Taoiseach Micheal Martin has slammed Sinn Fein’s motion of no confidence in Leo Varadkar stating it is “inappropriate and a “destabilising move.”
And believes it will be defeated in the Dáil on Tuesday.
Mr Martin said the Tanaiste has accepted what he did was wrong and Sinn Fein should focus on the pandemic impacting the economy and society.
He said: “I think he [Leo Varadkar] has said it was an error of judgment, I do think he accepts it was wrong.
“But I do think the Sinn Fein motion is a disproportionate response.
“And I think a destabilizing move of this kind at this particular juncture so early after a general election I don’t think is the appropriate response.
“I believe the government will win the vote next week.
“The key issue facing us as a society is the global pandemic and its impact on jobs, the economy and business.
“Government wants to focus on that issue and protect our health service, education, keeping our schools open and also in terms of house building going and the housing issue.”
He said those issues should “command all of our attention.”
Meanwhile, Mr Martin indicated that Level Five restrictions would not be eased early.
He said: “I’ve come from a meeting from all the party leaders with the Chief Medical Officer and the head of the HSE Paul Reid.
“My view is that we went into this for the six week duration wide to get the numbers really down at a very, very low level so that we could have maximum flexibility then for December and beyond and get a long stretch out in terms of both bringing back the economy, reopening the society and enabling people to get back to work particularly areas in non-essential retail.
“That’s the overarching ambition and objection behind Level Five.
“We are doing a lot of work now to analyse and doing work in preparing the exit from Level Five but also in terms of what works in different sectors for the future.”
The Taosieach added that the ban on household visits had “a big impact” and said there is a “window of opportunity” for December to enable people to have a good Christmas.
He told RTE News: “What’s clear, we did Level Three and it seems to keep it at a certain level and stop the exponential growth.
The restrictions on the households had a big impact it seems.
“Human behaviour ultimately is the key and in terms of congregation and that.
“It won’t be the same as last year [Christmas]
“I do believe we can create a window of opportunity for December to enable people to have a good Christmas albeit a different Christmas to what we would normally experience.”
