The Dáil returns today for a new term after an intense 12-week period which included a general election, Government formation talks, the election of a new Taoiseach and an almighty row on speaking rights.
On Monday night, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy made a decisive intervention when she ruled that Michael Lowry’s Regional Independent Group (many of whom have committed their support to Government) would not be afforded Opposition speaking rights. Mr Lowry is seeking a review of the decision.
Meanwhile, the business of the Oireachtas resumes. Here’s how things are progressing in the Dáil today.
- Leaders’ Questions - 2pm, followed by the Order of Business and Questions on Policy and Promised Legislation.
- Statements on the Government’s Response to Storm Éowyn were heard just after 3pm.
- Private Members’ Business will be taken at 8:30pm, with Sinn Féin’s aforementioned motion on Palestine. Topical Issues are up just before 8:30pm.
Follow the latest here.
Order of Business Round-up
Marie O’Halloran has compiled some of the main contributions made by TDs during the Order of Business debate, including a number of maiden speechs.
Any concerns that Government TDs were not getting speaking time appeared to have been overcome as a number got to ask questions, including veteran and new deputies.
Dublin South-West Fianna Fáil TD JOHN LAHART highlighted the ongoing controversy for commuters over “buses being cancelled minutes prior to their scheduled arrival”. He said the next bus arrives late and is full and these buses, particularly the S4, S6, and S8. He said the NTA was not taking a sufficiently hands-on approach to dealing with bus services.
Taoiseach MICHEÁL MARTIN agreed there needed to be a “lot more engagement with the Government and indeed the Oireachtas and a lot more time could be saved”.
New Fine Gael TD for Offaly JOHN CLENDENNEN made his maiden speech, by asking a question on education. He first thanked the voters of Offaly putting their trust in him, asking about modular units in the Charleville National School in Tullamore. He said the school deserved a “fit for purpose modern facility”.
New Minister for Education HELEN MCENTEE acknowledged the importance of proper facilities. She said the capital project overall was “significant” and she wanted to ensure that projects that were well advanced would progress quickly.
Fianna Fáil East Cork TD NOEL MCCARTHY also made his maiden speech by asking a question. Mr McCarthy also thanked his constituents for “showing their faith in me”. He highlighted difficulties with the access road to Cobh the R624. “There’s only one access to the Great island of Cobh”. There was an accident two weeks ago and the access to the island was cut off for two hours. Mr McCarthy said different access options need to be explored.
The Taoiseach said it was a “very serious issue for the people of Cobh” and also more broadly in terms of housing activity and it was something that would be evaluated in the updated National Development Plan.
A number of opposition TDs also got to speak including new Sinn Féin Carlow-Kilkenny TD NATASHA NEWSOME-DRENNAN. She too thanked the people of the constituency and promised she would “leave no stone unturned”.
She highlighted concerns about childcare and that a number of providers were ending their after school services because of staffing issues and parents were left “scrambling for limited alternatives” and another one had done so in Kilkenny city.
The Programme for Government had offered “mere lipservice to childcare” and she called for a concrete plan for this sector, to build capacity for operators to end “stopgap” alternatives.
The Taoiseach congratulated Ms Newsome Drennan on her election and said that if she gave them the details of the affected service he could follow it up with the Minister for Children.
“Riviera of the Middle East”
Outside the chamber, the main talking point among many TDs was what President Donald Trump said during his banal press conference in the White House yesterday evening.
His grand plan of clearing Gaza of its 1.8 million people, placing them somewhere in the region (a refugee camp deep in some desert), and then creating some kind of a Middle-Eastern version of the Riviera, for rich people of course, had jaws dropping to the floor.
The Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was obviously very happy to hear what he was hearing and he did what all leaders do to curry favour on Trump - he heaped praise and hyperbole upon him.
Elsewhere, in the Middle East, Arab countries responded with horror. Most countries in the EU, including Germany (which is strongly pro-Israel), were also highly critical.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris said the comments were “very concerning”. He said Ireland’s focus was still on delivering a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
Keith Duggan, our US Correspondent, filed an in-depth piece a little while ago analysing Trump’s audacious plan for America to take over Gaza and displace two million Palestinians.
There is a debate in the Dáil later on Gaza and this will be sure to feature very prominently.
