THE BROTHER of Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has apologised for using a departmental e-mail address to issue his own press statements.
Cork city councillor Seán Martin has admitted he sent up to 10 press releases from a Department of Foreign Affairs e-mail address between June last year and January. The statements, sent to media outlets in Cork city, related to what Mr Martin described as “council activity in the south central ward”.
The councillor said he had used facilities in his brother’s constituency office in Cork city to send e-mails on a number of occasions after having difficulties with his own computer system.
“My own computer was down so I used the office computer. I was wrong to do it, I accept that, but it was basically an issue of convenience,” Mr Martin said yesterday. “My brother wasn’t aware of it at the time and he wasn’t happy when he found out.”
Mr Martin, a former lord mayor of Cork, said he ran a clinic from the Minister’s constituency office.
Several Fine Gael representatives on Cork City Council have criticised Mr Martin’s use of his brother’s departmental resources, and a number have called on the Public Accounts Committee to investigate the matter further.
A spokesman for the Minister said last night that he regretted the use of the department’s e-mail address to issue unrelated press statements. “This should not have happened. It was a slip-up,” the spokesman said. “Measures have been put in place to make sure it will not happen again.”