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Marc MacSharry has quit the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party ahead of this evening’s confidence motion against Fine Gael minister Simon Coveney.
Mr MacSharry has written to party colleagues criticising how Fianna Fáil is being run and saying he has “no option but to resign the party whip”.
He says he will be voting no confidence in Mr Coveney in the Dáil later this evening.

Sinn Féin is expected to table a motion of no confidence in Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins


The Sligo-Leitrim TD, the son of former Fianna Fáil minister Ray MacSharry, has been a long-time critic of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s leadership of the party.
In his communication to colleagues Marc MacSharry claims that Fianna Fáil’s “positioning and policy are being determined in a fashion consistent with an undemocratic totalitarian regime rather than that of a democratic socialist republican party of and for the people.”
He writes: “I therefore have no option but to resign the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party whip effective immediately and I will be voting no confidence in Minister Coveney this evening.”
While he is no longer a member of the parliamentary party, he remains a member of Fianna Fáil.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said he regretted the resignation but wished Mr MacSharry well.
Sinn Féin has tabled a motion of no confidence in Mr Coveney’s handling of the appointment of former minister Katherine Zappone to a special envoy role, a job she later declined.
In his letter Mr MacSharry says he had requested a parliamentary party meeting to consider how they should vote in the Dáil this evening.
He writes: “Sadly, as has been the practice over the course of the last year, the party voting intentions have once again been dictated by Government without debate and without input from Fianna Fáil elected parliamentary members.”
He criticised what he claimed was the mishandling of issues like leaks from Cabinet, the ‘Merriongate’ controversy, and what he described as the “ongoing UN envoy debacle” and inconsistencies and contradictions in the interpretation of Covid-19 rules.
He claimed there’s an “irreconcilable reality that the public are expected to accept that some people are expendable and others are not.”
Mr MacSharry also said: “I cannot stand over a situation where depending on the protagonists involved different rules apply.
“I was elected to serve a democratic republic not one which applies different rules and sanctions depending on the identity or position of the people involved.”
Mr MacSharry says he will continue to work with Oireachtas colleagues to pursue solutions to the crises in housing and health as well as the challenges that face the agriculture and enterprise sectors.
He says that “above all” he will continue to “provide effective representation for the people of Sligo, Leitrim, South Donegal and North Roscommon.”
Mr MacSharry adds: “I will work to the very best of my ability in line with Fianna Fáil traditions, its constitution, and values” which he claims “the current leadership regime have unilaterally chosen to completely depart”.
Mr Coveney has said he did not act arrogantly in handling the Zappone appointment “fiasco”, but that he was “embarrassed” by it and apologised for how it was handled.
He said he had seen no problem or controversy with the appointment until it emerged from Cabinet.
“This was using a process that many other countries are using to good effect and putting somebody who I felt was qualified for the job into that role. It was no more or less complicated than that.”
He said his failure to identify this as an issue did not mean he was arrogant. “There’s no arrogance whatsoever about an effort by me as the Minister for Foreign Affairs to try to put a special envoy in place to advocate for freedom of expression and LGBTQ rights internationally.”
He told the Fine Gael party think-in in Co Meath that he “expects” to get support across Government when the confidence vote is taken, and that he has “reached out to people to give them reassurance in that regard”.
Fianna Fáil Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath said the controversy was a “sorry episode” but it was time to move on, adding that party TDs would be expected to follow the whip.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald defended her party’s decision to put the matter to a vote of no confidence, hitting out at “crony politics” which she claimed has been a feature of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments for generations.
She said Sinn Féin was left with no option but to table the no-confidence motion as “the Taoiseach failed to do his job in failing to sanction his Minister”.
Labour leader Alan Kelly said there were “bigger issues” facing the Dáil than a vote of confidence in Mr Coveney, and he did not believe it was a priority. However, he confirmed his party would vote in favour of the Sinn Féin motion, citing a general lack of confidence in the Government.
More to follow...