No plans 'at the moment' to call Varadkar to court as Sinn Féin launches Super Juniors court case
Speaking outside the court this morning, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the challenge is to a government that her party believes has 'played fast and loose with the Constitution to secure a grubby deal with Michael Lowry to retain office'.
Daly is asking the court to declare that the
attendance of the super juniors at government meetings is unconstitutional.
There had previously been suggestions that former Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar could be called as a witness in the case.
In his
column in the Sunday Times
earlier this year, Varadkar said creating super junior ministries is a way to 'get around' the fact that the number of ministers is technically capped at 15.
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However, asked today if Varadkar will be called as a witness, Daly said there are no plans to 'call him physically into court at the moment'.
In
February
, the case appeared before court for an initial hearing, with Attorney General Rossa Fanning representing all of the respondents – himself, the Taoiseach and the Government.
Speaking yesterday, Daly said that the case challenges what he believes 'is a deeply problematic and unconstitutional practice that has taken root in recent decades – the attendance and participation of so-called 'Super Junior' Ministers at meetings of the Government'.
He said that the case was a constitutional challenge aimed at protecting the integrity of Ireland's system of government.
There is a constitutional limit of 15 members of Cabinet. Daly is arguing that the four super junior ministers who also sit at Cabinet is unconstitutional.
The super junior ministers appointed to Cabinet include Fine Gael's Hildegarde Naughton, as well as Independents Sean Canney and Noel Grealish. Fianna Fáil's chief whip Mary Butler is also a minister of state attending Cabinet.
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