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Flight problem that stopped Tánaiste making coalition meeting was factor in Cabinet confusion

The leaders’ meetings were set up to ensure that there are no surprises the next morning at Cabinet.

LAST UPDATE | 26 Oct 2023

MICHEÁL MARTIN MISSING the coalition leaders meeting on Monday evening due to being stranded in Luxembourg was a factor in the heated disagreements which subsequently took took place at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, it is understood. 

The Tánaiste was delayed returning home following a meeting of EU ministers as a result of a problem with the Air Corps plane he was due to travel home in. 

He had to travel on a commercial flight as a result of the problem.

As reported by The Journal last night, the delay resulted in Martin missing the usual meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan.

The Monday evening meetings take place the night before every Cabinet meeting and were set up to ensure that there are no surprises the next morning. 

It was decided at this week’s meeting that the coalition would defer bringing any memo to Cabinet on proposals around imposing a three-month time limit on state accommodation for refugees from Ukraine. Martin was also informed of this decision.

Due to the flight disruption and delay, it is understood that Martin also missed the beginning of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

While there was no memo brought to Cabinet on the accommodation issue, the matter was raised by Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman.

It’s understood his raising of the issue caused confusion, as Martin had understood that a discussion would take place at a later Cabinet meeting when a memo would be presented to government with concrete proposals. 

Government sources have batted away suggestions of any Cabinet split or row, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insisting that recent reports of unrest are “exaggerated”.

Cabinet meeting 

Speaking to reporters ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels this afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar dismissed suggestions that he was trying blindside the Tánaiste, stating: 

“No, that’s that’s that’s not the case. And in fairness, the Tanaiste I think has said that’s not the case. This is a row that is being exaggerated. Minister O’Gorman has [had] proposals for quite some time and they’ve been discussed at leaders level, discussed at a couple of subcommittee levels as well. And he asked for permission to raise something at the meeting, which I gave him, and that’s not unusual thing at all. It was never a case that decision was going to be made.”

“While there is no limit on the compassion of the Irish Government and the Irish people, there is a limit on our capacity and we are very much at that,” Varadkar said in the Dáil yesterday. 

Ireland has welcomed almost 100,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war in February of last year. 

“I’m very proud of that as a country,” he said.

“We’ve done that in the past two years, and notwithstanding the difficulties that has caused and the enormous challenges and cost, I think when we look back on this period of history, being a small country that took in 100,000 Ukrainians is something that we should be proud of and will be proud of.”

He said “we just don’t know” if we are in a position to support the additional 30,000 to 50,000 refugees that are projected to arrive in Ireland from Ukraine over the next year.

Speaking at an event in Dublin this morning Martin also rejected that there had been a row in Cabinet 

“I think it’s a bit exaggerated to say there was a row,” he told reporters. “I think there have been many challenging issues that have come before us.”

“I think the real story is that Ireland has responded very generously, very effectively in respect of the war on Ukraine.

“This is a war,” he said. “Putin has weaponised migration deliberately. He bombed civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure to create panic early in the war and and also killed civilians and then created a migration crisis, the largest we have ever experienced on the mainland of Europe.”

“Ireland has played its part admirably, we shouldn’t lose sight of that.

“Obviously, as the war goes on, we have to calibrate our response, reflect on it.

“That’s all very fair. But I’m always conscious fundamentally, we can’t let Putin win this war either.

“His inhumanity and the Russian invasion is the ultimate creator of all of this. We’ve just got to be firm and deal with issues that arise – and we will.”

Minister for Higher and Further Education Simon Harris said formal proposals were needed to ensure the system implemented is “sustainable”.

“I think what is also absolutely clear, and you always have to be honest with this, the status quo can’t continue,” he told reporters.

“We have to be supportive of Ukraine, but we also have to look at the entire package that we can provide to make sure it is sustainable, because we want to be able to continue to support. So it is done from a place of good, as many European countries are doing.

“In relation to Cabinet, it goes without saying, Cabinet meetings are private, but I think what Minister (for Integration Roderic) O’Gorman was doing, quite rightly, was highlighting to colleagues a real issue that we need to grapple with.

“And I think the responsible thing for all of us to do as a Government now is to await formal proposals. And I do think it makes sense when we’re looking at formal proposals for that to consider all aspects.

“I think there’s one opportunity here to look at how do we make sure the offering that we provide to people from Ukraine is honest and sustainable and durable for the weeks, months and potentially years ahead.”

- With reporting by Lauren Boland and Daragh Brophy 

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15 Comments
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    Mute Peter
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:11 PM

    Someone thinks about what they know about this brutal murder or what someone very close to them knows about it every night before they sleep, hoping it will be gone when they wake up, but it won’t have gone & it never will. If it’s you, her family have suffered enough, help them.

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    Mute Joe Conlon
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:02 PM

    Hard to believe that it’s been 16 years since her murder.

