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LAST UPDATE | 21 Jan
SOME MEMBERS OF the Regional Independents will be granted Opposition speaking time in the Dáil from tomorrow on a provisional basis.
This will be the case until the matter is adjudicated by Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy.
Separately, it has emerged this afternoon that Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath has been permitted to join the Regional Independents’ technical group.
This afternoon, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the other TDs who make up the five Opposition technical groups in the Dáil have made a joint submission to the Ceann Comhairle opposing the Regional Independent’s bid to be classed as a technical group.
The submission, seen by The Journal, argues that the Regional Independents who participated in government formation talks are supporting government by their own admission and therefore cannot be considered Opposition members.
The Dáil will return tomorrow for the first time after the Christmas break. It will sit for one day but then take another week off.
The week off is to allow the incoming government ministers to adjust to their new departments and is customary after every general election in Ireland.
Opposition TDs have blasted the week off as a joke.
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said it was a “ridiculous delay considering all the serious issues we face” while People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett made the point that it will be almost three months since the Dáil did any work by the time TDs return properly in early February.
The row over speaking time for the Regional Independents erupted last week, with Opposition parties describing the bid by some Independents, who are supporting the new government, to be classed as a technical group in the Dáil as ‘a farce’.
The Dáil’s business committee, which oversees how the Dáil operates and is chaired by the Ceann Comhairle, met today.
During the meeting, Murphy confirmed that the group will be granted Opposition speaking time on a provisional basis until a final decision is made.
It is unclear when a decision may be issued, with the business committee not due to meet again until after the Dáil returns in February.
Some Opposition members have expressed frustration at what they see as a delay in the process.
The receipts
The seven-page submission to the Ceann Comhairle highlights a number of publicly made statements by TDs Michael Lowry, Barry Heneghan and Danny and Michael Healy-Rae which the Opposition TDs argue shows they consider themselves to be in government.
Specifically, they highlight comments by Lowry in which he talks about the “fantastic result” secured by the Regional Independents in government formation talks.
They also note this statement from Lowry: “It gives us a comfortable majority in the Dáil and allows us to get on with the work now of governing, and to give a stable and steady Government and to make the decisions that are needed in the public interest”.
Statements from Barry Heneghan are also included, specifically comments he made on Virgin Media’s Ireland AM last week, in which he talks about “having a voice in government” and influence over government policy”.
They also note that Heneghan said: “There’s a lot I want to do that I wouldn’t be able to achieve if I was in Opposition.”
The submission concluded by saying the group will “strenuously object” to an attempt to create an entitlement of government supporters to eat into the Dáil time that is allocated to the Opposition.
“At its simplest and bluntest, on this most basic of issues members of the Dáil cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds,” they wrote.
Late on the eve of the vote for Taoiseach, Michael Healy-Rae posted a video on social media in which he said that he and his brother Danny Healy-Rae would both be voting for Micheál Martin.
The Kerry TD also said that he and his brother would be representing the electorate “from within government”.
“If the late Jackie Healy-Rae was here, he would be saying we done the right thing on this occasion. We’re on the field and the game is on.”
— Michael Healy-Rae (@MHealyRae) January 21, 2025
Tomorrow both my brother Danny and I will be voting for Micheál Martin to become Taoiseach, in this video I explain why. pic.twitter.com/87TRdL9Kxi
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and People Before Profit have all called for Aontú and Carol Nolan – who are part of the technical group but have not committed to supporting the government – to leave the group.
When asked by The Journal if the three TDs could join People Before Profit’s technical group, leader Richard Boyd Barrett responded:
“That thought hadn’t occurred to me. I mean, I wouldn’t be jumping out of my skin to have Aontú in our group.”
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In all fairness it’s hardly up to the guards to remove syringes, it’s the council who clean up the area!!! It’s like the authorities are being blamed and not a word about the people who leave these syringes behind them!?!?
Well it would be up to the council to remove the syringes, I presume, but the Gardaí to deal with the illegal drug use.
The gardai do prosecute them daily but the courts give fines or suspended sentences and the bleeding heart do gooders try to absolute personal responsibility from the junkies.
they dont even give them fines, they give them BMWs disguised as fines!
@ john
And where do you think the syringes come from? The authorities using the free needle program. Stop supplying the needles for free, an exchange program wud stamp that out. Charge for fresh needles or free if they return the old one. No more needles lying around.
If you care charging for needles they’ll reuse then which is a huge part of the problem with IV drug use.
Syringes or not , the amount of uncollected refuse and illegal dumping in this country is a disgrace.
Junkies have a disregard for anyone else but themselves. They commit crimes to fund their habits and endanger the lives of others knowing there are no consequences because our Guards are stretched to the limit. All this talk about injection centres and drug rehab programmes is misplaced. Remove all social benefits until clean. That will stop it.
