Government vote of confidence an opportunity to 'clear the decks', says Minister

Vivienne Clarke

Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, has described the government’s motion of confidence in Tánaiste Simon Harris as an opportunity “to clear the decks” in terms of government business.

“We're going to lay out in very clear terms what has been done and what is being done.

"There have been failures, there's no doubt about that and I'm not as a father condoning in any way what hasn't been done for children who haven't been properly served but by the same token we have made huge strides in the last number of years and we are going to continue to do that,” he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

“I think the most important thing here is that, first of all, that we're able to deal with Simon Harris's record, not just as Tánaiste, as Taoiseach and as minister, but as well as that, that we are able to deal with some of the issues that have been referred to by Aontu too, that we'll deal with them this week.

Mr O’Donovan said that Peader Toibín’s motion of no confidence in Simon Harris was “about politics, as opposed to children’s health.”

There was “a multiplicity of issues for donkey’s years” in relation to failures in the health service, he said.

There were situations where health issues were going to arise on an individual basis and “I'm not condoning that. What I am saying is that we have a government at the moment that is clearly focused and there are parents, grandparents in that government who are absolutely at one. That we have to do better by the children who seek assistance and it's not only children, it's adults as well .

When asked if the confidence vote could have an impact on the presidential election, Mr O’Donovan said that remained to be seen.

“Is this really about health or is it about the fact that he doesn't have a horse in the race? I genuinely don't know.”