Leaders give their take on how they fared today on social media
Debate now moves on to Storm Éowyn
James Browne, the new Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is now on his feet, setting out how the Government and its agencies responded to the extensive damage caused by Storm Éowyn.
Darragh O’Brien has also been on his feet. O’Brien has responsibility Energy, Environment and Transport, as well as Climate.
Both Ministers have been reading from scripts outlining what has been done, and what needs to be done. O’Brien has been talking about putting in a new network resilience plan ahead of next winter.
A third Fianna Fáil Minister, Dara Calleary, is now talking, as he outlines the humanitarian assistance programme that is administered by his department, Social Protection.
Another long break
This will happen a lot this week. A vote has been called and then all 174 Deputies’s names are called out by the clerk. It’s a tedious process. But expect to see a lot of it. It’s on now. Takes almost half an hour each time.
The row over speaking time rumbles on in background
An interesting tweet here from Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe arguing that Opposition TDs are being given priority over Government TDs for speaking time in the Dáil.
The Roll Call vote
Some people (us political journalists) were wondering why there was a roll call for the vote on the Order of Business and why there was no electronic voting, or a walk-through. The latter happens when all the TDs who are voting troop up the steep stairs of the chamber and then turn right or turn left at the ‘lobby’ or landing at the top of the stairs.
Hence the name ‘lobby’.
Our parliamentary correspondent Marie O’Halloran informs us that the only reason there is a roll call vote is because seats have not been assigned to TDs as yet. We expect that to happen tomorrow which will allow all vote electronically from their assigned seats.
If the Opposition wants to press it, they can always call a vote other than by electronic means, in other words a ‘lobby’ vote. It’s a relatively rare occurrence but given the atmosphere in the early days of this new Dáil, we suspect we will see more of that in future.
Order of Business Exchanges
Marie O’Halloran writes: Labour’s Duncan Smith said there was an unprecedented number of Ministers being appointed and the Government was seeking a waiving of pre-legislative scrutiny to give effect to the changed number. He also expressed disappointment that TDs had only received a note on the restoration of Bills only about 20 minutes before the Dáil sat.
The Social Democrats’ Jennifer Whitmore returned to Storm Éowyn and accused the Government of a lack of response. “There was no plan and you left the ESB to do the heavy lifting”. She said they needed questions and answers with the Minister to find out what the Government were doing and the one thing households affected by the storm were saying was that “they were being left on their own”.
People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett claimed the Government was going to “loot the public purse” with “more jobs, more ministers and more spoils of an election. It is really blatant and outrageous” that the Government would not debate the legislation to increase the number of Ministers”.
Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins said “we need proper answers” from Ministers on the response to the storm where people had “not water, no heat, no food” and no adequate emergency response.
The Taoiseach said however that “we have the largest population in our history” and the largest number of TDs an increase from 160 to 174 and “I don’t see any 14 volunteers who want to resign their Dáil seats”.
He said the legislation on the number of Ministers “is out of date”. The consequences of climate change were issues that were not in existence when the Constitution was put in place and they needed a Minister of State for the Marine. He added that issues of security and defence were dominating in Europe “but hardly a whisper of it in here”, to which an opposition TD said “we weren’t sitting”.
Danny Healy-Rae wearing tie and cap. Is it a sign?
The Kerry TD was spotted going into Leinster House wearing a tie and cap today, a la his brother Michael, the new Minister of State for Forestry.
It’s unusual to see Danny wearing such fancy clobber. Could there be an appointment in store? An Oireachtas chair for example?
Order of Business being Voted on Now
Marie O’Halloran writes: The House has moved on to the Order of business and a row over the appointment of an unprecedented 23 Ministers of State.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claimed the “actual priority for this new cobbled together grubby deal Government is actually jobs for the boys and for the few girls that might be lucky enough to make an appearance”.
She told the Taoiseach that “your desire to divvy out the spoils of Government is unparalleled I believe, in the history of this House”.
She said the Government wanted “more positions, more allowances, more expense for the taxpayer. But you want all of this without even basic pre legislative scrutiny”, and this was “utterly unacceptable”.
The vote is now being taken on a roll call. Expect to see a lot of this in the 34th Dáil.
Jennifer Bray’s morning political digest
If you had not a chance to read Jennifer’s digest this morning, it sets out the background and context as the Dáil returned today. Well worth a read.