How will that stop it exactly. I think it’s fair to say it’s been established at this point that addicts will and do resort to crime to fund their habit. In what way will removing all social benefits compel users to get clean? Surely drug-related crime rates will increase if social benefits are removed..
Silly Daffy. Don’t help people who need help because… er… reasons.
Round them up and stick them in a tiled room with a bucket for 9 weeks and let them go thru the dts , less of the mammying and bleeding heart bs and bit more tough love is required
number of thumbs up demonstrates the ignorance. How will this stop the scourge? ‘Where there’s a will’ …
yes it makes good people monsters but you are wrong the centers are working in Canada, Switzerland and more. The Portuguese lapped up the benefits in their society although they had the common sense to stop criminalising users and, more importantly, addicts.
https://news.vice.com/article/ungass-portugal-what-happened-after-decriminalization-drugs-weed-to-heroin
They had the answer when the bad gear was on the streets . Cops worked overtime to get rid of it .
Wat r u on bout Alan? The gards have no answer to gear on the street.Dublin is covered in it,has been for years.the cards may aswel have there fingers up there holes.ther use less
I think he’s pointing out that the gards could have let the lethal drugs that hit irish streets a while back run their course and culled the junkie population instead of working so hard to get that particular batch off the streets.
yeh he’s gone a bit ‘CIA / crack cocaine’ on us there
Spot on
But we can’t have safe injection centers to help minimise this sort of thing because ill-informed right-wing idiots and the FG Holy Joe Country and Western brigade think it’s bad and wrong and wil encourage drug use and hate it because it was proposed by uber-liberal girlyman Aodhán Ó Ríordáin when he was a TD.
Because like all trolls, it’s the highlight of their day.
There was a very feel-good article the other day about how a drug that save the lives of multiple overdosers should be distributed for free and how empowering it all is, blah blah. And how good it feels to save the life of a junkie who over shot himself. All the comments that were considered to be of the buzz killing type were taken down. Didn’t fit with junkie as harmless victim narrative . Then when you see the reality of what drug addicts leave behind in their wake, the reality of their absolute self indulgence and the pain and damage they inflict it just makes me angry that resources go into these people that could be better spent on more deserving people with better outcome possibilities.
“Safe injection centres are the answer alright. However, it wouldnt be heroin I would advocate injecting. ”
- Yeah, murdering problematic people is a great idea.
“O’ Riordan and the rest of the liberals need a reality check. Junkies choose their lifestyle and bring their misery upon the rest of society”
- And safe injecting centers woudl reduce the misery they bring to the rest of society, and themselves, and reduce the financial cost to society too.
“Do you think injection centres are somehow going to cause the junkies to be bestowed with civic responsibility and not leave needles on the streets ever again?”
- Why are you asking me that when I quite clearly stated in the comment you’re responding to that “safe injection centers to help minimise this sort of thing”. HELP MINIMISE. How hard a concept is that to understand?
“It’s the uber-liberals that infest our judiciary that turf these junkies onto the streets time and time again wile looking after their friends suckling from the free-legal-aid teat.”
- What the f__k does that have to do with providing safe injecting centers to take them OFF the street?
“Then when you see the reality of what drug addicts leave behind in their wake, the reality of their absolute self indulgence and the pain and damage they inflict it just makes me angry that resources go into these people that could be better spent on more deserving people with better outcome possibilities.”
And providing safe injecting centres would remove some of what they leave behind, drug paraphernalia. Would reduce the healthcare cost of dealing with unsafe injecting, sharing needles etc. Would reduce the risk of overdosing, which will, regardless of what some might like, take up resources like emergency services etc.
If you have nothing useful to add to the discussion, Marg, the just keep quiet.
damn those uber-liberals, using ride-sharing apps in a free and easy manner.
If you have nothing useful to add to the discussion, Marg, then just keep quiet.
Ah the bleeding hearts are out in force. How about this solution? Three strikes approach…you are given help three times and if you are still a junkie after that, then no more help. No dole, no free houses, not a penny more from the tax payer. As I said its a lifestyle choice, they are given endless help and dont take it
@cleverjake Take a wander down to Our Ladys in Crumlin or Temple Street and you will see people who need help. Children all over the country need life saving operations and medicine and your lot want to spend the health budget on people who made bad choices. Those kids didnt make and bad choices and they suffer because millions are spent on wasters. Shame on you and your liberal friends
How about we build safe injecting centers and use the money saved treating people for sharing needles and help avoid situations like this and resources spent on treating children like this little girl when it could be avoidable and direct the money into Crumlin or Temple Street hospitals rather than harp on about political ideology and achieve nothing but more waste?
