We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Chaos continued in the Dáil this week but Verona Murphy has said she “fully intends” to continue as Ceann Comhairle.
Opposition parties have published the text of a motion of no confidence in Murphy. This motion comes as chaos continued in the Dáil over her stance on the speaking time row.
This motion comes as the opposition have claimed that she displayed impartiality in favour of the government in how she handled the vote on a contentious change to Dáil speaking time.
Murphy said last night that any suggestions of “partiality and collusion” the opposition are “false”.
So today we’re asking you: Should Verona Murphy step down as Ceann Comhairle?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The Ceann Comhairle, whatever his/her political leanings, needs to be respected by BOTH sides of the Dáil. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, Verona Murphy has lost that respect from the Opposition. Therefore, as she is not accepted by half of the House, she must step down.
@Alan: Burger Queen…. pmsl!!
@Alan: Nice bit of misogyny there Alan. Must gall you to see SF standing up for democracy.
@Alan: burger queen = misogyny. Reported, burgerboi.
@Me Me: And appoint a SF one ??
@Me Me: better still SF/IRA thugs need to stopping attacking her and our democracy
@Luas Vuitton – Penneys Drag Queen: what’s misogynist about it? Sf are the fast food of politics. Cheap and nasty and ultimately a health hazard.
@Johnny Wilson: Sinn Fein r not the only party in opposition sorry that don’t suit your agenda
@Alan: and you are showing respect?. That is what the world needs, self respect and respect for others despite race or creed.
To qualify to be Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, it should be a requirement that you speak the Irish language. Also that you understand the need to be impartial on applying the Dáil rules on a day to day basis.
@Jimmy Kiely: let’s just say that I have nothing positive to say about the Irish language.
@Jimmy Kiely:
We have spent the last 100 years killing the Irish language by trying to make it compulsory for things.
Make it optional but with bonuses for participation and you will end up with a group of people who want to be there, and not surrounded by others who hate it.
@Jack Chit: it’s our language so let’s have it spoken in Dáil Éireann.
@Jimmy Kiely: it maybe your language but there are plenty who are not interested in it or speaking it .
@Ian Cryan: That may be so, but if there is government business being discussed the CC should be able to understand it. If they are allowed to speak it then she should be able to understand it.
@Ian Cryan: the question is are they Irish, it’s our native language and it should be spoken by the present and any future Ceann Comhairle.
@P. J.: yes I agree with you, let’s have it encourage and reward not forced on anybody.
@Jimmy Kiely: 3/4 of Irish people cannot speak the bloody elitist language
@Tim Brennan: the muinteoirs and civil servants turned it into eletist. Also when something is beat into you in school you have no interest or intention of speaking it subsequently!!!
@Jack Chit: of course you won’t when your a West Brit .
YES STEP DOWN..
@Donald Hegarty: Nobody should run from the Bullies unleashed by the Belfast Mafia and Bulldog Kelly amazingly even The Labour party got rid of him as leader
@Tim Brennan: she’s complaining about mysogny, even though it was Mary ,ivanna, and holly who are asking for her to step down. She is clearly incompetent and not impartial at all which is her main job. She used to be in fine gael and was banished from the party for making racist comments.
She rushed through the vote for the speaking rights which removed speaking time from the oppositions by more than 50% . And doesn’t speak Irish to top it off.
@Tim Brennan: World you ever get over yourself. You sound like a spoilt child
Lowry selected his buddy as the dail referee she has to go
@Kevin O Brien: Putting Murphy into that position was a mistake from the outset. Lowry didn’t use a shoehorn to get her up on the pedestal but, she is stubborn enough to dig in and accept the dumbness of those trying to keep her there. Resign for the Country’s sake and appreciate the fact that you are simply not capable of this role in the people’s Dáil.
I am of the opinion that that she is not fit for the job, she lacks experience, she might hold her position for a while, eventually the government will realise, she is the wrong person for the job.
Way overpaid for what they do, and have zero control over a pack of kids fighting.
Verona is way out of her depth and has been found out, she couldn’t control a creche.
She is never going to bite the hands that feed her.
She needs to go.
She is a pure Government yes person, she is a waste of space and should be replaced . She is a Principle who can control her students and obvious loyalty to the Government.
She’s ment to be neutral, clearly she’s not by her actions this week!!
