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Violet-Anne Wynne TD with her baby in the Dáil chamber Screengrab/Oireachtas TV
history made
Violet-Anne Wynne makes history by being first TD to bring baby into Dáil chamber
She received a cross-party round of applause as she stood holding the baby.
INDEPENDENT TD Violet-Anne Wynne has made history this evening by being the first politician to bring their baby into the Dáil chamber.
During this evening’s Dáil proceedings, Ceann Comhairle Séan Ó Fearghaíl welcomed Wynne back to work at Leinster House.
She then received a cross-party round of applause as she stood holding the baby at the back of the chamber.
“We’re seeing a bit of history being made tonight,” Ó Fearghaíl said.
“Baby Collins is the first actual baby to join us here in the house,” he joked.
'History' was made in the Dáil when Clare TD Violet-Anne Wynne brought her 7-month old daughter Collins into the chamber.
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 21, 2022
Ceann Comhairle Séan Ó Fearghaíl commented that it was the first time an 'actual' baby was in the Dáil pic.twitter.com/awD4CZWJTs
In February, Wynne quit Sinn Féin claiming she has been subjected to “psychological warfare”.
The Clare deputy said her continued membership of the party had become “untenable”.
The politician said she felt “pressurised” and was not given autonomy to hire her own staff.
Elsewhere
In 2017, an Australian senator made political history by becoming the first politician to breastfeed in the nation’s parliament.
Senator Larissa Waters, from the Green party, fed her then two-month-old daughter Alia Joy during a vote as she returned to work in the upper house Senate for the first time since giving birth.
The lower house changed its rules in 2016 and joined the Senate to allow lawmakers to breastfeed and bottle-feed in the chamber, however no MPs from either house had done so until Waters.
Breastfeeding has been permitted in the Australian Senate since 2003.
In the UK, a cross-party review recommended in June of this year that MPs should not be allowed to bring babies into the House of Commons chamber during debates.
The Procedure Committee report was ordered amid an outcry over Labour’s Stella Creasy being told she can no longer have her baby son with her.
The group ruled that MPs should not bring babies into the chamber or nearby Westminster Hall if they want to “observe, initiate, speak or intervene in proceedings”.
But they said there should be a “degree of de-facto discretion” that “should be exercised sparingly”.
With reporting by Press Association
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