Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said Sinn Féin and the rest of the Opposition should not get a “veto” on how the Dáil is run.
Speaking in Paris on Thursday, the Fianna Fáil leader said he was “genuinely taken back” by the behaviour of the Opposition during heated exchanges across the Dáil floor earlier this week.
Mr Martin said there was a coordinated and premeditated attempt by Sinn Féin to shout down Government membersduring the latest round of the long running row over Dáil speaking rights earlier this week, he said.
“That’s a dangerous thing in a democracy, in a parliamentary democracy, if you deliberately shout down, so a person can’t be heard,” he said.
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A motion of no confidence tabled in Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy was “a bit rich”, given Opposition TDs had disrupted proceedings by “roaring and screaming,” he said.
The Dáil could not be run on the basis of “what Sinn Féin thinks is right” and the Opposition did not get a “veto” on how the parliament operates, he said.
He said the issue relates to an “extra eight minutes to be shared among 60 TDs on a Wednesday and a Thursday”.
It was questionable whether the pushback from the Opposition was “justified”, in response to what he said were “modest changes” to Dáil rules.
Sinn Féin has written to the Ceann Comhairle reiterating its view that a report on this week’s disturbances in the Dáil is “deeply flawed”.
The party was reacting to the report, commissioned by Verona Murphy from the clerk of the Dáil, which outlined that she had acted in accordance with standing orders on Tuesday.
Sinn Féin already released a statement criticising the report following its publication on Wednesday evening.
Supplying a transcript of events and linking to the Dáil’s video archive of events, Sinn Féin’s chief whip Padraig MacLoghlainn told Ms Murphy that while the party accepted the report was “compiled in good faith”, it “is deeply flawed and it does not tally with events in the Dáil chamber on Tuesday 25th March.”
The party is making a number of technical arguments which it says are of “utmost seriousness” and need to be “urgently addressed”.
Firstly, it claims that the Order of Business was not validly passed after Ms Murphy deemed it had been without a vote - despite the party arguing that a call for a vote can be heard from a TD on the video archive.
It also says that the Dáil had returned to order by the time Ms Murphy used her power to cancel the speaking slot immediately before the vote on the Government motion reforming standing orders, which gives effect to the controversial step allowing speaking time for government supporting Independent TDs and coalition party TDs outside of allocated government time in the Dáil.
Finally, Mr MacLochlainn tells Ms Murphy that “in your haste to get the vote through you inadvertently” put an Opposition amendment which itself had not been moved to a vote, rather than the Government motion itself.
On Thursday morning, the Opposition objected to the inclusion of controversial new speaking time slots for coalition-supporting Independents and Government backbenchers on the Dáil schedule for next week.
[ Verona Murphy going nowhere as Dáil warring factions dig inOpens in new window ]
A meeting of the Dáil’s business committee was held to decide on the Oireachtas schedule for next week.
Representatives from the Social Democrats, Labour, Sinn Féin and People Before Profit dissented against including a new “other members” slot on the order paper for Wednesday and Thursday next week.
The business committee also discussed the ongoing delay to the formation of Oireachtas committees arising from the fallout from the speaking rights row.
Sources at the meeting said the clerk of the Dáil, Peter Finnegan, said the Oireachtas is ready and waiting to facilitate committee formations but a meeting of the Dáil reform committee is needed first.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Tánaiste Simon Harris
encouraged Oireachtas members to “reflect on their actions” of recent days, saying scenes in the Dáil this week “have been anything but proportionate”.
“This has gone on too long ... The country needs a functioning Dáil and politicians who are proportionate in their response to disagreement,” he said.
He said the European Union is “entering a time of major uncertainty”, with further US tariff announcements due next week, while Ireland also faces housing shortages and infrastructure deficits.
Earlier, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Ceann Comhairle was given a “fair wind” at the role but her impartiality and independence has been “decimated” due to Tuesday’s scenes in the Dáil.
A no confidence motion in is being tabled because of a Government formation agreement between Mr Martin, Mr Harris and Michael Lowry, Ms McDonald told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland programme.
She said the Ceann Comhairle’s position was “part and parcel of brokering that deal” and there cannot be a situation where the office holder “pushes through the Government agenda”.
A one-line motion signed by Ms McDonald and the leaders of Labour, Social Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity and Independent Ireland states: the “Ceann Comhairle no longer retains the confidence of all members of Dáil Éireann”. It is expected to be debated next Tuesday.
Ms Murphy has said she will strongly resist the motion, which will likely be defeated as the Government maintains a majority.
In a statement on Wednesday night she said
she “at all times followed the correct procedures of the House and the advice of the impartial officials present”. The Clerk of the Dáil confirmed in a report that proceedings were conducted in accordance with procedures.
The Government will table a countermotion expressing confidence in her.
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