Ceann Comhairle shouldn’t be a member of the Dail.Sombody outside the Dail and independent of politics needed to fill the position. Only way to resolve this crisis.
@James Leahy: also the idea that one doesn’t need to stand before the people in the next election is totally undemocratic in my view.
@James Leahy: I’d say what you’re proposing is quite unusual, most if not all parliaments choose their chair from their membership, and it’s not a workable solution for this crisis as it would involve a constitutional referendum.
@Franno: Well Franno it will take something unusual.
@James Leahy: and given a taser for any TD stepping out of line
She only got in there as Lowry’s puppet. She is use less at the job and doesn’t have the qualifications. Another case of the tail wagging the dog. She doesn’t know the meaning of the word impartial. Awful choice.
She’s an ex FG Member and so is Lowry ex FG, how about resigning your TD positions as well
Clear and consistent impartiality both in theory and more importantly in practice is key so yes she should step down. She’s lost half the house and only has herself to blame due to her anything but impartial actions in recent days. This is also coming from someone who was very sympathetic towards her when this debacle first broke.
The CC is responsible for the conduct of business in the Dail, to get it done, and the hiatus over speaking arrangements is not her doing. The formalities are set by ways and means which she has to follow. Her prior association with TD Lowry is not relevant, nor is calling a vote to decide any matter.
Usual trolls waffling on about work place bullying and misogyny. Pure deflection by establishment shills.
After legal advice, she had to rule that her amigos were not eligible for recognition as a technical group.. because the definition of words matter and legally they couldn’t spin this nonsense of being in opposition while supporting the government.
She is now facilitating another erroneous attempt to bulldoze this equally moronic ” other members ” nonsense through.
The programme for government states quite clearly ” All parties and *groupings party to the Government*
understand the need to ensure stable & effect Government during the full term of this Dail.” Micky “Two fingers” Lowry and his crew are very much part of this government. She is facilitating this scam. She has to go.
Yea. She’s not good at the job and is so obviously in Meehole’s pocket it’s a joke. She can go back to making racist comments too if she resigns.
All in the Dail have necks akin to a jockeys behind. She wont step aside and will continue on brazenly. None of these people care only looking to make as much money as easily as possible. Sadly this attitude is all too familiar from nurses to teachers, garda, social workers. In times gone by these were caring professions.
@Iron Man: So you lump all carers in with politicians?
Did you actually think before you wrote such an obviously false and demeaning statement about our carers, teachers and other professionals?
Hopefully you won’t need any of those carers and other people you seem to despise. Shame on you.
“Curry my yoghurt, can coca cola”. How we laughed. And now…..
No. She’d be a bigger PITA on the benches. Marvellous “Holy Show”.
If I were her, I wouldn’t. The appalling treatment she’s been subjected to in our national parliament wouldn’t wash in any other workplace.
@honey badger: Ignoring work place rules to suit yourself and your mates, to the detriment of others wouldn’t stand either.
@Daniel Gilroy: That’s not what happened, though. Try again.
@honey badger: Yes it is. Take your FFG head out of your backside. Pure shysterism, by FFG and Lowry, but I suppose your used to that.
@Daniel Gilroy: Still a nope. If you don’t understand things, it’s better to look for the actual facts and save us both the embarrassment of reading your dribbles. ;)
@honey badger: The only thing embarrassing here is you, and your constant whining and trying to defend the indefensible.
@Daniel Gilroy: If you learned to think for yourself, you might be able to offer something beyond these constant lukewarm clichés.
@Daniel Gilroy: have you ever worked in a big company “seniority” comes into it on a daily basis from everything from holiday times to sick days , no fairness there either
@honey badger: Think for myself, that’s funny coming from a government mouthpiece.
@Daniel Gilroy: Stop Daniel….he’s already dead!!!
@Anthony Curran: lol. Thank you.
@honey badger: such a condescending attitude from an FFG lacky, Micheal and Simon are proud of you mimicking their attitude. Just as Ms Murphy does.
She was a bad choice. Hasn’t the gravitas or the experience needed for the role.
But you’d hate to see Murphy and the Sinn Fein clown show getting a win on this too.
As for the other apes – the Government have been wrong on this from the beginning.
I wish there was a decent political party that consisted of “none of the above.”
@RP McGuinness: pure misogyny.
@Áine G: you misspelled “incompetent” Karen.
