OVER A dozen Dáil deputies have been left stranded abroad by the volcanic ash cloud and will be absent when the Dáil resumes today. As many as seven Fianna Fáil TDs, five Fine Gael TDs and one Labour Party deputy have been unable to return home from destinations in Dubai, Lanzarote, Spain, France and Malta.
For a time yesterday, it looked like the absence of so many Fianna Fáil TDs from Leinster House might have implications for the Government’s precarious majority, if a division was called on a vote this afternoon, most likely on the order to proceed with the Central Bank Reform Bill. However, later last night, it became clear that almost as many Opposition as Government TDs are stranded abroad.
With Fine Gael saying it would use all parliamentary options at is disposal to force a change of administration, officials in the Government whip’s office issued instructions to all deputies yesterday to be present in the Dáil when the parliament resumes at 2.30pm today.
In mid-afternoon, with uncertainty about how many TDs were abroad, Government Chief Whip John Curran accepted that it was a matter of concern that so many TDs were out of the country.
Fine Gael whip Paul Kehoe confirmed last night that having conducted a ring-around, some of his party’s TDs were also abroad. He said that he believed that the numbers would cancel each other out.
The Fianna Fáil TDs who have been confirmed as abroad are Conor Lenihan, Áine Brady, Johnny Brady, Seán Ardagh and Michael Finneran. It is believed as many as two others are abroad.
Mr Lenihan, a Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise, was due home from a family holiday in Dubai on Sunday but said yesterday he may not be able to return until Friday.
Mrs Brady, Minister of State in the Department of Health, on a break in southern Spain was yesterday travelling by road through France to catch a ferry in Cherbourg. Mr Ardagh was on a committee trip to Malta with Fianna Fáil Seanad colleague Denis O’Donovan when the crisis arose. Both politicians flew to Madrid and were making their way by road to Cherbourg yesterday. They are due back on Thursday.
Mr Brady flew to Madrid from Lanzarote on Friday. Yesterday, he said that he had informed that the earliest he could return home was Wednesday. Another Fianna Fáil TD, Michael Ahern, who attended a conference in Madrid, arrived home last night after travelling from Roscoff to Cork.
Fine Gael’s health spokesman James Reilly is in New York. The party’s tourism spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell has been unable to return from holiday in Spain, while the Cork South West TD Jim O’Keeffe is also stranded abroad.
The Labour Party TD unable to return is Leas Ceann Comhairle Brendan Howlin.
