Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has told TDs she bears “no ill will and my door is always open” after she won a Dáil vote of confidence by 96 to 71 with two abstentions.
In a short statement at the end of the debate, she said: “I will continue to uphold my solemn declaration to vindicate the rights of all members and administer the rules chosen by members of this house impartially and fairly alongside the independent loyal and hardworking staff of my office.”
The debate was chaired by Leas-Cheann Comhairle John McGuinness with Ms Murphy taking the chair only when the voting ended.
The Opposition motion of no confidence, amended by the Government to a motion of confidence, was called after the long-running row over speaking rights came to a head last week with the passing of rules to create a new speaking slot for Government backbenchers and members of the Independent Group led by Michael Lowry.
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Opening the debate, Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused the Opposition of “mob politics”. He said they were “trying to manufacture a claim that it was the Ceann Comhairle who behaved inappropriately”.
“The arsonists are demanding that we censure the fire brigade,” he said, adding that there was “not one bit of good faith” in the arguments from Sinn Féin and “the parts of the Opposition who have joined them in their aggressions and disruption”.
Tánaiste Simon Harris accused Sinn Féin of putting party interests before the national interest and said he was sorry to see other parties “going down the same populist route at a time of crisis”.
He said the Opposition “came for the Ceann Comhairle’s head” when they lost last week’s vote on the new Dáil speaking times.
However, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said there had been a “concerted and co-ordinated” campaign by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to “run roughshod” over the democratic structures in the Dáil.
The Ceann Comhairle “led the charge” and “actively and enthusiastically” fulfilled the Government’s bidding, acting “like a loyal Minister under political instruction from the top”, Ms McDonald said. Ms Murphy was “the Government’s Ceann Comhairle, signed, sealed and delivered” by Mr Lowry.
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Sinn Féin whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said Mr Lowry as “kingmaker” had “boasted” that he elevated Ms Murphy to Ceann Comhairle.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said that when Ms Murphy deemed the Order of Business passed last week she did so “without a legitimate democratic basis” and her position is no longer tenable.
The Government “will win the vote, but the Opposition has won the argument”, she added. The “Lowry lads and lassie” are now in both Government and Opposition, and their question time will be a “sham set-piece”, she said.
Social Democrats acting leader Cian O’Callaghan said the office of Ceann Comhairle has been politicised by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and the Government had ensured the “re-establishment of Michael Lowry”.
A number of Government ministers spoke in support of Ms Murphy. Government Chief Whip Mary Butler said the Ceann Comhairle has been shown no respect but bullying, verbal abuse and outrage.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said the Opposition wanted to have it both ways by seeking to safeguard democracy and disrupt the functioning of the Dáil.
Minister for Arts Patrick O’Donovan said the Labour Party had joined in behind Sinn Féin as a “silent little lamb”.
Independent Gillian Toole, a member of Mr Lowry’s group, said: “What I have experience in the past four months is nothing other than an attempt to bully and harass by name calling, shouting, body language, lackeys, underlings and lads and to top it all today intellectually inferior. How dare you.”
