Barry Cowen: Refusal to address the Dail 'behind sacking'

Former Irish agriculture minister Barry Cowen was sacked because he "refused" to make a statement on the issue in parliament, Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin has said.

Mr Cowen was dismissed on Tuesday night due to a controversy over a drink-driving ban from 2016.

He said his sacking had "undermined" fair process.

Mr Martin said he had seen a Garda (police) report that raised "additional issues requiring further explanation".

The Fianna Fáil politician served a three-month ban for drink-driving in September 2016.

He denies that he attempted to avoid a police checkpoint during the incident. The allegation is stated in a Garda computer record of the incident.

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, the taoiseach said he had made it clear to Mr Cowen on Tuesday morning that he should come into the house and make a statement, but that he had refused to do so.

"As soon as leaders questions was over and the Dáil (Irish parliament) was over, I contacted Deputy Cowen and said his position in refusing to come before the Dáil in my view was not acceptable and tenable," he said.

"He still refused to go that route

"The fundamental difference between myself and Deputy Cowen on this issue is Deputy Cowen took a legal route, a legalistic approach to defend his rights, in his words as a citizen and a public representative.

"In my view the issue could only be resolved through the political route and through coming in to Dáil Éireann.

"In my view a comprehensive statement was needed from the deputy in this house in relation to these issues."

The former agriculture minister, who was appointed just 17 days ago, was stopped at the checkpoint and breathalysed on his way home to County Offaly from Dublin after the All-Ireland football final four years ago.

Writing on Twitter following his dismissal, Mr Cowen said: "At no time did I attempt to evade the Gardaí.

"Had I done so, the charges brought against me would, quite correctly, have been of a different tenor to those with which I was charged.

"I am responsible for the offence with which I was convicted four years ago, not for an inaccurate Garda entry on Pulse (Garda computer system) about that event."

He added: "Ten days ago and this afternoon the taoiseach believed my failure of 2016 didn't warrant my removal from office, but he now appears to have changed his mind based on a Pulse report I gave him this morning."

by Shane Harrison, BBC Dublin correspondent

Mícheál Martin knows that after his sacking of Barry Cowen, the opposition parties will now focus on him and his handling of the affair.

Why did he appear to defend his then agriculture minister in the Dáil on Tuesday afternoon and then fire him less than seven hours later?

What did he know about the drink-driving controversy? When did he know it? And what, if anything, did he do with that information?

By any measure the Fianna Fáil element of the three-party coalition with the Greens and Fine Gael has had a dreadful start.

First there was the mess of cabinet appointments, with no full minister from as far south as Limerick to Donegal in the north.

Then Fianna Fáil deputy leader Dara Calleary made clear his unhappiness at merely being chief whip.

Now, Mr Calleary has been announced as Mr Cowen's replacement as agriculture minister.

Meanwhile, Jim O'Callaghan, a potential focus of opposition to Mr Martin's Fianna Fáil leadership, declined a junior ministerial appointment.

And, all the while, the Cowen drink-driving controversy rumbled on with lots of media coverage.

In sacking Barry Cowen, the taoiseach appears to have taken the view that if you're explaining, you're losing - but Mícheál Martin knows he too now has some explaining to do.

Mr Cowen, who is the brother for former taoiseach Brian Cowen, said he the report was "leaked in contravention of the protections that I and every other citizen is entitled to expect in respect of their interaction with the Garda".

"Unfortunately the decision of the taoiseach to remove me from office, when he supported me this afternoon in the Dáil, has undermined and potentially prejudiced my entitlement to fair process," Mr Cowen concluded.

Mr Martin was elected taoiseach just over two weeks ago as part of a historic coalition deal between his party, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and Fine Gael.

On Wednesday, he announced that chief whip Dara Calleary would replace Mr Cowen as agriculture minister.