THE DÁIL TECHNICAL group of which President Catherine Connolly was a member, has traded the position of chair of the Oireachtas Irish Language Committee with Fianna Fáil, as no member of the group has sufficient Irish to hold the position. 

The chairperson role was vacated in October last year upon Connolly’s election as President of Ireland. 

It then fell to Connolly’s colleagues in the Independents and Smaller Parties technical group to fill the position. 

However, because no member of the group had sufficient competence in Irish, the group sought to trade the position with another party.

The Independents and Smaller Parties technical group is comprised of People Before Profit TDs Richard Boyd Barrett and Paul Murphy, Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger, Green TD Roderic O’Gorman and Independents Seamus Healy, Charles Ward and Brian Stanley. 

The Journal understands that the group has traded the position with the government parties, with Fianna Fáil’s TD for Kildare North, Naoise Ó Cearúil, who is currently leas chathaoirleach of the committee, set to take the role.

In return, the technical group will be granted the chairperson role for the next Dáil committee to be established, which will be focused on women and gender-based violence. 

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger is understood to be the person who will take up this position.

With reporting from Concubhar Ó Liatháin