Chambers believes public will see she made a ‘genuine mistake’

Anton McNulty

MAYO Fianna FΡil TD Lisa Chambers says she believes the Mayo electorate will understand that she made a ‘genuine mistake’ when she voted twice on one vote in the DΡil last week.
The Castlebar-based TD got caught up in the DΡil voting controversy after she claimed she mistakenly sat in the seat of her constituency colleague Dara Calleary when the vote was taking place last Thursday and voted in his name before moving to her own seat and voting again.
She described the incident as a genuine mistake and yesterday (Monday) Fianna FΡil leader MicheΡl Martin accepted her explanation and, unlike her party colleagues Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins, she will not face a sanction.
“I explained what happened and he accepted that it was a genuine mistake which was good,” Deputy Chambers told The Mayo News yesterday.
“When I sat down and voted I thought I was in my own seat, there was no malintent, it was a genuine error and the moment I realised I moved to my own seat. It has happened to people before, I won’t be the first and I don’t think I will be the last. I was just unlucky I made the mistake on the day I made it. There are other issues at play and I think it has been made quite political but for the most part people seem to realise that people make mistakes.”
As the party’s Brexit spokesperson, Deputy Chambers is seen as one of the leading lights in the party and her actions came in for criticism among the public on social media in the last 48 hours. However she feels that this controversy will not damage her in the eyes of the Mayo public.
“I hope not. I have been right around the constituency today [Monday] and anyone I have spoken to, they get and see how it might happen. It has happened to other people. You had Charlie Flanagan saying the same thing this morning that he has done it and he’s the Justice Minister. It is a human mistake and it has been corrected,” she said.
The controversy initially arose when it emerged that Limerick TD Niall Collins appeared to vote six times on behalf of his colleague and Clare TD Timmy Dooley, who was not in the chamber.
Deputy Chambers had initially denied ever voting in someone else’s name on RTÉ’s This Week programme on Sunday, but when it emerged she had, she said she took the question to mean ‘have you ever intentionally or knowingly voted for someone else’, to which the answer was no. It emerged that Deputy Calleary was not aware that his colleague had voted on his behalf.
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said he wrote to the Ceann Comhairle SeΡn Ó Fearghaíl about the issue over the weekend and is expecting him to publish a report at the earliest possible opportunity.
“It is important that we have an independent assessment of the auspices of the Ceann Comhairle. He is the protector of members’ interests and standing orders,” he said.