Independent Alliance doesn't regret stance on Frances Fitzgerald, says Shane Ross
Shane Ross does not regret the stance taken by the Independent Alliance to support former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald right through the latest McCabe emails scandal.
The Transport, Tourism and Sport Minister defended the decision to express full confidence in Ms Fitzgerald last Friday just days before further emails around a campaign to discredit Maurice McCabe emerged which eventually led to the Tánaiste's resignation.
Announcing the allocation of Sports Capital Grants for 2018, Mr Ross said: "We don't regret the position we took at all, we took a position that we should be very careful to monitor what was going on and to be absolutely sure of the facts as they emerged.
"It was a moving situation all the time and we had to take account of that moving situation."
However, he ruled out a snap election in the near future, claiming the Government is now back on a stable footing.
"The events of the past week was something we could have done without but we are going to step back into Government immediately and get on with the job," he said.
"I don't see any issue threatening the Government at the moment, the Government was very well settled before the recent incident, I would regard it as something that is temporary and is not going to be repeated and it will settle down again to get on with the job .
"The economy is thriving. A lot of the problems have been resolved, but we have got to tackle homelessness, we have got to tackle health and we have got to tackle other issues, but on the whole it's stable Government and we are working very well together," said Mr Ross.
