Opposition parties are challenging the Ceann Comhairle's decision allowing Independent TDs who support the Government to join a technical group, arguing it infringes on opposition speaking time in the Dáil. The debate highlights tensions within the Irish political landscape as the new Dáil commences.
A controversy continues to swirl around a bid by Independent TDs to boost their Dáil speaking time by joining a technical group . Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy obtained separate legal advice which she says allows for the controversial move by Independent TDs to proceed.
Opposition parties and Independent TDs will present a joint submission on Tuesday challenging Ms Murphy’s view that the members of the Regional Independents Group without ministerial office are entitled to become members of a technical group. In an unusual show of cross-party co-operation, Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, and technical groups have agreed to prepare a joint document, which will be presented to the Dáil’s Business Committee on Tuesday. The Committee’s membership is drawn from whips of all the parties and groups represented in the Dáil. In a letter issued on Friday, after a meeting of the committee, Ms Murphy informed TDs that Independent TDs who were not a Minister or Minister of State, but had agreed to support the Government, were still eligible to be part of a technical group. “I am advised that there is long standing precedent to support this position. One need only recall the many non-party members that openly supported previous governments and were part of technical groups without objection,” said Ms Murphy. This would allow three TDs who supported the programme for Government – namely Michael Lowry, Gillian Toole and Barry Heneghan – to be part of a technical group. All would be allowed opposition speaking time in the Dáil. The other members of the technical group are the two TDs from Aontú and Offaly independent TD, Carol Nolan. Neither were party to Government formation talks. All opposition groups have challenged this interpretation of Standing Order 170. Sinn Féin and Labour have got separate legal advice that contradicts that interpretation. “We have clear legal grounds to object to any attempt to create a purported entitlement of Government supporters to eat into Dáil time that is allocated to the Opposition,” said the Labour Party in a statement. Sinn Féin whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said that the language in Standing Order 170 could not be clearer. “It refers right at the outset to not a group but specifically to a group in opposition,” he said. He said Sinn Féin’s legal advice was that the technical group recognised by the standing order was in Opposition. Mr Mac Lochlainn said that it was a “Government problem” that needed to be resolved. He said the issue could be raised by the Opposition ahead of the nomination of the Taoiseach in the Dáil on Wednesday if it had not been resolved by then. Meanwhile Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has rebuffed demands that his party leave the Dáil technical group in order for it to be disbanded and deny backbench Independent TDs membership. Mr Tóibín, whose Aontú party has two seats in the new Dáil, has been under pressure from other Opposition parties to disband the technical group and deny backbench Independent TDs who are supporting the Government the right to opposition speaking time. Five TDs are required for a technical group to secure speaking rights in the Dáil. If Aontú was to leave the existing group, it would mean that the Government-supporting Independents would have to find additional members to make up the numbers, but it would leave Aontú without speaking rights. Sinn Féin’s Johnny Guirke – who shares a constituency with Mr Tóibín – called on the Aontú leader “to come out of hiding and explain why he is facilitating the stroke politics of the incoming Government”. In a statement to The Irish Times on Monday this afternoon, Mr Tóibín said that it is “ludicrous for any party to demand that Aontú give up our speaking rights without offering to share their speaking rights with us. “Is Mary Lou going to provide Aontú with her Leader’s question time, Minister’s questions or Committee debate time? Of course not. If Aontú withdrew from the Technical Group it would not make any difference. The Technical Group would still exist and Aontú TDs would be silenced. “This may suit some Opposition parties like Sinn Féin who have supported the Government on many issues such as the referendums and immigration in the recent past. The simple answer to this is Dáil Standing Orders reform. But it appears that the parties shouting the most are the least likely to seek reform.
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