Political reaction to resignation of Damien English TD as junior minister

Politicians across the political spectrum have been reacting to the shock resignation of Damien English TD as Minister for State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment last night following revelations around irregularities in a 2008 planning application where he failed to disclose that he already owned a house.

In a statement this morning Deputy English said having reviewed the planning application it was clear to him that he had failed to inform Meath County Council about ownership of his house in Castlemartin.

“This was wrong, not up to the standard required and I apologise for doing so," he said.

In a statement, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Deputy English offered his resignation last night and he had accepted.

"He informed me that 14 years ago, when applying for planning permission, he made a declaration to Meath County Council that was not correct.

"It was his view given the circumstances that his position was not tenable. I agreed and accepted his resignation," the Taoiseach said.

Speaking on News at One on RTE Radio, Tanáiste Micheál Martin said Deputy English had taken "the right decision in light of the issue that had arisen, albeit 14 years ago".

"I think it is very difficult personally for him. I think he has been a good minister and a good parliamentarian. I've known him quite a number of years. He engages, and is very active. It is a very difficult day for him and his family. But I think he made the right decision in the wider sense, given what transpired."

Minister Simon Harris said Deputy English had taken the swift and difficult decision to resign, and that his resignation will have saddened people across Fine Gael and across the political divide. He made the comments speaking on RTE's Today with Clare Byrne this morning.

There are "very clear rules" in place for any office holder in relation to annual returns, he said

"Those returns are published, scrutinised and available for any members of the public to see."

Meath West TD and Aontú leader has reiterated his call on all parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin etc to carry out an audit of their TDs saying "you can't be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker at the same time".

“We need to draw a line under the practice of law makers from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin being lawbreakers. This is especially true when it comes to the housing sector which is in a state of permanent crisis. It is not good enough that these cases are coming to light as a result of the work of investigative journalists. Political parties have a responsibility here.

“Political parties continually speak of the need for political reform at Oireachtas level. But parties themselves can reform the debasing practices of their TDs with a policy of zero tolerance. Parties themselves could root out the practice of conflicts of interest being hidden, of assets and liabilities of TDs being kept out of sight and responsibilities to hard pressed tenants being ignored. This would involve a deep audit of each TDs records by the parties themselves . For the sake of transparency each party should publish the findings and proper due diligence should be carried out of new candidates in the future. Its hypocritical to continually call for the system to be cleaned up when these parties wont clean up their own organisations”.

“The laws that have been broken by these parties are there to prevent corruption. They are there to ensure proper planning, transparency and fairness. They are there to protect vulnerable. These are not small issues. FF, FG and SF TDs have been exposed in breaking these laws already. Mícheál Martin, Leo Varadkar and Mary Lou McDonald should know by now, political reform starts at home”.

Speaking about Deputy English's resignation on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Minister of State for Community Development, Integration and Charities Joe O'Brien said: "It is clear that his behaviour was not up to standard of what is expected, rightly expected of all of us. I think he has made the right decision today."

He said he does not know much of the details, but that Mr English owned a home he did not declare.

"That is quite a serious omission. And I think he made the right decision to resign today."

Labour's Spokesperson on Education Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said: "We can't expect members of the public to be truthful in their applications, and filling out the forms if those in public eye aren't doing it as well. So, there has to be a much higher standard for those of us in political life. In terms of Government, I would hope that this doesn't happen again.

"I would hope that everybody involved in the Government side of things and across the House have all their affairs in order because we need to have trust in politics. We can't have assumptions within the public that those who are involved in public life just aren't honest."

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she thinks Mr English made the right decision in resigning.

Speaking on the same programme she said that "this is now the I think the second Minister of State to resign and it seems the newly reshuffled Government is in some respects following the pattern of the last one at ministerial resignations.

"But I think Damien has made the right call."