Junior minister James Browne’s remarks referencing instances where Minister for Justice Helen McEntee was replaced by colleagues while on maternity leave have been “completely misinterpreted”, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been embroiled in an election campaign row over law and order.
On Friday, Fianna Fáil Minister of State Mr Browne said that he had done 50 per cent of all the legislation in the Department of Justice during the last Government.
He told Newstalk Radio: “The junior shouldn’t really be carrying that level of weight in a department.”
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Asked if he had to carry too much of the burden for Fine Gael Minister Ms McEntee, he responded: “No, but you’ve had the Taoiseach who has been in there for six months and so has Minister Heather Humphreys as well.”
Both Taoiseach Simon Harris and Ms Humphreys assumed the justice brief during Ms McEntee’s maternity leave.
Mr Browne also said: “It just speaks I think to the department itself being overwhelmed.”
He said Fianna Fáil is promising to create a new department of domestic affairs to assume some of the responsibilities of the Department of Justice.
His remarks were criticised by some within Fine Gael, with one source accusing Mr Browne of “calling her [Ms McEntee] out for taking maternity leave”.
On Monday, Mr Martin insisted that Mr Browne “has been completely misinterpreted” and Fianna Fáil’s “position on justice is a policy-based one not personal”.
He said: “James’s point is, that there’s huge workload in justice that needs to be divided up into two separate departments and secretary generals.”
Mr Martin added that Mr Browne is “quite annoyed that he’s being misinterpreted”.
Separately, Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea claimed Ms McEntee was “the worst Minister for Justice in the history of the State”.
Mr Martin said he did not agree with Mr O’Dea.
In response to Mr O’Dea’s remarks Ms McEntee said: “I will stand on my record.”
She said this was a record of “the largest ever expansion of our courts” and “one of the largest expansion of our prison service”.
Ms McEntee also highlighted her focus on the “epidemic” of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and how there is now a new agency and a tripling of funding to tackle it.
She also said: “It’s a record that will always stand up to the thugs and criminals” and “we have invested significantly in dismantling organised crime”.
Meanwhile, another senior Fianna Fáil TD, Jim O’Callaghan, last week suggested that a list of initiatives that had originated with him had been taken on board by Ms McEntee, including proposals for Garda recruitment and knife crime legislation.
Ms McEntee’s responded, saying: “There are probably women all over the country who will understand it when men try to claim credit for their work.”
On Monday, Mr O’Callaghan rejected any suggestion that his remarks were sexist, saying: “All I was doing was I was pointing out that many of the successful measures that Minister McEntee implemented were on foot of proposals from myself and Fianna Fáil.
“I would make the same point had Charlie Flanagan been the minister for justice, so I don’t think I should be precluded from making those points simply because the Minister is a female.”
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