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DÁIL OPPOSITION PARTIES showed rare unity this week with the speaking rights row, but it doesn’t look like there will be a repeat of it anytime soon.
It was an unusual sight on the plinth on Wednesday night.
The party leaders of the Opposition walked out the main doors of Leinster House, side-by-side, making their way over to the media to speak about their common cause.
Earlier in the day, all hell had broken out in the Dáil over the issue of speaking rights, with concerns raised about those in the Regional Independent group, who were part of government formation talks, getting speaking time that belonged to the Opposition.
It’s a rarity to see all of the parties singing of the same hymn sheet. But for a long time now, there have been calls for there to be more of a united front from the Opposition benches.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy called for a “united left alliance” before the election, stating it could potentially remove Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil from office.
He said cooperation among the left parties on the Opposition benches should be a more formal arrangement.
After taking the final seat in the Dublin constituency in the European elections, Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin made similar calls, stating that it was time for Labour and the Social Democrats to “join forces” and “stop pretending that there’s any difference” between them.
None of this came to fruition for the general election campaign. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael came out as the majority in forming a government.
However, Wednesday’s spectacle showed that unity among the Left (and even throwing Independent Ireland into the mix) can work, if the stakes are high.
During the mayhem in the Dáil, in between all the suspensions of the House, party leaders and party whips were huddled together in groups, strategising their next move.
It was an unusual sight.
Instead of fighting between each other, they were working together against the government bloc. Something many have said for years they should be doing at election time.
The events clearly bother the Fianna Fáil leader. Micheál Martin accused Sinn Féin of orchestrating and co-ordinating a “subversion of the Irish Constitution”. However, it was pointed out to him that it was actually the entire Opposition that worked together in unison on the issue.
So could it be repeated over the next Dáil term?
Those The Journal spoke to on the Opposition benches gave the impression that Wednesday was more of a ‘flash in the pan’ kind of event, rather than something the public will be seeing more of.
While that doesn’t appear to be a particularly smart move, it would appear that there is still too much disparity between each party for them to join together on the big ticket items that will come down the line in the next five years.
One Sinn Féin TD said how much time the Opposition gets to speak in the Dáil is an issue that all the parties can get behind, as it is in all of their interests to hold on to the those precious air-time minutes.
However, when it comes to policy matters, each has their own principles and ideals.
A TD in another Opposition party said there is often cooperation between groups at the Dáil Business Committee on matters, but said it had to be acknowledged that there are significant differences among the parties on a range of issues.
While they said on the issue of the Occupied Territories Bill there appears to be cross-party support, they added that they didn’t think the events on Wednesday was a sign of things to come, stating that they didn’t see ongoing cooperation across a number of issues happening.
This TD was also of the view that there was a narrative being spun about a united left, stating that there’s a deliberate strategy by some parties in Opposition who are trying to position themselves as “leaders of the Opposition”, which they said is not something that everyone is going buy into.
There has been some chatter that one area that the left might be able to get it together on is with this year’s presidential election.
There has been talk that left-leaning parties might work together to pick one candidate, that would palatable to all, and who they could all get behind.
It is understood that political parties have had initial conversations about candidate selection, but that it is very early days. There are already lots of names in the mix.
But, given that it appears a show of unity might be a once-in-a-Dáil-term event, it would seem getting everyone to rally behind one presidential candidate might be an uphill battle.
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Very sad. Young woman, may heaven be her bed. RIP.
That is so sad, another person taken well before their time by this horrible disease.
RIP put up a great fight. Will they ever find a cure for this
@Derek O Gorman: Rest in peace Shannon may you find peace now. To answer your question I doubt there’ll ever be a cure too many plarma companies making billions on R&D and medications it’s like diabetes there’ll never be a cure.
@Nemethon: Do pharma companies make billions on R&D?
@Nemethon: The average R&D to marketplace cost for a new medicine is nearly €4 billion, and can sometimes exceed €10 billion. R&D spending by itself doesn’t guarantee profitability and strong stock performance. Some companies see a payoff from spending heavily on R&D when projects are deemed to be successful. On the other hand, companies can also suffer from poor performance losses even after investing a great deal of money each year in R&D
@ecrowley ecrowley: Not directly, but in Ireland R&D expenses are deducted from profit when calculating capital gains tax. And not only on R&D costs occuring in country, which is ridiculous. The large pharmas are not just here for the craic.
@Tommy Roche: Do you think they’re not spending money on R&D? If they’re not but availing of tax loopholes, that’d be unforgivable but without knowing that’s happening, we’re heading towards conspiracy theory territory.
@Nemethon: You mean it costs billions in R&D. There is a question as to how much profits are enough but it costs an awful lot to develop these drugs many of which don’t come to anything after hundreds of millions spent.
@Derek O Gorman: they have invented a smoking cessation product which prevents cancer, but governments want it banned
She found hard and long…time to rest now
May she rest in peace.
Rose to fame playing Brenda Walsh? She was already well known. Our House, Little House on the Praire etc. RIP
@Gerard Hayden: she was in little house on the praire? I used to watch that and never knew she was in it.
@Brian Dunne: yes was Laura ingles adopted daughter I think?
@Lilly Lalogue: ah ok, thanks Lilly!
@Brian Dunne: yea she played Jenny Wilder ;). She was also good in the film Heathers. May she R.J.P. cancer is an awful battle for anyone to go through bless her.
@Lilly Lalogue: no she was Laura’s niece :)
RIP. She really really fought back against that illness. Strong resilient person.
Rip poor young woman
Very sad. RiP Shannen
She is with God now
Rip i taught she died few weeks ago
@Square: what an a##hole you are
@Robert M: muted
@Square: Obviously not, don’t talk of cancer patients like that. She was a legend. I have great respect for her.
@Paul Treacy: im not talking bad i taught i heard she died few weeks ago i was wrong rip yes i watched her growing up
Shame a brilliant actress rip
Lord rest
She was a lovely woman and a great fighter. It’s so sad she died so young.
She was a notoriously difficult actor to work with but that doesn’t take away from her sad passing.
RIP her suffering is over
@Damien O’Sullivan: She had a reputation for being difficult because she stood up for herself and would not allow herself to be taken advantage of. Many women who followed her in the business admired her for how she stood. A woman like that is “difficult”. A man like that is “strong”!
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