@Áine G: no, it is’nt. She is an ignoramus who actually thought that as CC she would be a special sort of independent who could get special access to government for constituency goodies. Standing orders, precedents etc had to be explained to her as well as the fact that she was supposed to be impartial. Lastly she is Lowry’s protege.
@Áine G: that’s a very misandristic and biased opinion. Look at who is doing the roaring and shouting at her.
@RP McGuinness: I am no Karen, I am 22 years old.
I don’t have anything personal against Verona Murphy but she is clearly out of her depth. She has no control over the left-wing and far-left troublemakers who are free to shout and kick up a storm on a whim. We need someone in the role that will grow a pair and stop allowing any sort of childish behaviour to continue. Get some court officers in the Dáil to swiftly remove any people that excessively disrupt in a swift manner like they have at trials. I’ve always said that it should be someone who is a retired or ex-judge. The role should be non-partisan in nature and should solely involve keeping the peace inside the Dáil, which Verona Murphy cannot seem to be capable of whatsoever. There certainly needs to be a stricter code of conduct implemented in the chambers, that’s for sure.
@William Jennings: Who cold could control a concentrated effort by SF to disrupt the democratic process. Forcibly removing them would only play into their role of martyrs.
@William Jennings: they’re not kicking up a storm on a whim. The government intended to use its majority, without even a debate, to push through legislation that would halve the time available for opposing the Order of Business, and reduces the time for Taoiseach’s Questions every week from 90 to 45 minutes.
@Vincent Alexander: It’s pretty straightforward. The new rules shouldn’t be directed towards Sinn Fein in general, they should be directed towards any troublemakers from both sides of the aisle. You have a three-strikes rule when it comes to speaking out of turn. You are clearly warned when give your first and second strike. On the third strike, a court officer simply grabs you by the arm and removes you from the chambers if you don’t go voluntarily. Sinn Fein have peaked as a party and they can’t crack about 25% in the polls. There’s only so much screaming and shouting can do to boost their popularity. In the end, the Irish people may like the bland centre-left policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, but voting in a Marxist-lite government that will seize property and capital is too far.
@JoeJoe Kilbride: The only people who I see silencing others is the opposition parties. They can’t stand the idea of having four Independents who don’t toe the ideological line sitting on their benches. They want all opposition members to kick up a storm and give out as much as possible instead of offering constructive criticism. Are you forgetting the fact that there are Leaders’ Questions for 35 minutes, three times a week? The opposition parties have 150 minutes every week to question Micheal Martin. What could you possibly need more time for? 150 minutes of questioning is clearly sufficient to cover political issues that happened over 7 days. It just shows how poorly the opposition parties look in this when I’m defending a group of people that I’ve never voted for!
The opposition taking their eyes completely off the ball. Attacking Verona while the government is sitting back and laughing at them
@Colette Walsh: agreed. Deal with the speaking time issue.
@Colette Walsh: I totally agree with you,
the focus should be on what the
gangster Lowry have on the dictator
Mehole
It’s a catch 22 situation here. If she resigns, someone else from the ruling party will likely take over and could act the same way. There’s no guarantee that the next Dáil speaker will be impartial.
This row is over two 8 minute speaking times. 16 mins out of the business of the Dail each week. The Dail currently sits for about 34 hours a week. That’s 2040 minutes. How much time / money has been lost by the bickering?!
@Paul C: sick of the government defenders pedalling this bullscutter! It’s not about the minutes, it’s about lowry and his cronies having one foot in both sides of the house!!! But you just keep believing that excuse!
@den: it’s actually about both, the legislation would halve the time available for opposing the Order of Business, and reduces the time for Taoiseach’s Questions every week from 90 to 45 minutes.
@den: it’s common place for back benchers to have speaking time across Europe, including in NI where the Shinners do what what they want to stop in the Dail
Sure she isn’t the problem regardless of what you think of her. The hyenas would have behaved this way in any case
Absolutely not, she is being bullied and abused by the opposition, particularly by SF, it wouldn’t be tolerated in any other place of work
Stay there girl because you would win any no confidence vote
@Áine G: if she has lost the confidence of the opposition party’s in the Dáil, then she can’t do her job, end of.
Absolutely not. She’s being bullied in a disgraceful way. Always stand up to bullying
@Shelley Keary: the bullies in the Dáil at the moment is Mehole and the gangster Lowry, disgrace to our country. Self serving leeches.
