Deputy Collins: Whelan's appointment was ‘stroke politics'

THE recent appointment of the former Attorney General Máire Whelan to the High Court of Appeal is a prime example of stroke politics and of a system that ‘was nothing less than crooked and corrupt’, Goleen Deputy Michael Collins has said.

Deputy Collins (Ind) said he has told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that he, for one, is glad that he did not vote for the Fine Gael TD before he was appointed to the State’s highest office last week.

Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Collins said that he did not question the ability of Máire Whelan to fulfil her new role in any way. ‘However,’ he added, ‘I have to say that the process in appointing Máire Whelan to the Court of Appeal, the second highest court in this land, was nothing less than crooked and corrupt.’

‘Had Máire Whelan applied through the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB), and had she been duly appointed to the position, I have no doubt that there wouldn’t be an eyebrow raised,’ Deputy Collins continued. ‘But instead what we got was another stroke pulled by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, a case of jobs for the boys. And the girls, in this case.’

Deputy Collins said that it was clear from this appointment that ‘cronyism’ was alive and well in Irish politics. ‘I must say that I am very glad that I voted against you last Wednesday given the events of these last few days,’ Deputy Collins said.

‘This is not the “New Politics” that you and your government so fondly speak about. The appointment of Máire Whelan was rotten and another example of cronyism that is alive and well in Ireland.’