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MICHAEL Lowry appeared to give a TD two fingers today as the Dail dramatically shut down to a chorus of “shame, shame, shame” from the opposition politicians as the speaking time row exploded back into life.
Amid chaotic scenes, the controversial Tipperary TD insisted he was telling rival deputy Paul Murphy to “sit down” using his two fingers.
He told the Irish Sun: “Murphy was using video against regulation. I beckoned him to come nearer.”
The madness began when the Government forced through a vote to change the rules of the Dail to create a new “Other Members” slot to give Michael Lowry and other Government backing TDs time to raise issues with the Taoiseach and Tanaiste in the House.
The vote – which the Government won by 94 to 74 – also reduces the ‘Taoiseach’s Questions’ session in the Dail down from two to just one per week and cuts the time that TDs can raise issues during the daily Order of Business discussion.
Opposition parties have joined together to battle against the move as they demand a clear definition between the opposition and Government benches.
They claim that Michael Lowry and three other independent TDs who are backing the coalition should be forced to take their speaking time from the Government slots.
Social Democrat TD Gary Gannon claims that the new “Other Members” slot for Coalition backing TDs amounts to “the Government correcting its own homework” as they pretend to hold the Taoiseach to account in Dail questions.
The row over speaking time has kept Dail business frozen for weeks with no new laws passed or Committees set up.
The dispute led to the delay of Micheal Martin as Taoiseach earlier this year as opposition TDs shouted down the Dail in protest.
The fight bubbled under the surface for weeks before coming to a head today as the Government forced through a vote to try to put the issue to bed.
This sparked outrageous scenes in the Dail as opposition TDs refused to take their seats and repeatedly roared down Ceann Comhaile Verona Murphy.
In a perceived attempt to force the suspension of the House, opposition TDs roared accusations about a “grubby deal” and demanded to know why the Taoiseach was forcing through the vote “to appease Michael Lowry.”
When the vote was eventually passed, TDs refused to let the Ceann Comhairle move on to other business as they shouted down the Taoiseach as he stood to take questions.
The Ceann Comhairle eventually suspended the House with Government TDs leaving to a chorus of “shame, shame, shame” from the Opposition benches.
By Adam Higgins
MICHAEL Lowry laughed and waved to furious TDs as he played up to the role of the villain in the pantomime that was the Dail today.
For the second time this year, our parliament was forced to close as opposition TDs shouted down the House in embarrassing scenes that benefit no one.
Trump’s potentially devastating tariffs, the worsening housing crisis, the lack of special school places – and yet our Dail is torn down in a row over….speaking time.
I think the opposition might be picking the wrong hill to die on here.
Essentially, this all centres on four TDs effectively led by Lowry who are backing the Coalition but also want speaking time to question the Taoiseach as if they were opposition.
They are not in opposition.
Lowry, Danny Healy Rae, Barry Heneghan and Gillian Toole are government TDs – regardless of what Taoiseach Micheal Martin says.
They negotiated the programme for Government. They have colleagues who are now ministers.
They boasted about being “inside Government.”
This charade of them pretending to be somehow in the Coalition but also independent of Government needs to stop.
Micheal Martin is trying to claim this is all about giving backbenchers in Fianna Fail and Fine Gael more speaking time – which simply doesn’t fly.
Why not call this new speaking slot “Government Members Questions” then instead of “Other Members?”
The opposition are well within their rights to protest the Dail changes but is this really how they want to do it?
I don’t think anyone watching today’s chaos would look back and say they’re proud of our parliament.
Surely there is a way to protest that doesn’t block all Dail business and effectively leave the parliament frozen?
During these dramatic scenes, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy took out his phone and began video recording Michael Lowry.
In the clip, Deputy Lowry can be seen giving two fingers to the camera.
The Tipperary TD then approached the Dail’s ushers and appeared to complain about Deputy Murphy’s use of his mobile phone to record.
He later told reporters that he was telling the People Before Profit TD to “sit down” with his two fingers.
The explosive row now threatens to block any further business in the Dail as opposition parties vow to continue to fight the move which they claim is undermining democracy.
Before the Dail collapsed, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the Taoiseach of turning the Dail inside out to placate Michael Lowry.
Labour’s Ivana Bacik raised the issue of the Government cutting a Taoiseach’s questions session from the weekly schedule.
She said: “You used this row to give yourself Wednesdays off.”
The Taoiseach accused the opposition of manufacturing a political row over eight minutes of speaking time which he claimed was “farcical.”
The defiant Fianna Fail leader claimed that “the election result never sunk in for some” as he tried to defend the Government through a chorus of jeers.
He claimed that the Government were making the changes to give government back benchers more time to speak in the Dail – without mentioning Lowry or the Independent TDs.
Throughout these exchanges, opposition TDs roared over eachother while the Government benches sat silent.
The Ceann Comhairle was repeatedly forced to interject to call for respect as the opposition heckles grew louder and louder.
TDs repeatedly aimed their fury at Deputy Lowry who laughed and waved at politicians during the debate.
At one point, TDs – largely from Sinn Fein – refused to sit down and continued to roar at the Ceann Comhaile who sat and waited for several minutes for them to stop.
She eventually said: “You’re making a holy show of yourselves” – which was met with applause from the Government benches.
There was confusion when the Ceann Comhairle eventually called the vote as TDs could not hear what she said.
When the vote was won by the Government, some from the Sinn Fein benches claimed they no longer had confidence in the Ceann Comhairle.
“[Paul] Murphy was using video against regulation. I beckoned him to come nearer.”
Michael Lowry
As the Taoiseach rose to his feet to try and move on with other Dail business, he was shouted down by the combined opposition who were now standing up and refusing to take their seats.
The Ceann Comhairle then shut down the Dail for the day which led to chants of “shame” from the opposition.
Speaking at a joint press conference tonight, the opposition leaders said they will not back down as they signalled further disruptions to the Dail up ahead.
Some opposition figures also turned their criticism towards the Ceann Comhairle over her handling of the episode today.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said: “Very shockingly the Ceann Comhairle has been part of ramming through these new provisions.
“We’re very troubled by that. We have been discussing it. There is no doubt that she has done significant damage to her standing.”
The leaders of the opposition parties plan to meet early tomorrow to plot their next move amid concerns over further shouting protests in the days to come.
THE BBC’s coverage of Wales vs North Macedonia was interrupted by a technical error on Tuesday.
Just over two minutes into the World Cup qualifier, coverage of the match was stopped.
Instead, a screen which read: “Temporary fault,” covered the screen while the broadcaster scrambled to get the live feed going again.
Footage eventually continued around a minute-and-a-half later.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..
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