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A FIANNA FÁIL TD has said that Micheál Martin should resign as party leader as he steps down from the role of Taoiseach at the end of the year.
John McGuinness, TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, said that some of Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party are becoming “anxious” about how close it is to Fine Gael.
Martin, who has led Fianna Fail since 2011, has been the Taoiseach since 2020 but is due to hand the position over to Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar in December as part of the agreements of the coalition government, mid-way through its term.
Speaking on Newstalk’s On The Record with Gavan Reilly programme, McGuinness said that “we’re looking to the future in terms of the leadership of the party, the next general election and so on, and there’s always a time mid-term to look at these issues and look at the changes that are necessary both in policy and direction”.
“It’s a natural timing that you would look at these things, just as much as you should look at the program for government which was brought about in 2020 under completely different circumstances”.
“A lot of the parliamentary party are now becoming anxious about how close we have become to Fine Gael and how close our policies are with Fine Gael and there’s no distinction between both parties, so the time has come to create that distinction and to follow the policies that we once had,” he said.
“The confidence and supply arrangement, I think, was very damaging for the party.”
McGuinness, the Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, and Taoiseach, said he would oppose current Tánaiste Leo Varadkar becoming Taoiseach if Micheál Martin does not step down as Fianna Fáil’s party leader.
“I would subscribe to that but I would hope it would not come to that,” he said.
“That’s something that I will promote with colleagues at a parliamentary party meeting and accept then the consensus from the meeting in terms of the direction that we will take.”
The unusual coalition between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party decided at its outset that Micheál Martin would take the role of Taoiseach for the first half of its term and it would then go to Leo Varadkar, who was Taoiseach at the time of the general election.
Last week, the government won a confidence vote in the Dáil by a margin of 85 to 66 despite losing its majority due to TDs resigning the whip.
Sinn Féin had proposed a vote of no confidence in the government, with leader Mary Lou McDonald saying it was “out of touch” and “coming apart at the seams”.
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Isn’t a well known public figure who abused for years getting their sentence reduced down to 2 years for “good character and behaviour” (insert Judge feel good lingo here)
It needs to be said, we do not punish abusers in Ireland, there is no deterrence. It needs to change.
Also a conversation on consent needs to be amped up further in schools. Things need to change.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: well said. Rape should mean a life sentence.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: I agree , well said. Respect and consent , and relationships in general should be discussed in schools
@James Wormold: Chemical castration would be a more economic and effective option.
@Carla Killeen: raping women would be anathema to the vast majority of men with a high sex drive. Rape is about much more than male hormones and sex, it’s about control and violating another person. Chemical castration might reduce recidivism rates but there is no evidence to suggest it acts as a deterrent in the first place. Teaching children about respect, body autonomy and consent from a young age might prevent some from ever thinking it’s okay to violate another person.
You won’t see Leo tackling this problem, you won’t see any kind of judicial reform regards to sentences. I am convinced the judges always try to side with the perpetrator, if you have a good character, if you plead guilty, if you have a job. Anything at all that can be used to reduce a sentence the judge will try his best, oh he was cooperative, that’s another few months off. Then of course in the case of a rape, the judge doesn’t sentence for each crime committed within the rape, the violence, the threats etc it is all bundled into one and the mandatory suspension part of the sentence.
And yet in the other news report today we have people insisting abortion services are a “lifestyle choice” and not required in Ireland.
The perpetrators get full benefit of certain circumstances while the victim gets violated over and over .. Throw away the keys .
In a society where the media and entertainment industry place heavy emphasis on sexual consumption and instant gratification as elements of the Good Life, it is not surprising that predatory men see women and girls as objects of their desires.
@Garreth Byrne: so rape didn’t exist before TV?
@EillieEs: Rape is as old as the hills. The sex saturation of the media and mass entertainment tends to emphasise eros rather than conjugal love as a key element of the Good Life. Women’s bodies are graphically projected more than their minds and personal qualities. As sex objects they are targeted for male gratification.
If you use a gun as a weapon it’s taken from you…….chemical castration
@John O Reilly: Agreed, it would be the best deterrent.
@John O Reilly: how to stop that person ever using it as a weapon in the first place?
@EillieEs: nothing….some people are animals
How can you be a good person if you rape someone should get life imprisonment
@Margaret Kane: This question needs to be asked, this is a really good question that should be put to judges.
If 34.3% of the enquiries to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre are from other parts of the country is this a funding issue?
It’s not really a great place at all, especially if the privileged have hurt you. Pigs and sheep, people, pigs and sheep.
have your say