Harsh media treatment of Shane Ross unfair, claims Canney

Shane Ross is being unfairly targeted by the media because of his history as a journalist, his Independent Alliance colleague, Seán Canney, has said.

Mr Canney said the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport was getting a hard time from the media. “I don’t think that is fair,’’ he added.

He said Mr Ross believed passionately in judicial reform and had pursued the issue in Government. “In doing that, I think he has enhanced the credibility of the Independent Alliance.”

In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Canney, who is Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief, said he believed the media was focusing on Mr Ross because of what he had written as a journalist over many years.

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“Everything he does is being analysed against a background of his journalistic commentary in the past,’’ Mr Canney added. “Contrast this with myself and the fact I was never quoted in the national media until I was elected to the Dáil.’’

Mr Canney predicted the Government would last for the three budgets set to be underpinned by Fianna Fáil.

He said public service pay, and how the Government and country dealt with it, rather than the fallout from Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, would put the greatest pressure on the Coalition.

“People who are working have paid a heavy price for restoring the economy,’’ he said. “We must plan to restore pay on the basis of what can be afforded, and there can be no return to the benchmarking era.’’

Steep learning curve

Mr Canney, who formerly worked as a chartered quantity surveyor and a lecturer at Galway-Mayo IT, admitted that the transition from Galway county councillor to Minister of State in his first Dáil term represented a steep learning curve.

He topped the poll in the three-seat Galway East constituency.

“I did not get a lot of time to dwell on the niceties of the transition because we simply had to get on with being part of the Government. I was lucky, because you could dwell too much on things, wondering if you would be able for the job or whatever.’’

An early challenge for Mr Canney was dealing with flood relief. He recently announced that spending on flood defence works would more than double, from €45 million annually to €100 million.

Fine Gael, he said, was also on an equally steep learning curve, given it had to adjust to being in a minority government.

“Although some think it is a weakness, I see minority government as a strength,’’ he said. “Fine Gael and ourselves know we cannot mess around and have to work together.’’

Mr Canney said he felt he has been treated with respect and fairness by Fine Gael Ministers. He instanced the case of Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar coming down to his Galway East constituency to gather information on rural development schemes and using it in framing policy.

“I felt we were on the right track,’’ he said.

Mr Canney will hand over his junior ministry to Independent Alliance colleague Kevin “Boxer’’ Moran next August as part of an agreement made when going into government.

Going to the backbenches does not concern him. “Every opportunity you get, you take it for whatever time,’’ he said. “It is a privilege to serve in any capacity.’’