THEY’VE SHINED THEIR shoes, picked up fancy new stationery and are ready for more bickering and backslapping at Leinster House.
TDs returned to full-time hours in the Dáil today after 68 days of rest this afternoon.
We listened intently as Enda Kenny took to his feet for the first Leaders’ Question of the term from 2pm, and six TDs wore Repeal the Eighth sweaters into the Chamber.
Kenny is in situ but we’re still waiting on the rest of the deputies to file in.
The Ceann Comhairle is running through all the work that was done in the Chamber over the summer break. He’s delighted with the fresh surroundings.
Then he calls a happy Micheál Martin who says he’s happy it’s “all systems go” on Kildare Street.
Martin is taking issue with the lack of funding for Irish universities, pointing to the recent Cassells Report.
He says that more state funding is needed.
He asks whether the government is prepared to respond to the report ‘in a realistic way’ in Budget 2017?
Enda Kenny says the options in the Cassells Report are all for the medium-term, rather than the short-term.
He asks where the money is going to come from for these options. All three demand exchequer money.
We need a real discussion in the Oireachtas, he added.
Martin then comes back to the figures which show that in some areas of Dublin, just 7% of secondary school students go onto third level education, while in other locations, almost 100% of young people do.
“That gap in access to education will widen…” the Fianna Fáil warns.
Something has to change Taoiseach… it behooves us to act now, in the next two to three weeks.
“Otherwise we are ignoring the future of our county at our peril.”
Kenny admits that there is not enough money in this money to sort this situation but hopes to make a start on it to ensure education equality across the country.
He concedes that there cannot be €100 million made available for third-level institutions this year.
And the last word on education before Gerry Adams gets his turn:
MOJO KLAXON.
First as gaeilge, and then as béarla, Adams mentions Kenny’s now much-famous mojo.
He uses it as a kick-off point about Brexit.
“When your mojo wasn’t working so well, you quite rightly acknowledged that you faced unprecedented challenges,” he started.
“I didn’t like the result overall but I have to accept that it’s a democratic result of the electorate of the United Kingdom,” Kenny says on Brexit.
“I fear it will run on… it may not be as straightforward as people think,” he adds on when the UK will actually pull the plug.
Adams accuses the government of not having a detailed plan.
“There is no good outcome from this Brexit vote,” the Sinn Féin president added.
There will be an All-Ireland forum on Brexit, according to the Taoiseach.
It will include business and social leaders and the like.
Gerry Adams doesn’t seem too sold on the idea.
From our political reporter in the Dáil: Gino Kenny and Paul Murphy are wearing Repeal the Eighth jumpers in the Chamber.
All the AAA-PBP deputies have worn Repeal the Eighth jumpers, which have been made and sold to raise funds for the campaign.
Ruth Coppinger has taken the floor. She asks the Taoiseach whether the Constitution is the place to decide on personal issues and decisions.
“Will you make sure it’s a referendum to repeal and not amend the Eighth Amendment?” she concludes.
A quietly spoken Taoiseach is now responding to Coppinger.
He tells her that the Constitution belongs to the people, indicating that what she said about the Eighth Amendment being a tragedy as inaccurate in his opinion.
He says he has spoken to many people who were on the Repeal march last Saturday. They made their views very clear, he said.
Kenny describes the abortion issue as divisive and says the Citizens’ Assembly will listen to all stories in the debate.
“It’s not a black and white situation… the t-shirts might be,” Kenny adds.
He concedes that ‘given the nature of the divisive response’ to the issue that the people who will partake in the Citizens’ Assembly are brave.
I want to assure you that there is nothing being cooked up here. It’s a very straightforward democratic exercise… I look forward to the engagement.
Leaders’ questions concluded with that talk about the Eighth Amendment and Citizens’ Assembly of 99 people.
As we got onto Order of Business, Brid Smith stood up to try and bring up the issue of the Jobstown trials in the Children’s Court.
She was told by the Ceann Comhairle it was not the appropriate time to discuss the matter.
She argued it was a matter of national importance.
That’s it from an eventful Leaders’ Questions.
We’ll be here all term for you – liveblogging, factchecking, explaining, reporting and more from Leinster House.
See you there.
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