HEALTH MINISTER JAMES Reilly will make a personal statement to the Dáil at 9.55pm this evening just five minutes before the chamber adjourns for the night.
Opposition party leaders have called for time to question the Minister over his investment in a nursing home in Tipperary which has led to his name being placed on a debt defaulters list in the Stubbs Gazette.
But the government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe said that Reilly’s statement was a personal one and that these types of statements “don’t allow people to have a round of speeches afterwards”.
“I believe James Reilly will give a statement and will clarify all the issues that he has to clarify,” Kehoe told TheJournal.ie today.
Controversy has arisen after it emerged the Minister’s name appears on the Stubbs Gazette debt defaulters list published yesterday following his and four co-investors failure to comply with a High Court order regarding the purchase of the Green Hills home in Carrick-on-Suir for €1.9 million.
The Taoiseach has said that his party colleague has assured him that he will comply with the order and that there is no conflict of interest as Reilly has divested his interest in the nursing home purchase to his solicitor which was then transferred to another solicitor.
This followed contact with the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO).
Both Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams have raised issues with the timing of tonight’s statement from the Minister.
In the Dáil today, Martin said it was curious while Adams said he wanted time to question Reilly.
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