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LAST UPDATE | 23 Jul 2020
GALWAY WEST INDEPENDENT TD Catherine Connolly has been elected Leas-Cheann Comhairle in a surprise victory, defeating rival candidate Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd in a close 77 to 74 votes result.
Connolly, first elected to Dáil Eireann in 2016′s General Election, was elected this afternoon and becomes the first woman to hold the position in the Dáil’s 101-year history.
The 63-year-old defeated favourite O’Dowd (71) in a defeat for the Government after a bumpy first month for the Coalition.
It’s believed that at least 10 Fianna Fáil TDs voted against O’Dowd and that there is astonishment that the Coalition is experiencing divisions so early on in its term.
Voting by secret ballot took place at the Convention Centre today with TDs filling out ballot papers at the auditorium.
Connolly’s election is seen a shock defeat for O’Dowd who was widely tipped to win. The position usually goes to the Opposition but the Fine Gael TD had the backing of all three Coalition parties.
Speaking of the outcome of the result this afternoon, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he is “disappointed for Fergus because I supported him”.
“It’s a secret ballot and one of the reasons why the reforms came into parliament in terms of secret ballot, is political scientists are of a view and we accepted, is it speaks to the autonomy of the parliament in terms of the Ceann Comhairle and Leas-Ceann Comhairle.
“But I can’t speculate any further than that… and I think it’s parliament taking its decision. I’m disappointed for Fergus, he’s a very experienced parliamentarian. I wish Catherine the very best.”
O’Dowd, who has been a TD for Louth since 2002, is best-known in recent years for chairing the Oireachtas Transport Committee which conducted an inquiry into the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
Connolly is well-known as a member of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The Galway TD has often packed a punch when grilling witnesses and has consistently called for accountability when it comes to the mismanagement of State funds.
The Leas-Cheann Comhairle is the Deputy Chairperson of the Dáil and carries out the duties of the Ceann Comhairle – currently Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghail – when they are absent.
With reporting from Conor McCrave
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I’m more interested in how much it increased from 2021 to 2022 and more to the point from January 2020 to December 2022 ..
It’s all so backwards. Energy providers are claiming the price increase is due to increased fuel costs, yet they are all reporting massive profit increases during the same period. Price gouging and war profiteering at it’s finest and the Government/Regulators are doing nothing about it.
Does anyone think it will ever go back down in price again?
@David Mc Cabe: never once up it’ll stay there.
Go with the storage heater like David suggested. 1.5KW per hour would cost you your ESB rate per hour. Say your rate is 40 cents per KW (unit) then it would cost you 60 cents per hour to run it. If you had it on for 4 hours it would cost you €2.40.
Can someone advise, which is more cost efficient, a storage plug in heater or a fan heater? Thank you
@Julie: Get the wattage off both units and I will run the calculations for you.
@Julie: I think an oil storage plug in heater is better, fan heaters need to be always on and when switched off you notice the temp. drop within 5 min. Oil radiators will switch off when a set temp. is reached and switch back on if the temp. falls below a certain amount also keep dont go cold quickly after they switch off.
@David Corrigan: Thank you David, the fan is 2000 watts and the storage heater is 1.5kw
@David Mc Cabe: Thank you David!
@Julie: @Julie: looks like the heater will use 25% less electricity over an hour and be on less because it stores a certain amt of heat. Keeping the heater on level 1 over an extended period is the way to use them.
@Julie: I have one of the Oil Filled Radiators 1.5kw, it has 3 setting 700w, 800w and 1.5kw. It has a min – max temperature dial. I mostly just use the 800w setting with the temp turned about 60-70% full. (Large Double Bedroom) At this setting it will switch on for 15 min, and turn itself off for about 10 min. So using a full hour of electric power it is actually on for 1hr 40 mins. I believe the price for this was about 16c – 20c per hour. ( 1hr 40mins of actually being on consuming power)
I only use the 1.5kw setting on the really colder days.
@David Mc Cabe: you are a star thank you!!
@John Keane: Thank you John
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