Tánaiste Micheál Martin criticised online publication The Ditch under Dáil privilege as he accused them of launching political campaigns to “undermine character and reputation”.
He accused them of not being “independent media” as he criticised people linked to the website, including WebSummit founder Paddy Cosgrave and former shareholder Chay Bowes.
It came ahead of Dáil statements from Minister of State Niall Collins regarding a plot of land that was sold to his wife in September 2008.
READ MORE: Coalition leaders deny suggestions Minister of State Niall Collins 'broke the law'
The Ditch reported that Minister Collins, who was a councillor in Limerick, attended a meeting in January 2007 at which the sale of the land in Patrickswell was initially discussed. A solicitor working on behalf of his wife, Eimear O’Connor, had written to the council in December 2006 inquiring about the land.
Documents seen by the Irish Mirror show that a full council meeting decided to sell the land to Ms O’Connor in September 2008, by which point Mr Collins was already a TD.
During Leaders’ Questions, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns asked why a question and answer session was not being held on Thursday afternoon with Minister Collins. Instead, a statement will be made.
Mr Martin took the opportunity to launch an attack on The Ditch. Using Dáil privilege, Mr Martin said that previous articles published by the group about Mr Collins were “false”.
He said: “It has more to do with undermining character and reputation than anything else. I think that deserves scrutiny too from the house – How these campaigns are developing, the orchestration of these.
“I don't think this house should be a slave or should be facilitating political campaigns organised by platforms. I don't see The Ditch as an independent media platform at all. Paddy Cosgrave does. Paddy Cosgrave is a backer.
“Chay Bowes is a founding member of The Ditch. Chay Bowes is quoted on Russia Today.
“The Russian Ambassador is full of praise for Chay Bowes for his characterisation of the Russian war on Ukraine as a NATO-EU organised war. He was a founding member of on The Ditch.
“I'm a fair person. I've been a member of this house for a long, long time. But the world of politics has changed. I understand what has changed. We should not be slaves to it.
“Legitimate questions can be asked. If you look at that whole campaign and how it's organised over the last week, it deserves analysis.
“The trending, the build-up, the hashtags, the algorithms, the paid ads, the berating of media for daring not to discuss it or cover it. Extraordinary full frontal attacks on the national broadcast an other TV [channels] and other media for not following the trending operation.
“As far as I can see, this is a political campaign.”
Mr Martin went on to brand The Ditch a “political organisation attacking Government”. He said that there had been a “campaign against me, against my party”.
He branded Mr Bowes and Mr Cosgrave as “being opponents of Government”, as he questioned who was funding The Ditch.
When People Profit TD Paul Murphy asked further questions about Minister Collins, the Tánaiste continued to criticise The Ditch.
“There have been attempted character assassinations of many politicians in this house and many political parties, if they're not the same political orientation or those who back The Ditch," he continued.
“The selective and distorted way that stories are originated and presented, there's an awful lot to be desired. This is a political organisation.
“There's the whole agenda. Create the campaign, get paid ads, get it trending, attack media if they don't cover it. And then we get into the Dáil for questions and answers.
“We’ll make our judgement call on this as to the balance in terms of how we approach it in terms of balance in terms of Dáil questions.”
Mr Martin was asked by Deputies Cairns and Murphy why Minister Collins was not taking questions about the sale of the plot of land to his wife.
Instead, the Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick will make a statement to the Dáil at approximately 1:45pm this Thursday afternoon.
A spokesperson for The Ditch described Mr Martin's comments as a "hysterical and paranoid attack".
"The Ditch has never paid for advertising or attacked any Irish media for not covering our stories.
"The Ditch has two directors, Eoghan McNeill and Roman Shortall, who are two of the company’s three shareholders, the third being a holding company for lawyer Adam Connon. We are funded by our subscribers, who donate through a link on our website, as well as Web Summit as part of the company’s support for Irish media.
"The Ditch’s investigative reporting has led to the resignations of two ministers in Martin’s government, as well as the ex-deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála – these consequences explain Martin’s conspiracism in the Dáil today."
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