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Updated 8.50pm
THE DÁIL RESUMED after its summer break this afternoon and it didn’t take long for the chamber to descend into shouting and roaring.
As the government proposed to debate a motion of confidence it itself, the Taoiseach and the Attorney General in the wake of the Fennelly report, opposition politicians kicked up a stink.
On an at times bizarre first day back, Enda Kenny dropped a big hint about the date of the election, was staunchly (and loudly) defended by one of his ministers, and controversially opened a newsroom.
This afternoon, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was particularly annoyed, saying the way business had been ordered by the government had shown “utter contempt” for the house.
He was particularly put out that there is no Order of Business today and that Leaders’ Question had been moved to the much later time of 7.30pm this evening. (In fact it didn’t take place until after 8pm.)
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams used the opportunity to ask the government to call an election immediately, saying the coalition is on “its last legs”.
Speaking for the Technical Group, Socialist TD Joe Higgins called for the amount of time devoted to the confidence motion debate – three hours – to be doubled.
He also hit out at Labour’s senior leaders claiming they are socialists:
Government chief whip Paul Kehoe insisted that a confidence motion always takes precedence over any other business in the Dáil. He pointed out that his had been the case when Martin was part of the last government.
But the Fianna Fáil leader wasn’t finished yet.
He took to his feet to ask why the Tánaiste, as deputy head of government, wasn’t speaking and, again, why Leaders’ Question could not be held earlier in the day.
“You want to shut down this house,” he claimed.
At this stage there was a lot of shouting from the government benches, prompting Martin to do a sort of ‘come at me, bro’ gesture:
Then Adams was up on his feet again to deliver perhaps the most appropriate remark of the day:
I think we should proceed, this has become another bout of Punch and Judy.
A vote was called – which the government won – and a three-hour debate on the Fennelly report followed. The confidence motion was eventually passed by 94 votes to 52.
Martin was still angry when Leaders’ Questions got underway just after 8.20pm.
He noted that the delay was due to the Taoiseach attending the opening of Independent News and Media’s new newsroom.
The Fianna Fáil leader again tried to probe the Fennelly issue.
He asked Kenny if he agreed with the evidence former tánaiste Eamon Gilmore gave to the commission which appeared to contradict the Taoiseach’s.
Martin accused Kenny of not telling the truth on the issue prompting the Fine Gael leader to hit back with this:
The back-and-forth yielded very little new, before the Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett dryly noted:
It’s not a good idea to have Leaders’ Questions at half-eight at night, that’s all I’ll say.
Any tips for my new €5 Nokia without a camera?
Yeh, bin it
There is a positive side to it, big brother can’t track you.
Merry Christmas Everyone,
If you got a new iPhone, don’t forget the insurance, if it’s an Android, why would you bother with insurance.
Sent from my iPad…
iTosser
iCouldn’t help it. iMSmug. iKnow.
Don’t forget to switch the ringer from silent – mortifying!
Yes indeed.
The “do not disturb” option on the iPhone allows you to schedule when you can be contacted… Very useful for the busy student.
Merry Christmas OriginalCynic…
I have a do not disturb option also. The off button. Technology these days I tells ya.
Got my new S5 from a man clothed in red 2 days ago. I think he worked for the post office though
Easiest way to swap contacts is not listed here, just ensure contacts are saved to SIM on the old phone and when in the new phone they will either automatically appear or you may have to select “import contacts from SIM” otherwise the ways listed in the article maybe the only route. Happy Christmas everyone!
Can you clean this up a bit please Quinton? You left out some crucial details, and it’s glaringly obvious for a start that you come from iTown (seriously, don’t bring that into your journalism, save it for your blog).
Many people opening their phones this morning will have the three new software versions of their chosen or favourite operating system, being Android 5.0.x (Lollipop), iOS 8.1 or Windows 8.1.
Lollipop is simply brilliant. Some of the features it comes with are encryption (which means it’s instantly more secure out of the box by default) and a new design philosophy Google have called Material Design – which gives a paper-like interface to everything you do on the screen. Android runs great on lots of hardware from great OEMs like Samsung, HTC, Sony, Motorola, LG and Asus, but works to it’s best on Nexus devices so if Santa brought you one make sure to thank him.
If your new phone, tablet, TV, watch or even your new car have Android 5.0 Lollipop you’ll love it.
Except lollipop 5.0 or 5.01 is not out for most if any Android phone’s here in Ireland.
Apart from nexus series and HTC m8 Google play edition.
99% of Android phone’s are still running kitkat 4.4 or lower.
Master Bates might not like that truth…
@Darren – lighten up, it’s Christmas! Merry Crimbo Quinton!
Got a Samsung Note 4 today. Absolutely delighted. What a phone!! Packed full of features.
Two new iPhones 5s’ ….no mobile numbers printed on cards???
2 very disappointed teenagers.
Help
@eamonn Go into phone book and scroll down! Not up! The number should appear
Get them both to ring your mobile phone, then, just write down both numbers on a piece of paper.
@Eamonn – Press the green ‘Phone’ Icon then ‘Contacts’. ‘My Number’ is listed at the top
It’ll be 08-something
Dying to know how they got on…
Give them a ring
It okay . I’ve got you covered. Go into contacts, scroll down until you reach my number. Don’t panic at this stage! It’s very important to follow next step CAREFULLY. The the phone, and repeatedly smash it off the wall.
Merry Stuffmass everybody.
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