How about we dont spend another cent on wasters and divert the money saved to the real hard cases? How about we stop indulging the waster generation who think they are entitled to not work and get paid. The govt pay heroin addicts €188 a week and they spend it on gear. The truth is that the govt are directly funding Kinihan and Freddy and the rest of the dealers. Taxpayers money is directly funding the murder on our streets. Wake up and smell the coffee. This is the reality of not only tolerating but funding drug dealers by giving free money to wasters
“Some of the most vulnerable people in society…” No. Some of the most vulnerable are among those junkies prey on. Old people, special needs people, kids. Through no fault of their own, they are the people who get mugged, robbed, beaten, dragged down lanes, and exposed to dangerous needles junkies left behind, because they are vulnerable. We hear the stories over and over. They also missed out on services that the government can’t afford because they are too busy looking out for people who made a conscious decision to ruin their own lives with drugs.
“How about we dont spend another cent on wasters and divert the money saved to the real hard cases?”
Because if we don’t things like this happen.
“How about we stop indulging the waster generation who think they are entitled to not work and get paid. ”
Are you even addressing the issue here ot just ranting?
“The govt pay heroin addicts €188 a week and they spend it on gear. The truth is that the govt are directly funding Kinihan and Freddy and the rest of the dealers.”
What are you on about?
“Taxpayers money is directly funding the murder on our streets. Wake up and smell the coffee. This is the reality of not only tolerating but funding drug dealers by giving free money to wasters”
What has this got to do with the issue being discussed?
There isnt enough money to go around in the health service. Straight question…you have €1 million to spend on either injection centres or life saving operations, which do you choose? No bluff, no answering my question with a question, which one do you choose?
at least recognise that there isnt the money because of a deliberate EU/Europe-wide constructed financial crisis ..the results of which are to privatise our resources and drive ordinary people’s living standards into the abyss. However now that we know ROI is ready for the centers – why dont we stop arguing and introduce a few ?
which do you choose which do you choose which do you choose which do you choose?
Jake surely even people from a poor socio- economical background know the word NO !!!!!!! . Nobody forced these people to take their first drug NOBODY . And now innocent children are waiting for blood results because of their total disregard for people by just dropping their needles ” wherever” . Would you be as understanding if it was your child ????
So Phil because marg does not agree with you, she has nothing useful to say ????. She is as entitled to her opinion on this as much as you are so relax and act like an adult
You have once again dodged the question being asked. €1 million to spend on heroin addicts or children who need life saving operations…who would you rather spend it on? This is the reality
I was there yesterday and two as it seemed men a bit out of it were asking each other in a most delightful manner, Would you rob that shop to each other, what a delight and both dressed in immaculate clothing, that made me wonder if these druggies stole the clothes they were wearing as well?
What a delight for tourists…
Too sarcastic I think?
reads a bit like a poem
3….2……1…. Que the Druggies are victims and the PC bollocks excuses .
the druggies are victims. Yours, PC Bollocks.
Sure they are. I wonder how many victims the average drug user has left in their wake . Ever had a family member attacked with a needle?? Ever had a house ransacked by a user. ever had a business broken into by a user?.
I wouldn’t even call them human, never mind victims.
The only way to stop this is having these centres .you hear these stories with kids too often .
No, we should bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away all on its own.
And rant about how providing such a service is being nice to junkies while ignoring pretty much all the other benefits.
Let me make it clear though i don’t have any sympathy for junkies they disgust me but if this lessons the chance of my children coming in contact with their filthy needles I’d support it !
Injection centres are a step in the right direction of course but, just like prisons, the NIMBYs will be all over any kind of planning permission or works installation to ensure that these facilities are not installed within a jumbo jet’s roar of their area. Yet they will complain until the cows come home. Meanwhile the councils will remain in a constant state of paralysis with respect to a decision on this while Joe Public remains in harms way.
Exactly my thinking Lauren. Couldn’t care less about addicts. It’s everybody else I’m worried about.
Kids that are born junkies and have to go through detox as soon as they are born are then just handed back to their junkie mothers .. I’ll never understand that …
@Sean
Wouldn’t you have the same attitude if it was actually ‘in your backyard’ and YOUR property would lose 50 grand in value almost overnight?
I’m all for injection centres if it helps to reduce those incidents but not in predominantly residential areas.
i dont have a backyard, or a property worth e50k- so im fine with it
We as a society needs to open up civic responsibility centres for junkies.
Take the money from the health budget.
Stay classy Ballymuh
People mention injection centres great idea let’s get these useless carcasses out of the city and build an injection centre in foxrock.
Introduce the injection centers. No excuses we are still waiting in this country.
have your say