No sign of let up in Dáil speaking rights row

James Cox

The Dáil speaking rights row looks set to escalate further after tense exchanges on Thursday afternoon.

The Opposition has withdrawn from voting pairs procedures - which usually sees a member of the Opposition abstaining from votes in the event a Minister is undertaking urgent business.

A vote on changes to Dáil rules to give speaking time to government-supporting Independents is due to take place next week.

Sinn Fein's Matt Carthy has said this is about Fine Gael "owing one" to Independent TD Michael Lowry.

Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Carthy said: "Tánaiste [Simon Harris], whatever you owe Michael Lowry, you owe more to the Irish people. You owe them the right to have a functioning parliament... where the Opposition can hold government to account.

"What you have attempted to do is usurp the rights of the Opposition and it won't be tolerated."

A Fianna Fáil TD has argued that the Government's speaking rights proposal is a "positive", despite opposition criticism.

Wicklow-Wexford TD Malcolm Byrne told BreakingNews.ie: "It's a positive move, and it is about recognising that every TD has a right to contribute. It can't just be the same small number of opposition TDs taking all the speaking time."

The Government’s move to allocate speaking time to the Regional Independent TDs along with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers was voted through by the Dail’s Reform Committee on a margin of 10 votes to eight.

A full Dáil vote on the proposal has been scheduled for next week amid strong criticism from opposition parties.

In a meeting on Tuesday, Opposition leaders agreed to withdraw their cooperation with the Government on facilitating absences of ministers in the Dáil.

The Government and Opposition remain in disagreement on speaking rights for Regional Independent TDs who support the Government.