Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has sought to play down the controversy surrounding the appointment of Fine Gael's John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
Speaking in Limerick, Mr Noonan said Fine Gael is a very big party across both the Dáil and Seanad and that there were bound to be differences of opinion on matters.
He said he has never been at a parliamentary party meeting in which differences of opinion were not expressed, but he believed it would be sorted out in due course.
Minister Noonan said controversy is in the nature of politics but that the important thing is to work through it as honestly as possible and to keep the party moving in the same direction.
Mr McNulty announced his resignation from the IMMA board yesterday following a wave of criticism in relation to the appointment.
Speaking earlier on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Fine Gael TD Sean Conlan said there was a fear within the party that Taoiseach Enda Kenny is returning to the "days of stroke politics" and "the days of Charlie Haughey".
The Cavan Monaghan TD said the vast majority of Fine Gael TDs want to see reform in Irish politics.
He said they want the Irish public to know they do not agree with how Mr McNulty's appointment to the board of IMMA has been handled.
Mr Conlan said the decision of Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys to place Mr McNulty on the IMMA board was a mistake and it should not have happened.
He said it damages the image of Fine Gael both nationally and locally.
He said he agreed with comments made by Fine Gael TD John Deasy yesterday that the appointment process regarding Mr McNulty's nomination to the Seanad had clearly been manipulated and abused.
Mr Conlan also said Fine Gael TDs did have a fear of speaking out and this needed to end.
He said the appointment process should be transparent and he believed Mr McNulty had been damaged by the way he was appointed to the board.
Mr Conlan said the appointment process is flawed and both the minister's and the Taoiseach's actions had damaged Fine Gael.
He said Minister Humphreys should say whether she knew Mr McNulty was to become the party's preferred candidate for the Seanad when she appointed him to the board of IMMA.
Mr Conlan said: "We all need to know the answer to that question.
"Is it a coincidence that he's appointed to the board and then suddenly he's the Taoiseach's preferred candidate to the Seanad?
"It stretches credulity to believe she didn't know what she was doing when she appointed him to the board.
"And I mean the general public are not stupid. The general public can see what's going on here."
However, Fine Gael TD for Mayo Michelle Mulherin has defended the appointment of Mr McNulty to the board of IMMA.
Ms Mulherin, speaking on RTÉ's News At One, also defended the Taoiseach on his appointment of women to the Seanad..
"The Taoiseach has to decide, at any given time, who is the best person.
"Gender is a consideration, there are other considerations, the ultimate adjudicator on that is the Taoiseach, but suddenly the Taoiseach's ability to decide who is the best candidate and where they should be is called into question, when all his nominees - who are independent, excellent senators - nobody has called into question his judgement in relation to them, why now?"
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has accused Mr Kenny and the Government of fundamentally undermining the Seanad.
Fianna Fáil has said the appointment was made to help the candidacy of the Donegal businessman in the forthcoming Seanad by-election.
Sinn Féin's Vice-President Mary Lou McDonald echoed Mr Conlan's comments, saying the prudent and honourable thing to do would be for Mr McNulty to withdraw from the election.
Ms McDonald called on the Taoiseach and Minister Humphreys to give a full account in the Dáil of how Mr McNulty came to be appointed to the board of IMMA.
She also said her party had been told it was not possible within the rules to re-run the Seanad by-election.
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