FINE GAEL LEADER Simon Harris has said it would have been “very unusual” for him to reopen a previous matter involving Senator Martin Conway that arose”many years” before he became leader.

Martin Conway resigned from the Fine Gael parliamentary party on Sunday following his arrest for public intoxication at the end of last month.

However, it has also emerged that the senator was subject to a separate internal Fine Gael  inquiry over allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female party staff member in 2018.

In the Dáil yesterday, Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly quoted media reports that “a sum of ten grand” (€10,000) was made in payment” by Conway following the incident.

O’Reilly called for Harris to make a statement about Fine Gael’s investigation “into Senator Martin Conway for inappropriate behavior to a female staff member”.

Speaking to reporters before today’s Cabinet meeting, Harris said the previous issue “predates my leadership by many years”, as Harris became leader of the party in April last year. He succeeded Leo Varadkar who had been in the role since 2017.

Harris said that the party had investigated the issue and determined that no further action would be taken after an apology was issued by Conway.

“From my perspective, when the issue had been examined, when an apology had been issued, when it was deemed at that stage that no further action was required, it would be a very unusual thing for a new leader to then reopen a matter that in that context was deemed to require no further action many years past,” Harris added.

The controversy follows strong criticism for the party’s decision to support Louth candidate John McGahon in November’s general election, who had been found 65% liable for assault outside a pub in Dundalk in 2018.

Asked about his judgement around allowing party members to run following controversial behaviour, Harris said: “This obviously happened many years before my leadership and senator Conway ran in the Seanad election in 2020, that needs to be remarked upon as well.

“And of course, senator Conway didn’t receive a Fine Gael nomination, he did receive an outside nomination from Vision Ireland – although I absolutely accept he was a Fine Gael senator.”

Harris added: “When an individual is arrested on O’Connell Street – that is not in a normal scenario for a parliamentarian to find themselves in and it was appropriate for him to resign the whip.”

Conway, from Co Clare, was re-elected to the Seanad in the period between the arrest and the first reports of the incident.

He attributed the public intoxication incident on January 22 “due to consumption of sleeping tablets and alcohol”.

Harris said today that a party disciplinary process into the arrest of Conway for public intoxication will now take place.

He said “any disciplinary process would also look at the person in the round” and would involve whether there have been “other issues” for the individual concerned.

The Tánaiste said he expected the “highest standards to be upheld” in the disciplinary process and did not want to “over comment” on the issue until it had come to a conclusion.

With reporting by PA