A complete disregard for hard data on housing, claims SocDems
Marie O’Halloran writes: Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’ Callaghan returned to housing and accused the Government of “completely and utterly” disregarding the hard data from the CSO on housing numbers
But Mr Martin to applause from his own side and jeers from the Opposition that the social Democrats had not out any “silver bullet” to persuade the public to their view when they opposed the first time buyers grant and other supports.
Mary Lou McDonald lays down the gauntlet
Top billing for heavyweight bout surprisingly taken by Cian O’Callaghan.
The claim by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael during the election campaign that 40,000 houses would be built in 2024 agains featured during the turn of Social Democrats temporary leader Cian O’Callaghan.
He pointed to the reports and experts (including ESRI) who in the autumn were expressing doubt over the targets being reached and said that the Government parties ignored those reports and relied on reports that were not accurate.
Like Mary Lou McDonald, he demanded the Taoiseach apologise for misleading the public.
It led to the most personal and bad-tempered exchange of the day so far.
“There is no attempt to mislead the public,” Martin claimed.
He said that the Social Democrats had offered “no silver bullet” on housing
Martin recalled a meeting he attended with O’Callaghan on housing, and claimed the former housing spokesman for his party was extremely poor.
He claimed that O’Callaghan left the meeting with the express purpose of going on the 6.1 News.
“You looked at the clock. ‘Nudge, nudge, look at the watch, get out for the news,” he claimed, amid protests from the Opposition benches and cheers from his own side.
“You looked at the clock. ‘Nudge, nudge, look at the watch, get out for the news,”
— Micheál Martin to Cian O'Callaghan
Unacceptable, says Bacik
Marie O’Halloran reports: Labour leader Ivana Bacik highlighted the impact of storm Éowyn on local communities.
She asked the Toaiseach " what your government do to protect our infrastructure, and what you will do now to support struggling households, trying to cope”.
She said it was unacceptable that 18,000 households were still without electricity.
There had to be a clear outline of what would be done to address the issue and that in the move to clean energy struggling households should not be left behind.
The Taoiseach said 3,000 electricity crews were involved in repairs including crews from abroad.
He said “I don’t think it’s good enough that Irish Water” did not have sufficient generators in place.
He said the storm was unprecedented but it was “simply unacceptable” that 18,000 were still without electricity.
Such storms were going to recur and up to €13 billion was the level of investment that would have to be made over the next five years.
Ivana Bacik brings up Storm Éowyn
It’s back to the quotidien stuff after the fire and fury of the row over process. Bacik criticised the Government for allowing a situation where 18,000 households are still without power almost a fortnight after the storm. Martin defends ESB Networks saying it had brought in crews from around Europe to deal with in the aftermath of a once-in-a-generation storm.
More details on Leaders’ testy exchanges
Marie O’Halloran writes: Taoiseach Micheál Martin insisted there was no attempt to mislead in the housing targets.
The figure was disappointing. But he said the opposition were claiming that the targets were too low. he said there would have to be a shift in how they reached housing targets.
Ms McDonald said this was the first acknowledgment from the Goverment was “pure fiction”.
Mr Martin told Ms McDonald however that the " bottom line is that your programme for housing” failed to convince the electorate.
He said that for two - 2022 and2023- of the past three years, they had met their housing targets
First bristly Exchange
After getting the Taoiseach to admit that the targets he had set for 2024 were not met, Mary Lou McDonald went on the attack accusing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of deception. Voices were quickly raised as the Government and Opposition leaders attacked each other’s policies.
There is a packed chamber today. So far Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has had no difficulties in maintaining order.
“A Load of Bull”
Marie O’Halloran writes: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou M Donald has accused the government of engaging in “a load of bull” over its housing target of 40,000 home completions last year.
She said the figure was “pure fiction” and that Micheál Martin and Simon Harris knew this even as they repeatedly claimed during the general election campaign that it would be close to 40,000.
She said the Government parties “couldn’t face the electorate that it was in fact going backwards”.
First row is about housing numbers
Mary Lou McDonald is on her feet, accusing the Taoiseach of deceiving the public over the number of house builds last year. She says Micheál Martin claimed 40,000 houses were built in 2024, where the reality was it was closer to 30,000. She is demanding that he correct the record.
