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FINE GAEL MINISTER Pat Breen has spoken for the first time about his involvement in a controversial dinner he attended at the National Broadband Plan bidder David McCourt’s house with former Communications Minister Denis Naughten.
Speaking to his local radio station, Clare FM, he maintained he had nothing to answer for, stating:
“The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have stood firmly behind me on this. Why? Because I have done nothing wrong here. I merely passed on an invitation here to Minister Naughten. It was up to Minister Naughten to accept or reject that invitation.”
Last week, the junior minister admitted to have met with David McCourt, head of the only consortium left in the running for the National Broadband Plan tender, on a number of occasions.
The Minister of State with responsibility for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection admitted to extending a dinner invitation, at the request of McCourt, to the then communications minister.
The dinner was held in McCourt’s own home, which is just a few miles from Breen’s own house, he said.
Breen said he does not have any role in the broadband plan – worth €500 million. He said at no stage was the project discussed by Naughten or McCourt at the dinner he attended, he said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris have defended Breen in the last couple of days.
‘Unwise’
When Varadkar was asked by TheJournal.ie on Monday about whether he accepted Breen’s explanation, the Taoiseach said he did.
“I spoke to Pat Breen about it and Pat Breen’s explanation, which I accepted, is that Mr McCourt asked him to pass on the invitation, which he did. Pat, at the time, asked Denis Naughten as to whether it was okay for that meeting to happen, and it did.
“Pat Breen was present. But ultimately the decision as to whether it was appropriate or not to accept the invitation was one for Denis Naughten,” said Varadkar, who added that Breen had no role to play in decision-making process for the NBP.
When asked did he think it was wise for a junior minister to extend an invitation to the communications minister from one of the bidders for the half a billion Euro broadband project, he said:
“I am sure in retrospect we can all see it was unwise, but a resigning matter it is not.”
Asking on behalf of a constituent
The health minister has also come out batting for Breen, stating that Breen had merely asked a minister to meet a local constituent. Breen has said McCourt – the man bidding for the half a billion Euro contract – lives just 10 miles away from him.
Harris defends Pat Breen’s decision to invite Naughten to dinner with McCourt pic.twitter.com/osHVLaRk21
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) October 12, 2018
“Pat Breen asked a minister to meet a constituent, a neighbour, and Denis Naughten decided to do that,” said Harris.
After the fallout of Naughten’s resignation, Breen said he has gotten to know McCourt on “a personal basis” and has visited his Co Clare home several times. He said he has also met him on other occasions in a private capacity.
Despite support from his party colleagues, members of the opposition have said Breen’s explanation of events are not good enough, with some such as Green Party leader Eamon Ryan questioning why Breen did not speak up about the dinner at MCourt’s house with Naughten, when the communications minister was facing intense questioning about a dinner he had with McCourt in New York.
At this point, the Dáil nor the Taoiseach were aware of further meetings, yet Breen remained silent.
This week, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said Breen’s answers were “not credible”.
Meanwhile, Breen’s constituency colleague Clare Independent TD Michael Harty has called on the junior minister to address the Dáil on the issues he has found himself embroiled in.
This week, TheJournal.ie asked Breen’s office, as well as the Fine Gael Press Office, a number of questions about the junior minister’s relationship with McCourt.
At the time of publication there has been no response from his office.
A response from Fine Gael Press Office merely pointed to the statement released by Breen last week adding there would be no further comment.
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fair play to him/ he’s got some brass neck on him….anyone living in rural Ireland knows how this’ll pan out….next week a different crisis( this’ll be forgotton)…come the election they’ll be canvassing with the ” rural broadband plan” as one of their ‘ success’ stories.There is NO BROADBAND coming to rural Ireland- one day it will come but it’ll be mighty expensive
How may ministers did Breen invite to his neighbour’s house?
Was he given a list or does Denis have superior manners?
Casey #1
@Fiasco99: I was going to reply with ” me too” but nowadays that inplys I was sexually harassed for a job yonks ago so I’ll just day; I’m voting Casey Also
@Frank Dubogovik: Hell Casey is one straight talker the pc media and love sick MD supporters dislike him so he has to be doing something correct
Breen done nothing wrong, harris looking for apologies for the great injustice done to fitzgerald, and flanagan apologizing on behalf of everybody else for the hounding of McCabe. What a joke of a gov!
@Adrian:
He wasn’t actually caught doing anything wrong. He just knew it was wrong but didn’t point that out at the time. He was just the “fixer”. Wink wink.
Breen and naughten doing the same job. Naughten resigns, breen done nothing wrong. Must be a FG thing!
@Adrian: I’ve a feeling they thought they’d sneak Frances Fitzgerald back in but FF and SF decided not to play ball with a grovelling apology and the opinion polls on it probably didn’t look great either….
We need rid of FFG…
FG hard neck brigrade then again its the party of Michael Lowry and poor auld Francis
That’ss the problem with these politicians, they think that there is nothing wrong with anything they do such is their arrogance.
When leo starts expressing confidence in you its time to worry
Does Breen et al think we’re utter gob*****s! Get Peter Casey on the job ( literally and metaphorically)!!
The problem is Irish people actually believe politicians are in the game for the public’s welfare more like self enrichment from every one of them
When a party is in government for one term too many this is the sort of stuff that happens behind the scenes.
There’s an awful whif of old FF from this modern FG.
I suppose he had no hand act or part in cooking the dinner.
Ou est le menu?
@Padraic O Sullivan: No minutes were recorded
All very corrupt and deceitful,nonsense saying he has nothing to do with broadband so it was ok.if he is that stupid he should be a TD.
Old saying do not shoot the messenger, Christ he has some blueshirt neck. Was Breen as stupid as Naughten? The blind leading the blind.
He should not be allowed to continue in office. Especially since Naughten was forced to resign for the exact same thing. He broke the rules, he is a disgrace to the office.
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