Speaking rights plan ‘makes a mockery’ of Dáil

Irish Opposition parties have criticised the latest bid to give Dáil (Irish Parliament) speaking rights to Independent Dáil members who are propping up the government.

Some of those Independents – who supported and helped negotiate the Programme for Government – want dedicated Dáil time to hold ministers to account.

But Opposition parties claimed that “would make a mockery of the functioning of the Dáil” because Independents cannot scrutinise a government which they prop up.

The Opposition insisted the plan was “utterly unacceptable and will not be tolerated”.

However, the government argued that speaking rights rules must respect the mandate of “each and every” politician elected to the Dáil.

It defended the plan, saying the Independents would be given their own time slots which would not take a single second away from Opposition speaking time rights.

The row has been rumbling since January, when loud protests from Opposition parties led to turbulent scenes in the Dáil, which had to be repeatedly adjourned.

The protests resulted in a delay to the re-election of Micheál Martin as taoiseach (Irish prime minister), who had to wait until the next day to take up office.

His Fianna Fáil party won the most seats in November’s general election but not enough to form a government on their own.

In January Fianna Fáil re-entered a coalition government with the Fine Gael party but this time, instead of the Green Party, they secured the support of several Independents.

The arrangement means the coalition now has a comfortable majority in the Dáil with which to vote its policies through.

However, some of the those Independents, including Michael Lowry, Danny Healy-Rae, Barry Heneghan and Gillian Toole, sought to form a “technical group”.

That proposal would have afforded their group speaking time and other rights from the Opposition benches.

When the row first emerged last month, five Opposition parties came together to fiercely oppose the plan, describing it as “utterly farcical”.

Now the government has come up with a revised plan to give regional Independents and government backbenchers new speaking slots every Wednesday and Thursday.

If voted through, it would mean about 60 Dáil members would be allowed to question the taoiseach and the tánaiste (Irish deputy PM) on a weekly basis.

Irish national broadcaster RTÉ reported that the government defended the plan in a two-page document which was circulated to the Dáil Reform Committee this week.

RTÉ said the document stated that a” modern parliament is not necessarily made up of ‘government’ and ‘opposition’ members”.

It added “there are members who can’t readily be categorised as such,” referring to Independents who support the government but do not have ministerial posts.

The plan has been condemned in a joint statement from Opposition parties Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and Independent Ireland.

They described the move as: “Yet another cynical attempt to manipulate speaking time in order to grant special privileges to TDs who were part of negotiating the Programme for Government and clearly and unambiguously support the government.”

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and other Opposition leaders spoke outside the Dáil on Wednesday night to voice their anger.

She said the actions of the two main government parties were “outrageous” and “dangerous” to the functioning of democracy.