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AN ABSOLUTE SHITSHOW. That’s the only way you could describe the chaotic scenes at Leinster House today.
Four suspensions of the Dáil, raucous scenes in the chamber, accusations of “stunt politics on speed” and at the end of the day, we have no new Taoiseach and no new Cabinet.
While the country was getting word that a red weather warning is on the way, there was no such alert for the storm that was about the hit Leinster House today.
“Never seen anything like it,” one TD told The Journal. Another said the Opposition were running roughshod over the Constitution.
But should this all have been foreseen?
It’s been 54 days since the election, and many expected that today’s proceedings of nominating and electing a Taoiseach would proceed without much drama.
TDs gathered in the chamber, Micheál Martin’s wife and children were seated in the distinguished visitors gallery, and those in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were buoyant.
But since last week, one issue has been rumbling on.
And despite assertions from the Tánaiste that no one was “excited” about the issue, that issue erupted today in a spectacular fashion causing havoc for the entire day.
At the core of today’s disturbances, the dispute over Dáil speaking rights and whether those in the Regional Independent group, who were involved in the government formation talks, are entitled to Opposition speaking time (you can catch up here on what it is all about).
No sooner had proceedings begun today, it was clear there was a big problem.
While Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald was the first on her feet to give out, it was clear the entirety of the Opposition were not happy.
It’s rare for the Opposition to join forces, but it became clear that they believed putting on a united front was their best move in this scenario. It could be said they should have done this perhaps prior to the election, but better late than never.
Throughout the hullabaloo of the day, a number of the Opposition leaders could be seen huddled in conference together, discussing their next move against what they dubbed “stroke politics”.
McDonald said that proposed speaking arrangements were a “cynical and unprecedented ruse” to allow supporters of the government sit among the Opposition, while People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said Independents were supporting government while “pretending to be in opposition”.
He said the situation has “taken the art of speaking out two sides of your mouth to a new and higher level”.
Things began to ratchet up from there.
Labour’s Alan Kelly said he didn’t want the Irish parliament to be “made a show of”, but said what was being put before them in terms of the speaking arrangements was a “farce”.
Cue more shouting and Murphy had to suspend the House.
Upon its return, the shouting continued. The Dáil was back for less than two minutes and had to be suspended again.
After about an hour, the Dáil returned and government chief whip Hildegarde Naughton requested another recess of 45 minutes to allow party representatives to meet and then consult with their own parties afterwards.
After that meeting was held there was still no resolution. The Dáil then returned just after 4pm. Naughton stood up and said an agreement had been reached, but Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn interjected to say nothing had been agreed.
There was attempt to push on with business, but Opposition members rose to their feet, with some Labour TDs making for the door. The Ceann Comhairle adjourned the Dáil.
As the hours ticked on today, nervous faces of the possible ministers-in-waiting could be seen in Leinster House. These are the people who were expecting to get a call from the Taoiseach today telling them they had a seat around the Cabinet table. Looks like they’ll have to wait another day.
One Fianna Fáil TD stopped to speak to journalists who had gathered at the bottom of the stairs to the Dáil, stating that Sinn Féin were pulling a fast one. They said it was time to get on with matters.
An Opposition TD who was nearby quipped that this was all of the government’s making.
Simon Harris and Martin spoke to the media afterwards, labelling the day’s events as a “subversion of the Irish Constitution”. A big statement.
Questions posed to the two leaders, included: Is Michael Lowry, who is one of the TDs in the technical group, an Opposition TD or a government TD?
Another was could this issue of speaking rights not have been dealt with before today’s sitting?
Harris and Martin were seething over today’s events, stating that the media shouldn’t buy in to Sinn Féin spin, while adding that this was not an issue they could resolve.
“This is the first time, I think, in over 100 years, that the Dáil has failed to elect a government to fulfill its constitutional obligation,” Martin told the media scrum outside Government Buildings this evening.
The only conclusion that can be drawn is that this new government never expected that such a process issue as speaking rights could hold up the show.
They didn’t expect that the muscle of the Opposition would be flexed and they would work together on this common cause.
Martin and Harris didn’t see the seriousness of the situation last week when there were threats of legal action from Opposition parties, and as a result, we don’t have a new Taoiseach this evening.
Green Party Minister Roderic O’Gorman (who remains a minister until we have a new Cabinet) tweeted today that he said previously that a government relying on Independents would be unstable.
“I didn’t think it would be unable to even elect a Taoiseach!” he said.
A strange and chaotic day. If today is anything to go by, we could be in for a bumpy ride with this new government. Will we have a new Taoiseach tomorrow? That’s tomorrow’s problem for now.
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Most, or many, companies out there are trying to rip you off, constantly trying to cut corners and give less service or product where they can get away it. As gov has no interest in protecting the rights of it’s taxpayers it falls to ourselves to be vigilant at all times.
Next thing that needs to be banned are 5 day rentals. It’s becoming the norm for student accomodation to kick students out on the weekends so they can rent out their room on AirBNB. Students forced to commute back home on weekends when they don’t want to — paying the same price for 5 days that they would be paying for 7. Pure exploitation. Absolute fortune families are spending and the student can’t even have basic comfort.
Supply and demand. When student accommodation was used in the immediate period to house Ukranians we were told it was short term and students would get it back. No meaningful changes were to resolve this and the students are now paying for this inactivity.
@Spanner: Student accomodation should never have been used to house refugees, it was a ridiculous decision by the government. You cannot shaft citizens of your country to benefit people who are not even from here — this is obvious. Helping those in need is great when you have the resources to do so — we did not.
@Spanner: That was Simon Harris as Minister who imposed that.
@SV3tN8M4: no surprise there.
Yugo telling porkies……I don’t believe it!
Quelle surprise!
Yugo.. Isnt that owned by the anfeckov’s?
This is the legislation Harris talked about & promised for years & never delivered. It was brought in this year (too late for this years students who had accomodation prepaid for) by his colleague the FG Detective who exposed the FG Minister leaking from the Cabinet, I wonder who that was & no it wasn’t Leaky !
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