Ring and Flynn go to war over scholarship

Ring and Flynn go to war over scholarship


Edwin McGreal

Fianna FΡil TD Beverley Flynn and her Fine Gael counterpart Michael Ring have become embroiled in a bitter war of words over the controversial George Mitchell Scholarship.
Deputy Flynn has lashed out at Deputy Ring ‘going on a solo run and taking a cheap shot’ at the scholarship while Ring has slammed Flynn for speaking out on this issue ‘in a week when the country has been left the way it has by the Fianna FΡil Government’ in reference to the NAMA crisis.
Beverley Flynn firstly criticised Michael Ring for his comments on RTÉ Radio 1 where the Westport-based TD declared his lack of support for the scholarship, opposing the views of Fine Gael Education Spokesperson Brian Hayes.
“He went on radio and was giving out as per usual but when he had the forum to talk about this in the DΡil, he was strangely quiet,” Deputy Flynn told The Mayo News. “He is a great man going on a solo run and taking a cheap shot, as usual, at a fund which is doing great work.
“He is not up to the mark on the facts of the matter either and I know he has received correspondence from the US-Ireland Alliance criticising him about the inaccuracy of his comments. It is the same old story with Michael Ring and he must be very thin-skinned if this is the way he is reacting.”
However Ring rounded on Flynn over her criticisms and questioned her commitment to the people of Mayo.
“It is sad that this is all she can find time to talk about in a week when the country has been left the way it has by the Fianna FΡil Government,” he told The Mayo News. “I don’t agree with Brian Hayes and I don’t agree with the party on this one and I’m sorry I didn’t make a stronger view on this earlier.
“How dare she lecture me, the cheek of her. And her elected as an Independent by the people of Mayo and she turns her coat and goes running into the arms of Fianna FΡil, the worst Government in the history of the state thinking she would be made a Minister but she hasn’t been.”
The subject of the controversial cutbacks of Special Needs Assistants at Castlebar Special School, St Anthony’s also flared a row between the two deputies.
“I’m appalled by Beverley Flynn’s lack of support for SNAs in Castlebar and I totally disagree with the €20m being spent on this scholarship - that would pay for four schools,” said Michael Ring. “We’re not in a position to bring over ten well-heeled students from America when we cannot provide proper education for our own people.”
However Beverley Flynn argued that Ring was ‘misinformed’ on the facts.
“If he bothered to inform himself, then he would know that Fianna FΡil has committed that all the money saved on the SNAs issue will be ploughed back into special needs education. This is all about using the money in a more efficient way. When I was first elected in 1997, there wasn’t a single SNA in the country, now there are 10,000.
“In my DΡil speech on the issue I highlighted two areas of the process which I felt needed to be changed and my comments were very constructive and well received on both sides of the house. If you compare them to Michael Ring’s misinformed comments on the same matter, then people can come to their own conclusion.”