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LAST UPDATE | 14 Apr
THE GOVERNMENT HAS survived a motion of no confidence by 92 votes to 78 despite the loss of Junior Minister Michael Healy-Rae, who told the Dáil today he is to quit his ministerial role.
As is routine, the government put down a motion of confidence in itself to counter an opposition no confidence motion and won that vote this afternoon.
The vote came after Kerry TD Healy-Rae had told the Dáil he would be voting no confidence in the government and tendering his resignation as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture.
Speaking during the Dáil debate in the aftermath of the fuel protests which took place last week, Healy-Rae said he has always felt he was a gauge for rural Ireland.
The government has left the people of Ireland behind, he told the chamber.
Healy-Rae said he had spoken to “tractor men” and other protesters in recent days. Some, he said, had been crying and had spoken about how “unhappy” they are with government.
“The leader of the country should have listened,” said the Kerry TD.
“I will be voting no confidence in the leader of the country, and I will be tendering my resignation as a Minister of State,” he announced.
“The people of rural Ireland need to be listened to… they are really suffering… these are respectable people that I represented since the first day I started,” he added.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon later paid tribute to Healy-Rae and his work in the department, saying he regretted that he was leaving and calling him a “good colleague”.
The shock departure came as the Dáil debated the fallout from the fuel protest crisis this afternoon. Earlier Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that “nobody has the right to appoint themselves as the voice of the people”.
The no confidence motion in the government was put forward by Sinn Féin and backed by all the opposition parties in the Dáil Éireann.
Kicking off that debate in the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach said he understood the pressures people are under right now, but said the actions of the last week had threatened fuel supplies in the country.
Ireland ranks in the top 10 of the world for freedom of speech, the right to protest and the right of democratic participation, Martin said.
The general public and businesses accept the inconvenience as part of what comes with living in an active democracy, he added.
However, the Taoiseach said the blockade of critical infrastructure of last week went far beyond that, with Martin calling it a destructive blockade which threatened to cause much deeper damage.
“Everybody has a right to protest, but nobody has a right to appoint themselves as the voice of the people and to threaten the jobs and livelihoods of many thousands of families.
Parliamentary democracy is something we should all affirm and defend, the Taoiseach said today, acknowledging that the “great majority of people who have protested have done so reasonably”.
However, he called out some opposition members who he said had shared a platform with the far-right agitators looking to push their own agenda over the last week.
“Everyone here should understand you can’t share platforms with them, express your support for them… and then deny your responsibility,” warned Martin.
Tánaiste Simon Harris, in his contribution, listed off an array of government measures which he said have helped people with the cost-of-living.
During his speech, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty heckled:
“I would sit down if I were you, seriously.”
Multiple heckles from the Sinn Féin benches followed:
“What about homelessness?”
“How many children in poverty?”
“You need to get out of the bubble.”
Harris went on to recount how many people were discommoded and could not make hospital appointments last week.
No one gets to restrict the movement of people who want to go about their business, he said.
Ordinary members of the public are also feeling the pressures of rising costs, said Harris, who acknowledged that many of these people also joined the protests “as they are feeling the pinch”.
“This government has acted. It’s acted decisively. It’s using economic strength wisely. Together, we will get through this challenge, but we won’t get through it by seeking to sow division and tear our country,” said Harris.
Harris criticised the discourse around the fuel protests over the last week.
“For a week, the airwaves were filled with those who shout the loudest, and command the most attention online.
“In an age shaped by social media algorithms and 24-hour news cycles, it is easy to mistake that volume for consensus.”
He said “we did not hear much from” cancer patients “who couldn’t get to their chemo”, workers who “lost a day’s pay because they couldn’t get to the job” and parents “stuck in traffic with screaming kids”.
He added “we know they too are feeling the pressure of the cost of living”.
Harris said the Government’s focus “every day and in the forthcoming budgets will be them”.
Once the Taoiseach and Tánaiste took their seats after attempting to robustly defend the actions of the government over the last week, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald rounded on the party leaders.
She accused the government of showing arrogance over the last number of days and for “sneering” at the ordinary protesters who took to the streets.
“People have a choice of heating or eating,” she told the Dáil, stating that the “half measures” announced by the government a number of weeks ago, which cut excise on fuel, only “tinkered around the edges”.
McDonald said she told the government clearly that the half measures wouldn’t cut it.
Honing in on the fact the Dáil has been on its Easter break for two weeks, McDonald said that for 20 days families were forced to cope alone.
“I wrote to you to convene the Dáil immediately and you ignored me,” she said.
“You ignored me as you are completely out of touch,” said the Sinn Féin leader.
Rounding on the response to the protests, McDonald said the people know that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the independents in government are “not on their side”.
Accusing the government of sneering at the ordinary people, McDonald said ministers demeaned peaceful protesters.
“You refused to meet them, you decided it was beneath you,” said McDonald.
“You will deals with anyone when it suits you but when ordinary, decent people raised their voice you turned their back,” she added.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik weighed in on the debate, accusing the government of a week of dithering, confusion, mixed messages, and bombastic statements.
Turning to the statement issued by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan which said the Defence Forces had been called on to intervene, Bacik said it only ratcheted up the tension.
“It appears his intervention only inflamed the situation further. Not to be outdone, of course, the Minister for Media announced yesterday that he wants Coimisiún na Meán to investigate media coverage of the protests. Goodbye, Viktor Orbán, hello Patrick O’Donovan,” she quipped.
Social Democrats Holly Cairns said: “We’re here today because this government doesn’t listen it doesn’t listen to the opposition. It doesn’t listen to its own back benches, and most importantly, it doesn’t listen to the people.”
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