Shame the whole lot of them wouldn’t step down. Our parliament is full of overpaid, useless chancers, and it’s actually embarrassing to see what is going on. We need a complete overhaul of our parliament, less members, less ministers and much greater accountability. Sadly it will never happen and we are likely to end up with even more of the wasters.
Verona always stand up against the bullies
I can’t help but wonder that if the ceann comhairle were male would the opposition behave in such a disrespectful way
Sinn Fein have lost the run of themselves like in the North they could never accept democracy until they were top dog.
@Tim Brennan: they are a dangerous cult
@Tim Brennan: How is democracy having government TD’s pretending to be opposition TD’s to take up speaking time so the government has nobody questioning them? In fact that’s the opposite to democracy.
Poll will have no relevance. There will be a three-line whip out to SF members to vote “yes”.
@Vincent Alexander: An honest woman opposing a political mob is real politics. Long live democracy.
@thomas molloy: HA, an honest woman?? She couldn’t spell honest! She is as twisted as harris and mm, a slieveen phucker
@den: Not as twisted as as the gentlemen republicans that back SF.
@Vincent Alexander: In fairness, her appointment was tainted when she publicly thanked M. Lowry for making it possible. She backtracked on legal advice she got when row broke out over Lowry’s motion to have speaking time as Opposition. She later said she got new legal advice, and her performance on Tuesday was blatantly to back MM and the Government. She is just a FF/FG lackey.
@Vincent Alexander: this is about verona murphy, not the sinn fein party, do keep up, good little boy!
@den: Now boy, it is on topic. It is the puppet leader installed by the Árd Comhairle that is leading the charge for her resignation. It is also SF stooges that are are posting derogatory comments about the Ceann Comhairle.
@Vincent Alexander: I am not affiliated with any political party and I can tell you, she is a proper c u next Tuesday. When she was head of the haulage association, she was pushing to bring non-eu drivers into the country, this was nothing to do with a shortage of drivers, but so they drivers can be paid 5h1te wages, less than €8 per hour, because they are not EU members. She is as crooked as harris, mm and lowry. I said before she got the job, a snake in the grass
Verona Murphy should not lose her job over a bunch of children, sinn fein members have killed gardai, Paul Murphy and his ilk have attacked people in their cars, and yet there calling for a woman’s job because they couldn’t control themselves and attacked her so she could not do her job, charlatans on the left! Shout shout shout never anything positive or constructive to offer this nation.
@Darran Macken: Are you happy with an erosion of democracy in our Parliament because it’s upset the opposition?
@Anthony Curran: by spin fein and pbp with thuggery waving cameras around after let’s not forget they initiated the charade, anyone who supports that behaviour well I don’t know what to say on there train of taught, remember for years now its mobs of thugs with cameras in faces antagonising others and that Murphy lad is shocking, he new what he was at, and as a father of 4 females to see the left attack verona Murphy like this in her job is a disgrace the same left that labelled anyone who even looked sideways at a woman for years, there thugs end of.
Irish political class are like ticks, latch on and will never go. She will soon pull the victim card she is being bullied, etc. etc…and in the meantime the country is festering and rotting away.
No the House need to learn respect. There wasn’t anything anyone could have done the other day. Complete madness and disrespect of the Dail
tips for irish recession no.1 give drink cigs drugs up , no.2 cancel all subscritions straight away no.3 downgrade the car 1 liter 1.3 lt engine smaller insurance and tax and drive at recommened speed s saves at pump , no.4 cut out eating out as fffg will go after low paid and middle class to cut corners with spending fffg will not touch john magners types who pay no tax or their hard core voters the cute hoare farmers , be warned
The real problem Sinn Fein has is it takes its view points from contributors to the journal and That’s why they become so upset When they are not elected.Thw views on here are totally unrepresentative of what the Electorate think
@Tim Brennan: the Brit speaks
@sean weir: Sean where have you been your buddies are causing wreck
Ah yes.. throw a woman under the bus! The Dail row is not of her making.
Two fingers Lowery and his dodgy cronies in ffg all need to go this government is a corrupt sham .Banna republic of ireland
She should only resign if RTE refuse to make new episodes of Ballymagash.
Relax, Statement is being drafted , it will be available very soon, okay,
Noooooooo way!!
Leave her learn on the job ,learning over needs to be impartial, start from now
have your say