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CEANN COMHAIRLE SEÁN Barrett has said that granting limited speaking rights to TDs who have been expelled from their parliamentary party was about “upholding a principle that all TDs have a right to speak in the parliament”.
The leader of the Dáil was speaking to RTÉ’s The Week in Politics after a week in which he surprised many, including the government, by allowing members of the Reform Alliance and former Labour parliamentary party TDs speaking time during Dáil debates.
Explaining his decision, Barrett told the programme: “There’s a growing number of people who are not aligned to political parties now in the Dáil and I found it necessary to make certain that we needed a structure where they would have their rights to speak.”
The Committee on Procedures and Privileges (CPP) now meets this Wednesday to consider whether the expelled TDs can join the Technical Group to gain further speaking time and committee membership.
Barrett told RTÉ that he would like the CPP to be consulted more often, saying: “Parliament has to be independent of Government.”
Dáil Standing Orders currently prevent TDs who have been expelled from their parliamentary parties from joining the Technical Group.
But as TheJournal.ie reported on Saturday, the government is now of the view that if a TD mounts a legal challenge to a refusal to allow them membership of the Technical Group they would be able to join it.
However the group’s whip Catherine Murphy said such an arrangement involving over two dozen independent TDs would be difficult to manage this with the “slim-pickings” already afford to the Technical Group in terms of staff and resources.
In any case several expelled TDs including members of the Reform Alliance of ex-Fine Gael parliamentary party members have indicated they would not be interested in joining the group.
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The biggest ‘sh##show’ imaginable. I point the finger fairly and squarely at Simple Simon Harris. The cost is truly astonishing followed closely by incompetence on a stratospheric level. Let us not forget the poor kiddies that are being deprived of the care they deserve, all because of a government run by gimps.
@Padraic O’ Sullivan: Ah yes, Dr Reilly, should be called Little Jack Horner, as he had his thumb in many pies!
@Padraic O’ Sullivan: I’ve never understood why this wasn’t built at the Connolly hospital site in Blanchardstown. An absolute and enduring fiasco from start to eventual finish.
@honey badger: from what I heard it was because the consultants (probably some that signed this letter) wouldn’t move there, I wouldn’t take that as gospel though.
@honey badger: It would have been ideal, on the M50, readily accessible from anywhere, but no, vested interests take precedence!
@honey badger: or maybe in the midlands where it’s central to the whole country
@The next small thing: I have family in there and heard Southside consultants had the final say on it. Made to suit the Blackrock brigade a F the rest of us as per usual. No real surprises there to be honest.
@Andrew Kenny: FG gave the green light to proceed construction in the heart of Dublin City, we all know it should have been built in Blanchardstown, heavy traffic has always been a problem in this part of the city and now it’s going to be much heavier and will cause longer delays for everyone trying to negotiate traffic especially for people living in the area and commuters heading west towards Palmerstown, Lucan, Leixlip, Cellbridge.
@Adam H2022: anyone who thinks medical consultants had ANY say in where hospitals are located has no understanding of how the health system in Ireland works. All decisions like this are made by the department of health and politicians
No need to worry gang… it will be at least another year before this is open..no need to panic
@David Cotter: a complete joke
@Chutes Idiot: you’re optimistic… Wasn’t that hospital moved to a “2030 Project” some days after the November elections? I wish I were wrong though
Great breakdown on the fiasco here:
Shows this disaster is now well known around the World. I’ve also heard Bam might ask for another €853 million, pushing the total cost well past €3 billion.
@David Jordan: This is what happens when Student Union activists are running the government, like getting children to operate a nuclear reactor!
Well of course there’s going to be staff shortages. They’ve built a building. They haven’t built any kind of medical system that anyone in there right mind would want to work in. How any of the staff turn up for work everyday is beyond me. I mean frontline staff that are being ran into the ground day in day out. Having a recruitment embargo on irish nurses whole recruiting them from abroad is just a slap in the face to any junior nurse that was going to enter the system. If they have any sense they will be long gone and god bless them in there lives. The NCH was a ego project for fg.
Exactly where are the staff to treat the kiddies commung from .there is a lack of nurses and Dr’s as it is in ireland due to the extra long hours and awfull pay
@Karen Marten: “awful pay” Doctors!
@Michael Reilly: there are a thousand vacancies for consultants. They won’t return to Ireland while the conditions are so appalling. What has the minister for health to say about all this?
In another 2 years the hospital still won’t be open but the sick kids will be living out there grandparents back garden in a lag cabin
Import the third world, Become the third world!
POTA!
Enough of this debacle now, no point contributing to dialogue on this sad happening for children of this isle, it is what it is let’s wait until the doors are open.
Unless the minister gets the working conditions right for the medical and nursing staff the crisis continues.
Doctors do you real jobs and turn up for work at weekends
have your say