Flight problem that stopped Tánaiste making coalition meeting was factor in Cabinet confusion

LAST UPDATE | 26 Oct 2023

MICHEÁL MARTIN MISSING the coalition leaders meeting on Monday evening due to being stranded in Luxembourg was a factor in the heated disagreements which subsequently took took place at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, it is understood. 

The Tánaiste was delayed returning home following a meeting of EU ministers as a result of a problem with the Air Corps plane he was due to travel home in. 

He had to travel on a commercial flight as a result of the problem.

As reported by The Journal last night, the delay resulted in Martin missing the usual meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan.

The Monday evening meetings take place the night before every Cabinet meeting and were set up to ensure that there are no surprises the next morning. 

It was decided at this week’s meeting that the coalition would defer bringing any memo to Cabinet on proposals around imposing a three-month time limit on state accommodation for refugees from Ukraine. Martin was also informed of this decision.

Due to the flight disruption and delay, it is understood that Martin also missed the beginning of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

While there was no memo brought to Cabinet on the accommodation issue, the matter was raised by Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman.

It’s understood his raising of the issue caused confusion, as Martin had understood that a discussion would take place at a later Cabinet meeting when a memo would be presented to government with concrete proposals. 

Government sources have batted away suggestions of any Cabinet split or row, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insisting that recent reports of unrest are “exaggerated”.

Cabinet meeting 

Speaking to reporters ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels this afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar dismissed suggestions that he was trying blindside the Tánaiste, stating: 

“No, that’s that’s that’s not the case. And in fairness, the Tanaiste I think has said that’s not the case. This is a row that is being exaggerated. Minister O’Gorman has [had] proposals for quite some time and they’ve been discussed at leaders level, discussed at a couple of subcommittee levels as well. And he asked for permission to raise something at the meeting, which I gave him, and that’s not unusual thing at all. It was never a case that decision was going to be made.”

“While there is no limit on the compassion of the Irish Government and the Irish people, there is a limit on our capacity and we are very much at that,” Varadkar said in the Dáil yesterday. 

Ireland has welcomed almost 100,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war in February of last year. 

“I’m very proud of that as a country,” he said.

“We’ve done that in the past two years, and notwithstanding the difficulties that has caused and the enormous challenges and cost, I think when we look back on this period of history, being a small country that took in 100,000 Ukrainians is something that we should be proud of and will be proud of.”

He said “we just don’t know” if we are in a position to support the additional 30,000 to 50,000 refugees that are projected to arrive in Ireland from Ukraine over the next year.

Speaking at an event in Dublin this morning Martin also rejected that there had been a row in Cabinet 

“I think it’s a bit exaggerated to say there was a row,” he told reporters. “I think there have been many challenging issues that have come before us.”

“I think the real story is that Ireland has responded very generously, very effectively in respect of the war on Ukraine.

“This is a war,” he said. “Putin has weaponised migration deliberately. He bombed civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure to create panic early in the war and and also killed civilians and then created a migration crisis, the largest we have ever experienced on the mainland of Europe.”

“Ireland has played its part admirably, we shouldn’t lose sight of that.

“Obviously, as the war goes on, we have to calibrate our response, reflect on it.

“That’s all very fair. But I’m always conscious fundamentally, we can’t let Putin win this war either.

“His inhumanity and the Russian invasion is the ultimate creator of all of this. We’ve just got to be firm and deal with issues that arise – and we will.”

Minister for Higher and Further Education Simon Harris said formal proposals were needed to ensure the system implemented is “sustainable”.

“I think what is also absolutely clear, and you always have to be honest with this, the status quo can’t continue,” he told reporters.

“We have to be supportive of Ukraine, but we also have to look at the entire package that we can provide to make sure it is sustainable, because we want to be able to continue to support. So it is done from a place of good, as many European countries are doing.

“In relation to Cabinet, it goes without saying, Cabinet meetings are private, but I think what Minister (for Integration Roderic) O’Gorman was doing, quite rightly, was highlighting to colleagues a real issue that we need to grapple with.

“And I think the responsible thing for all of us to do as a Government now is to await formal proposals. And I do think it makes sense when we’re looking at formal proposals for that to consider all aspects.

“I think there’s one opportunity here to look at how do we make sure the offering that we provide to people from Ukraine is honest and sustainable and durable for the weeks, months and potentially years ahead.”

- With reporting by Lauren Boland and Daragh Brophy