Daniel McConnell: Fall of Damien English inevitable and robs Varadkar of momentum
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The fall of Damien English was swift and dramatic but utterly inevitable, given the gravity of the “mistake” he made.
For one of the Dáil’s most genial and likeable characters who had for a long time been knocking on the door of Cabinet, it came on foot of a most alarming discovery about his own property interests.
On Tuesday night, the On The Ditch website published a story that Mr English, now former Junior Enterprise Minister, had not declared the ownership of a house when he submitted a planning application for his own family home in Castlemartin in 2008.
The Ditch had already scalped another junior minister in Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy who fell on his own sword last summer on foot of his failure to properly declare his property interests.
We had seen a raft of politicians make amendments to their Dáil register of interests in the wake of Troy’s resignation in a bid to avoid controversy, including some of the Dáil leading lights.
But the manner of English’s demise raises a host of questions about his actions. Was it credible that he merely forgot to declare his ownership of his property when making his 2008 planning application?
Is it credible that he never once in 15 years felt there was a problem?
In his statement, English said: “Yesterday in an online article, questions were raised about my planning application from 14 years ago. I reviewed this application, made in 2008, and it is clear to me that I failed to inform Meath County Council about ownership of my house in Castlemartin.”
English as late as yesterday was seeking to reject any claims of impropriety saying it was in compliance with the Standard in Public Office’s rules and regulations.
English said his non-declaration of a property in Castlemartin, Co. Meath, on the Dáil register of interests was within the rules laid down by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo).
English and his boss Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will hope that his speedy resignation will help draw a line on the affair and allow the Government move on, but such hopes are fanciful. This has robbed Varadkar of any momentum that he had sought to build up heading back into the new Dáil term.
English’s mistake is a very grave one. His resignation as minister was just but has raised legitimate question marks over his remaining as a TD altogether.