*Cathal Crowe, Mike Enright and Timmy Dooley.
FIANNA FÁIL’s Chairman in Clare has said the party’s only TD in the county, Cathal Crowe, should go “to Mothercare and get a soother”.
Comments from Chairman of the Fianna Fáil Comhairle Dáil Ceantair in Clare, Mike Enright come following The Clare Echo’s reporting on the criticism within the party locally over the omission of Cathal Crowe TD (FF) from the guest-list to an energy forum that almost all party members in the county received invites to.
There was much furore among Fianna Fáil members locally when it emerged that the party’s only TD in the county had not received an invite to ‘Powering the Future: Liberal Energy Forum’ which took place in glór on Friday.
Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) is co-president Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Party) which funded and organised the event. Party members had been critical of Crowe’s omission from the guest-list but Senator Dooley stressed that invites were sent from party headquarters.
Speaking to The Clare Echo about the controversy, Fianna Fáil CDC Chair in the county, Mike Enright stated, “Everything was done through headquarters. To my knowledge, every member was asked to attend, Cathal Crowe the TD is a member of Fianna Fáil and I presume he was asked to attend like everyone else so I don’t know what the controversy is. I think maybe it might be no harm if he went to Mothercare and got a soother it might help him a small bit”. The Newmarket-on-Fergus native commended Senator Dooley for organising an event which he labelled as “very good and very positive”.
Deputy Crowe expressed his disappointment with the remarks from his party colleague. “That is a very disappointing and unchairmanlike comment, and it is not befitting of the most senior figure in the Clare Comhairle Dáil Ceantair,” he told The Clare Echo.
Earlier, the Meelick native made an intervention from the floor at the energy forum which he was initially not invited to. Deputy Crowe confirmed to The Clare Echo following his impromptu interruption that an invite arrived to the property of his parents on Thursday, six days after they and his sister received their invites to the same address.
Once a panel discussion titled ‘Deep-dive into Decarbonising Transport’ concluded, Deputy Crowe attempted to get a microphone to address the crowd. Crowe was unable to get onto the stage but organisers including Senator Dooley and Billy Kelleher MEP (FF) were happy for the TD to speak, however a microphone was not offered to Deputy Crowe.
Minister of State for Skills and Further Education, Niall Collins (FF) had chaired the panel discussion which included Minister of State, Department of Transport & Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Jack Chambers (FF), Shannon Airport Group CEO Mary Considine, Liana Gouta, Director General of FuelsEurope and Xavier Noyon, Secretary General, European Biodiesel Board.
Speaking from the floor, Deputy Crowe stated, “To the ALDE delegates, I’m Cathal Crowe, I’m a TD elected in the county and a member of parliament, I’m a spokesperson on aviation and this is an extremely important discussion ye’ve had this morning. I hope any of ye that flew into the country came in through Shannon Airport, the whole sustainability thing isn’t just about what is fuel dependent, sustainable aviation I think has to be what happens on the ground, I don’t think in any European country it is sustainable that all aviation be dominant from the capital city.
“It is very hard in twenty minutes to get into that but we need to talk about the regions and we need to position Shannon and indeed other airports that are geographically peripheral as sustainable alternatives as opposed to getting everything through the city centres or the capital airports. I’m going back to my office shortly but I just want to welcome all the ALDE events and indeed all the people from the Banner who are here today, have a great weekend in the county”.
