THE LEADERS OF the Opposition have said “all options” are on the table, including a walkout from the Dáil next week, in protest over the Government pushing through changes to speaking rights tonight.

A four-hour meeting of the Dáil Reform Committee ended in a vote this evening, with the Government winning 10 to eight. The proposal will be put to a full Dáil vote next week, but is guaranteed to pass given the Government’s majority.

In a hastily arranged press conference after the meeting, the leaders of Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, Independent Ireland and People Before Profit expressed their fury at the Government’s actions.

“That was one of the worst exercises in cynicism and sleeveen politics on the part of the Government that I have ever witnessed in all my years in the Dáil,” People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett said. 

Boyd Barrett said the Government TDs in the meeting “pretended for three to four hours that they were serious about a compromise and a discussion” and then “at the last minute” pushed it through with a vote. 

He suggested that the vote was called following a communication from someone “higher up” in the Government. 

Tonight’s meeting was arranged in a bid to come to an agreement on the speaking rights row that derailed parliament last month.

In a statement, government chief whip Mary Butler said she welcomed the decision to “address speaking time for 60 TDs”.

She said the proposals agreed will ensure all backbench TDs in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and those independents not recognised under Standing Order 170, will be able to access speaking time”.

“Under the government proposal there won’t be any reduction in opposition speaking time,” said Butler in a statement.

However, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the actions of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are “dangerous, unprecedented, and a clear attempt to turn logic and the rules and functions of the Dáil on their head”.

She said the Government has “gone back on their word” and “unilaterally moved to force through propositions that make a mockery of any notion of accountability in the Dáil”.

The Sinn Féin leader added: “They’ve gone to no end of trouble to accommodate Michael Lowry and his group of independents to pretend that you can be in Government and Opposition at the same time.”

“They have gone back on their word.”

The five main opposition leaders are out on the plinth after a four hour Dail Reform Committee meeting.

They say they are very concerned about the government “ramming through” their proposals on speaking rights.

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The Sinn Féin leader also said that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil now “want their own TDs to also act as though they were also Opposition TDs”.

Meanwhile, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said “what happened this evening was an unprecedented attempt by the Government to dilute Opposition oversight in this Dáil”.

He said that at the Dáil reform committee, Butler called a vote on “half-baked government proposals, most of which hadn’t even been discussed at the meeting”.

O’Callaghan noted that it is the practice of the committee to consider the specific text of proposed amendments to standing orders before a vote, but that the “Government has not even bothered drafting that text”.

Standing Orders

Earlier this month, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy ruled that the Regional Independent Group could not be recognised as a group in Opposition, based on the existing rules as set out in Standing Orders.

This ruling was accepted by all parties and a plan was arranged for the Dáil Reform Committee to meet again three weeks later to consider proposed amendments to the Standing Orders.

In their submission, the Government mooted the creation of “Other Members’ Questions”, a new section of Dáil time that four members of the Regional Independents Technical group, who have openly said they will support the government, can use. 

The Opposition parties dubbed this “yet another cynical attempt to manipulate speaking time” and give “special privileges” to the members of the Regional Independents who participated in government formation talks, but who do not hold ministerial positions. 

These four TDs are Danny Healy Rae, Barry Heneghan, Michael Lowry and Gillian Toole.

In a letter to the Opposition leaders earlier today, the Ceann Comhairle told them that she has no role in deciding what new Standing Orders can be introduced.

“I am obliged as Ceann Comhairle to merely implement and administer the rules as they stand, no more and no less. To do otherwise would involve my office in political controversy which I will not, and cannot, allow myself to be drawn into,” she said.

“The amendment of Standing Orders is a matter for the Dáil, not the office of Ceann Comhairle. I do not have the authority to intervene in this process, as it is a matter for the House itself.”

As a consequence of this row, Micheál Martin’s election as Taoiseach was delayed by a day last month. 

A further consequence has been a delay in the establishment of Oireachtas Committees, which have not sat properly in three months. 

Yesterday, Sinn Féin Chief Whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn told The Journal: “The function of the parliament is in serious crisis because of the Government’s actions.

“The place is not functioning properly because of this absolute mess.”

Earlier today, the five Opposition party leaders wrote a joint letter to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to request an urgent meeting.

They noted that there had been agreement in place that any changes to Standing Orders would be done with the consent of the Opposition.

They further noted that this position was stated in the Dáil by then Government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughten.

The five Opposition leaders will meet again in the morning to discuss their next step, but they reiterated that they are “united” and that “everything” is on the table.