THE row over speaking rights in the Dáil continues as opposition parties declared their intention to resist Government proposals to apportion regional independent TDs and its own backbenchers with speaking times.
This issue reared its head at the beginning of the 34th Dáil and has proved a thorn in the side for the government ever since. A vote is scheduled for this afternoon on the new proposal, though deadlock looks likely to continue as the Opposition has declared its intention to resist it.
The row began in January when Micheál Martin's nomination as Taoiseach was hindered. Opposition parties have been adamant that the introduction of a new question and answer slot for regional independents and coalition backbenchers will create a democratic deficit in the chamber.
The Government meanwhile has insisted that changes will not affect the speaking time of Opposition parties. Despite the impasse, the Taoiseach said he remains hopeful that selecting Dáil Committees could begin next week.
Micheál Martin said that he was ready to get on with the real work of government, saying that what he was proposing was ‘modest’. He accused the opposition parties of grandstanding on a ‘politically manufactured’ issue.
Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the biggest opposition party Sinn Féin, said simply that Michael Lowry’s group of TDs could not effectively state their intent to support the government whilst simultaneously opting for the same rights as the Opposition.
Tánaiste Simon Harris said that opposition parties were ‘misleading’ people over the nature of the proposal. He dismissed their concerns as ‘poppycock’ and insisted that ‘not one moment of time’ was materially being taken away from them in terms of allocated time.
“What we’re doing is recognising that other people got elected,” he said. “And even under this system they still won’t have the same level of speaking [time] as the Opposition.”
Mr Harris said that the proposal would effectively give backbenchers and independent TDs eight minutes on a Wednesday or Thursday to ask questions.
“The idea that you’d say today ‘if we don’t like the result in the Dáil, we’re going to walk out and cause chaos’… I mean come on, it's not a crèche,” he said.
