SOCIAL DEMOCRATS TD Jennifer Whitmore said once again that the opposition would continue to “work together” to reject the government’s proposal to end the speaking rights debacle once and for all.

Earlier this week, opposition leaders furiously left a four-hour meeting of the Dáil Reform Committee following a vote on a proposal to grant speaking rights to the contentious Regional Independents Group. The group is led by Micheal Lowry, of Moriarty Tribunal notoriety.

The government won the vote with ten votes to eight. Once the proposal is put to the Dáil, the government is certain to win given its majority. 

Leader of People Before Profit, Richard Boyd Barrett, accused the government of “sleeveen politics” and said that they had pretended to be “serious about a compromise” before pushing on with a vote. 

The row over speaking rights has been blazing since the return of the Dáil, and managed to derail the appointment of Micheál Martin as Taoiseach. 

Speaking on This Week In Politics on RTÉ this afternoon, opposition TDs Louise O’Reilly (Sinn Féin), Micheal Collins (Independent Ireland), and Jennifer Whitmore (Social Democrats), continued to instate their position on the matter. 

A combined opposition walkout remains on the cards.

“We are very strongly working in a collaborative fashion on this, and we will do absolutely everything we need to do to make sure that this does not go ahead, because it’s not just about this Dáil. It’s about the next Dáil and the Dáil after that,” Whitmore said.

“And to create a completely new entity. So you have opposition, you have government, and then you have a whole pack in the middle – that just makes no sense to anyone. And the public understand that.”

The mooted speaking time, known as “Other Members’ Questions”, will be used by four members of the Regional Independents Group, who the leaders claim are not members of government – despite TDs in the group being a part of Programme for Government negotiations.

Following this, the leaders of the five main opposition agreed to withdraw pairing agreements in place with the government. 

Fianna Fáil Minister of State Micheal Moynihan, who was also on the programme, said that if the opposition were to walkout on the grounds of the speaking rights row, it would be “farcical”. 

Government chief whip Mary Butler said that the new slot of speaking time will be available to government backbenchers, not just the four members of the Regional Independents who have not been appointed to ministerial roles.

In a statement following the meeting of the Dáil Reform Committee, Butler said she welcomed the decision to “address speaking time for 60 TDs”.

She said the proposals agreed will ensure all backbench TDs in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and those independents not recognised under Standing Order 170, will be able to access speaking time”.

“Under the government proposal there won’t be any reduction in opposition speaking time,” said Butler in a statement.

Today, Moynihan said that nobody had raised the issue of speaking rights with him, and refuted accusations that the government was bending to the will of Micheal Lowry. He insisted that this proposed slot will be beneficial to government backbenchers.

“The proposal is for 60 members of whom [Lowry] is one of the 60,” Moynihan said, adding that he felt it is “disingenuous to be pointing it all to one person”.

It is expected that the vote on the matter in the Dáil will not take place until after the recess for St Patrick’s Day.