McGrath welcomes withdrawal of Sinn Féin spokesperson remarks concerning senior civil servant

Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath has welcomed the withdrawal of a claim by Sinn Féin’s Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin about a senior civil servant in the Department of Finance.

It is important that civil servants be reassured and feel protected, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

If Sinn Féin were to enter government, Eoin Ó Broin would be a Minister and civil servants would want to know that they would be safe from recriminations under a Sinn Féin government, he added.

Mr Ó Broin made the comments at the Night & Day festival in Roscommon in late September, and they were subsequently reported by the Irish Daily Mail. During the discussion, Mr Ó Broin said he believed John McCarthy, the Government’s chief economist, “should be sacked”.

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Sinn Féin has distanced itself from the comments, and Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar also criticised the remarks.

While Mr Ó Broin has said he no longer stands over the remarks, he also said he does not believe that Mr McCarthy should be advising the Coalition on housing policy.

Mr McGrath said civil servants had to feel that they could give advice freely without fear of retribution. For the 100 years of the State, civil servants had been offering independent advice to politicians who do not always like the advice, but they take on board and sometimes go in a different direction, he added.

McSharry departure

The Minister also expressed disappointment at the departure of Sligo-Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry from the Fianna Fáil party. “It is always a great disappointment when you lose a colleague from the party,” he said.

Mr MacSharry had made his own decision to leave, he added, and the party was committed to dealing with an issue that could have been resolved in a relatively straightforward manner. The party had been anxious to resolve the matter, but there were established procedures - “we have to stand behind the procedures”, he noted.

Mr McGrath also spoke about the high tax returns for 2022. Figures published yesterday by the Department of Finance show tax revenue for the 10 months to the end of October stood at almost €64 billion - almost 25 per cent ahead of the same period last year.

He said that the Government would avoid making expenditure decisions for funds that could be temporary. He said it would be important to put some of this year’s windfall taxes into the national reserves and to spend wisely.