Leo Varadkar to be in witness in Junior Minister court case?
Jack Horgan-Jones writes: People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has said it would be a “good idea” for former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to give evidence in court about the practice of so-called “super junior” minsiters attending cabinet.
Mr Murphy outlined that a case he has taken seeking an injunction against the practice would see oral evidence given in open court.
Facing repeated questioning over whether witnesses could include former Taoisaigh, such as Leo Varadkar, Mr Murphy said he would defer to his legal advice but that his view as a layperson is that it would be a good idea.
Mr Murphy’s case is the second legal action taken by opposition TDs over the practice, with Sinn Féin climate spokesman Pa Daly also seeking a judicial review.
The Dublin Southwest TD said the practice was the “biggest stroke of all”, but told reporters at Leinster House that he only recently became aware of the potential strenght of a legal case against it, and would have acted sooner if he knew about it.
He also said that an article by Leo Varadkar in The Sunday Times describing his attitudes and view of the use of Super Juniors had “copper fastened” his intent in taking the case.
Mr Varadkar wrote that the use of super juniors was to “get around” constitutional limits on the number of cabinet ministers in place - which dictate the goverment is composed of not fewer than seven and not more than 15 members. He also wrote that super juniors brought memos to cabinet.
“Now we have it in writing from a former taoiseach that effectively there is no distinction between super juniors and full ministers,” he said
Mr Murphy said his and Mr Daly’s cases are not coordinated, but he said they were “complimentary” because they took different legal angles of attack.
He said that the “significance difference” between Mr Daly’s judicial review and his own plenary action is that in the latter, there will be oral evidence from witnesses, adding that there are a “number of people” he could think of that might be suitable.
“We need to discuss with the lawyers and figure out exactly what we’ll do, we don’t have a final strategy in terms of witnesses… but there’s a lot of people that you can imagine would be interesting to get in,” he said.
His case also sought an injunction preventing the practice from continuing, and also declaring that decisions taken by the current cabinet when super juniors were in attendance were unconstitutional.
There are four so-called super juniors appointed by the current government - one each from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and two from the ranks of Independents supporting the government.
Mr Murphy said he believed the case should be heard urgently, and that it had the potential to be a “real problem” for the government.
His case also asks the court to declare that the top-up payments were unconstitutional and that the super junios attendance is also unconstitutional.
Earlier, the Social Democrats said that if US President Donald Trump persists with his rhetoric on Gaza, the Taoiseach should not travel to Washington, DC as part of the annual St Patrick’s Day diplomatic programme of ministerial travel.
Free seating
Marie O’Halloran reports: TDs will be free to sit wherever they like in the Dáil chamber for today as party and group seating as not yet been assigned.
But Oireachtas members are expecting that by tomorrow they will be sitting in their Government/Opposition/Independent-assigned seating, following the apparently resolved for now row over Government-supporting Independents’ speaking rights.
What can we expect today
The Dáil resumes today after a two-week break. In that time we have had two storms.
One had a devastating impact on the cutlery and left some 700,000 households without power. Even this week, over 10,000 mostly in Connemara and North Galway remain to be reconnected.
The second storm happened in a teacup. In five years time, when the national goes to the polls, it will be almost wholly consigned to oblivion. But it was nonetheless powerful in the moment. There was a sense among the Opposition that a tiny group of Independents who had declared loyalty to the Government had pulled a fast one by registering as an Opposition group.
After two weeks of what seemed like intractable horse-trading, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy essentially guillotined the debate on it by ruling that the Michael Lowry-led group could not declare themselves as as an Opposition group. Lowry accepted the decision yesterday.
So it seems that that the storm has been abated but it is probable that Standing Orders will have to be changed again in future to reflect the more complicated arithmetic of Irish parliamentary parties.
So what can we expect from Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s first turn at Leaders’ Questions in the 34th Dáil. The Opposition did seem to ratchet everything up during the row - well more than usual. Is it a pattern that we will see a more partisan and divided Dáil with regular schnozzles and stridency?
What will dominate today? Storm Éowyn for sure. And Donald Trump’s plans to depopulate Gaza and turn it into some form of Middle Eastern Riviera, and in so doing, displace 1.8 million people to refugee camps in some as yet unknown destination.
