The Tánaiste says Ministers have to talk to elected representatives in the Dáil – such as Michael Lowry – regardless of whether they like them or not.
Eamon Gilmore has also described as a “distraction” the issue of Ministers meeting the businessman Denis O'Brien – saying at this stage members of the Cabinet were going to have to go around “covered in a cloak”.
He made the comments as the Labour party centenary conference gets underway in Galway this evening, from where our Political Correspondent, Páraic Gallagher reports:
As the controversy rolls on over Ministers meeting Michael Lowry – the Tánaiste's faced questions over it at the start of the Labour conference….
But Eamon Gilmore's clear – Michael Lowry is elected by the people of Tipperary North and therefore can not be treated like a pariah:
And after the Social Protection Minister and his Deputy leader Joan Burton was critical of people meeting the businessman Denis O'Brien – and it has now emerged she met him in New York last month – Eamon Gilmore says public representatives have to be able to meet people all the time:
The Labour Party conference – celebrating it's 100 years – is getting underway this evening – tomorrow hundreds of turf cutters, septic tank owners and those against the household charge are set to protest at the event.
