Gavan Reilly
27m, 6 tweets, 2 min read
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Three different complaints from SF in the last few hours to the Govt’s proposed appointment of Geraldine Feeney, ex-FF senator, to the board of public standards watchdog SIPO. Job must go to a former office holder but Feeney more recently worked as a lobbyist for NAGP - yes, them
Feeney would therefore become a member of SIPO which is therefore poised to investigate @paulmurphy_TD’s complaint into Leo Varadkar’s leak of IMO document with the NAGP - yes, them
The proposed appointment has to go through both Dáil and Seanad; SF want Feeney’s name withdrawn.
Currently due for ratification in Seanad next Tuesday and in Dáil a few days later
(There’s nothing to say that Feeney would not recuse herself from considering any complaint into NAGP-themed issues, but nonetheless the optics are… poor)
The issue was put to Leo Varadkar himself earlier - Pearse Doherty pointing out that the NAGP was Feeney’s only lobbying client.
Varadkar said name had been put forward by Michael McGrath (as minister responsible) - but her name was approved by Government as a whole last Tuesday
I hear some questions are already being asked within FF circles as to how the name was arrived at - a lot of fondness for Feeney as a former parliamentarian, but confluence of timing has some members furious
Nominated by Cabinet on very same day Varadkar faced confidence motion