Vote of no confidence in McEntee proposed

A vote of no confidence has been floated against Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. 

McEntee’s position has come under renewed pressure following last Thursday’s riot in Dublin, with Sinn Féin reportedly floating a motion of no confidence against the embattled Fine Gael minister.

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty told RTÉ that should Government fail to part ways with McEntee, his party would call for a vote of no confidence against her.

He stated that the party “would consider all options” with regards to McEntee, up to and including a vote of no confidence.

On Friday, party leader and Dublin Central TD Mary Lou McDonald said she had no confidence in either Garda Commissioner Drew Harris or Minister McEntee.

McDonald’s fellow constituency TD Gary Gannon said he had no confidence in Harris, but stopped short of expressing no confidence in McEntee.

TD Neasa Hourigan, a fellow Dublin Central opposition TD, said she did not know if she could vote in favour of confidence in McEntee.

Hourigan was initially elected as a member of the Green Party but was expelled from the party following repeated votes against Government motions.

The Irish Independent reported that several Fianna Fáil backbenchers have shown a reluctance to back McEntee in a vote, which may bring back bad memories for Fine Gael as their precarious minority Government collapsed in early 2020 after a vote of no confidence was called in then-unpopular Minister for Health Simon Harris.

On that occasion, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar opted to dissolve the Dáil rather than face certain defeat.

Sinn Féin had planned to use their Dáil time this week to discuss the Triple Lock policy, but it is understood that the main opposition party are looking to table the vote against McEntee.

Talk of the no-confidence vote dominated the news cycle on Monday, with McEntee’s fellow Fine Gael Minister Heather Humphreys telling reporters she “didn’t see the point” in a vote.

“I don’t see what the point of a motion of no confidence is. I’ve sat through the Dáil on many, many occasions with motions of no confidence. They achieve nothing,” she said.

“If we were spending our time bringing forward more legislation in terms of the body cams, that I know the Minister is bringing this week, I think that would be much more beneficial.”