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:11 PM

    it must be so hard for the family knowing that this man was never brought to justice . wonder if they’ve looked into a certain person that was recently locked up for the murder of another young woman. 16 years ago ? he would have been quite a young guy then .

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    Mute Joe Conlon
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:12 PM

    @Suzie, I reckon that a lot of people are wondering the same as you.

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    Mute Christine Hanway
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:14 PM

    I seen this headline an just thought the exact same… These “type” of killers now being caught shud always be looked into for past unsolved murders alike…

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    Mute Peter
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:21 PM

    The original detective heading the case was interviewed recently & ruled out any involvement by that freak.

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    Mute Meehawwl O'Buachailla
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    Sep 4th 2015, 1:12 AM

    I have it on very good authority that the cops know exactly who did it but have been unable to nail him as someone provided a false alibi for him. This is the reason for the annual appeal as per above.

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    Sep 4th 2015, 1:19 AM

    I don’t know how that person can live with themselves , to provide a false alibi and keep quiet all these years .

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    Mute Meehawwl O'Buachailla
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    Sep 4th 2015, 1:27 AM

    His girlfriend I believe.

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    Sep 4th 2015, 1:30 AM

    she’s probably terrified of him or she loves him so much and doesn’t want to lose him so she’ll do anything for him ! either way she’s an idiot !

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    Mute Andrew Matheson
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    Sep 4th 2015, 1:58 AM

    Heard this as well.

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    Mute Joan Featherstone
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    Sep 4th 2015, 6:48 AM

    Heard that too!

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    Mute Rashers Tierney
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 9:03 PM

    Somebody knows. In the name o Jaysus, give it up – give this family some peace. How do you live with yourself? Cut the crap and do the right thing.

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    Mute Fiyoyo
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 10:08 PM

    the cops know who killed her but they can’t get enough evidence and most likely someone is protecting him. Apparently he was a regular to that pub. No one I know will walk down there alone, not even in the day time

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Sep 4th 2015, 5:59 AM

    If they “can’t get enough evidence”, then they don’t “know” who killed her, they just have a theory.

    19
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    Mute Kathleen Henderson
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 10:01 PM

    Someone knows something for sure…..that someone told at least one other person….for sure….bragging is part of killing. …If that one other person is half way decent ….even send an anonymous tip to the GARDAI please….that family…..bless and save us…no one should suffer what they have…..If you know anything…..TALK NOW PLEASE.

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    Mute John
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:25 PM

    Jesus she was only 17 and she was working late, going to the pub and then on to a nightclub?

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    Mute Peter
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:32 PM

    @john… Sad comment.

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    Mute John
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:35 PM

    Why? Legally she was still a child that should have been doing none of these things but then again it is Ireland where there aremany laws and very little justice.

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    Mute Jean Keely
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:37 PM

    Yes John that’s what 17 year olds do, it’s called living and someone evil
    took that away from her.

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    Mute Peter
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 8:48 PM

    @john…. Sadder comment.

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    Mute VinHeffer89
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 9:39 PM

    Don’t blame the victim.
    That’s cold.

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    Mute John
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 9:52 PM

    @VinHeffer89
    Who is blaming the victim??? Where did you read that?

    There are many people who could be blamed but Raonaid is most certainly NOT one of them.
    1st would be the perpetrator who is evil beyond belief and then you might look at the Judiciary and the Minister for Justice who have allowed a situation develop where there is active support for criminals at every hands turn (free legal aid, soft sentencing, poor laws etc) while the victims are frequently forgotten.

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    Sep 4th 2015, 12:41 AM

    why question what she doing then and quoting her age ?

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    Mute John
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    Sep 4th 2015, 3:15 AM

    @Suzy
    I had remembered the case and the bits about Scott’s bar but didn’t realise she was a child, her age was mentioned in the above report. There is nothing in what I said or indeed have ever said that puts blame on her or ANY crime victims in Ireland.
    Does this satisfy you?

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Sep 4th 2015, 6:05 AM

    All John is trying to say, admittedly in a cackhanded way, is that a young adult that age shouldn’t be going out to pubs with her friends and should instead be imprisoned at home until the third hand strikes midnight on the morning of her eighteenth birthday, the moment at which, everybody know, we all suddenly turn into butterflies.

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    Mute Fiyoyo
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    Sep 4th 2015, 11:04 AM

    did you not work or drink in a pub when you were 17?! Times were different back then!

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    Mute shouldweallbe
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 11:12 PM

    Is it defo a male? Ye all seem so sure .(awaits link to murder stats by gender link)

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    Mute Suzie Sunsine
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    Sep 4th 2015, 12:37 AM

    witnesses heard her telling a man to leave her alone

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    Mute Banana Rama
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    Sep 3rd 2015, 9:39 PM

    @John What is wrong with you?

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