Peadar Tóibín calls on Micheál Martin to respond following Chambers’ attack on Green Party

AONTÚ leader Peadar Tóibín has called on Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to clarify if he will remain in government with the Green Party after Senator Lisa Chambers suggested that Fianna Fáil cut ties with the party. 

The Mayo native and Seanad leader became embroiled in a war of words with Green Party Senator Pauline O'Reilly when she said that Fianna Fáil's relationship with the Green Party was ‘no longer tenable’

Interesting that Lisa's discovered the potential of wind energy just when she is about to run for election! What she hasn't discovered however are the facts. Floating offshore offers huge potential but industry experts say the technology isn’t ready for West. Back to school Lisa! https://t.co/KeAXpkwH79

— Senator Pauline O'Reilly, MEP Candidate (@paulinegalway) April 29, 2024

The former TD and Mayo County Councillor accused the party of putting the country 'in a green straight jacket' by not progressing the development of floating offshore wind farms along the Atlantic seaboard.

Deputy Tóibín, who is running against Senator Chambers in the European elections in the Ireland Midlands North-West constituency, called on Tánaiste Micheál Martin to clarify his party's position regarding the Greens. 

In a statement, Deputy Tóibín suggested that Senator Chambers was ‘cynically exploiting’ fears of people in rural Ireland regarding the ‘huge damage the Greens are doing’. 

Fianna Fáil have been senior coalition partners with the Green Party and Fine Gael since the formation of a historic three-party coalition in 2020. 

“We don’t know if Lisa Chambers actually is genuinely concerned about the people of rural Ireland and the huge damage the Greens are doing, or if she’s cynically exploiting their fears, knowing that the writing is on the wall and the people of rural Ireland,” said Deputy Tóibín, who suggested that rural dwellers are ‘sick to the hind legs of being lectured by an increasingly arrogant and out of touch Green Party’. 

“We know that Ms Chambers did a cynical ‘volte face’ following the Family and Care Referendum and claimed that she voted No No, but as this was after the event , after the body politic of Government and an acquiescent opposition were resoundingly trounced by the voting public, most people take her pronouncements with more than a grain of salt.”

“However in her position as Leader of the Seanad, her words must carry some weight and what I want to know now is whether Micheál Martin is going to cut ties with the Greens as Senator Chambers is urging him to do or if he is going to carry on his coalition with them regardless of his Senators’ self professed ‘concerns’.”

Deputy Tóibín is running against four Mayo women in June European elections; MEP Maria Walsh (Fine Gael), Senator Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fáil), Michelle Smith (Independent) and Saoirse McHugh (Independent).

The Mayo News has contacted Senator Chambers for a comment.