls Garda chief ‘lame duck’ Whistleblower wants a criminal inquiry Warning of more revelations to come

MINISTER Katherine Zappone’s political future hangs in the balance as the minority Fine Gael and Independent Government faces a potentially difficult motion of no confidence.

Of particular concern is the Minister’s decision to not tell any of her Government colleagues what Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe told her regarding errors by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, that led to the spreading of false allegations against him.

Her decision to say nothing before, during or after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting and her subsequent decision to fly to the US on Thursday just before the crisis broke, was widely criticised privately by Government and opposition sources.

But a Government fightback yesterday saw the Taoiseach and Health Minister expressing confidence in Ms Zappone who will fly back from a family event in the US into a storm of her own making.

Mr Kenny will address the crisis today on the

This Week programme on RTÉ Radio. This all comes after a fresh day of drama in the Garda whistleblower saga which saw:

Renewed pressure on Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan after sources close to the Fianna Fáil leadership called her ‘a lame duck’.

The HSE confirming that the counsellor who made the ‘cut and paste’ error, which led to the spread of serious false allegations of sexual abuse allegations against Sgt Maurice McCabe, worked for it.

Fine Gael falling 11 points behind Fianna Fáil in a new opinion poll, which is likely to raise fresh questions about the leadership of Enda Kenny, who knew about Ms Zappone’s meeting last month with Sgt McCabe but apparently did not ask her about it.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin demanding that an international police force now carry out a criminal investigation into the series of errors in Tusla.

A Fianna Fáil TD telling the MoS that more revelations about what senior gardaí knew about the false sex-abuse allegations are set to emerge in testimony before the commission.

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald stated last night that the party would table a motion of no confidence in what she described as a ‘kick for touch, cover up’ Government.

Ms McDonald said: ‘People the length and breadth of Ireland are rightly outraged by what has transpired over the course of the last week. The Government is clearly unable to deal with the major issues facing our people.’

That argument was backed up by the latest Behaviour & Attitudes poll for the Sunday Times which showed a growing chasm last night in support between the two main establishment parties, with Fianna Fáil jumping up three points to a post-bailout high of 32%, and Fine Gael down two points at 21%.

Crucially, the poll taken up to Wednesday only so did not capture any reaction to the shocking RTÉ Prime Time revelations about how Tusla handled allegations against Sgt McCabe.

Ministers confirmed that a Sinn Féin motion of confidence will increase the possibility of a general election.

However Fianna Fail leadership sources said that as of last night they still intend to support the Government and will not vote with Sinn Fein as things stand.

That does not prevent the possibility of rogue TDs from the Fianna Fáil and Independent benches voting against the Government.

Ministers say this will further destabilise Mr Kenny’s leadership as it firmly establishes in the minds of Fine Gael TDs that they may have to enter a general election campaign with the Taoiseach as leader. He has said he will not stand again.

In times of large government majorities motions of confidence are not usually a concern. However, with the tight Government majority when Fianna Fáil abstain, this could be a problem. Should the Government lose Ms Zappone’s vote, the Dáil arithmetic would be very tight.

Meanwhile, cabinet ministers said Mr Kenny’s judgement would be raised at a parliamentary party meeting next week.

Sources close to the Fianna Fáil leadership said last night it hoped that Commissioner O’Sullivan would do ‘the right thing’ and go on gardening leave. A senior Fianna Fáil source said last night: ‘The carry-on in Cabinet distracted from Nóirín O’Sullivan for a while. The sooner the inquiry is set up the better. Micheál has been talking to McCabe since Wednesday.

‘McCabe is devastated on a personal level now but he knows he’s going to be vindicated. And he knows he will be able to sue for a lot of money.

‘We think people believe that McCabe has been completely

No confidence in ‘cover up Government’

wronged, they don’t think it is a coincidence, I don’t know is her credibility there. How can she actually do her job?

‘It is down to Nóirín O’Sullivan herself, and it is down to the Government but surely somebody is having a few words with her to say, “Can you actually carry on the job with such things hanging over you?”

‘She needs to say, “While I may not be guilty, I think the right thing to do is to step aside for a year… I don’t think she’s going to do that.

‘The longer she stays, the longer this will go on and on and on.

‘Fianna Fáil… obeys the rule of law. That is why Fianna Fáil will not come out and say she must go. She’s a lame duck though, and you can’t go on with lame ducks.’

‘There is no proof that she has done anything wrong.

‘She’s a liability, if I was Frances Fitzgerald I’d have a quiet word

with her. It’s a matter of time before she steps aside.’

Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness has already broken rank and said Ms O’Sullivan must stand aside while the inquiry is conducted.

It was a view also expressed on RTÉ Radio One yesterday by Mr Howlin, who said: ‘I spoke at length with Maurice McCabe this morning and he actually is of the view that what we need is something much broader. And he is in agreement with the idea too, that what is required now is an external criminal investigation headed by police officers from outside of Ireland.

‘It would require emergency legislation to be put in place but I think such is the dripfeed of information, such is the clear incapacity of the leadership of An Garda Síochána now to deal with all these matters and do the critical, probably the most critical business of any agency of state and that is to protect the citizenry of this State from crime and subversion.’

He added: ‘I think it would give much more public confidence if she stood aside and someone else took over until all these matters are resolved.’

A cabinet minister said last night: ‘It’s a bit of a feeding frenzy. Zappone’s explanation about confidentiality stacks up but I think Tusla should have been in the terms of reference agreed at Cabinet.’

The minister said he was not in favour of Ms O’Sullivan stepping aside. ‘I don’t like the idea of people having to step aside on foot of allegations. Anyone can have false allegations made against them, including Maurice McCabe and Nóirín O’Sullivan.’

However ministers are bracing themselves for more revelations.

‘But if any real evidence came into the public domain that implicates her, I think that would change things,’ he said. Another minister said: ‘Best-case scenario, it looks like a mess and the opposition extract a few extra things being tagged onto the terms of reference, and off it goes.

‘Worse case scenario, it could be very bad. I genuinely don’t believe she [Ms Zappone] has done anything wrong… she is being very naive. You wouldn’t sit at Cabinet and not say this.