A former minister has branded government support for the Ceann Comhairle in today’s confidence vote as a “mistake”.
Charlie Flanagan, the former minister for Justice and Equality, took to the social media platform LinkedIn to voice his reservations about the government’s approach to the matter.
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has come under fire from opposition TDs regarding how she has handled the Dáil speaking rights dispute as she oversaw raucous scenes in Leinster House last week.
She must now face an unprecedented vote of no confidence from a united opposition who have accused her of partisanship and view her position as untenable, but the government has vowed to row in behind the embattled Ceann Comhairle.
Former minister Flanagan, however, believes this stance is a misstep.
“Government has responded predictably by treating this affair in the same way it would if it were a confidence vote in a government minister, rally the troops, send out compliant backbenchers to bat in the media in favour of the embattled Ceann Comhairle and take on the opposition in partisan party political battle. This tactic is a mistake,” said Mr Flanagan.
“This is far from a confidence vote in a government minister but a vote on the performance of the lawfully elected independent speaker who represents not only the Executive but the Legislature and by definition must at all times be non partisan and independent in the conduct of the important daily business of the Dail,” he added.
“The Ceann Comhairle must never be regarded as a puppet of government and if so parliament dies. In order to maintain independence the Speaker of the house needs more than just the confidence of a simple majority,” he said.
“The Ceann Comhairle has specific responsibility to all elected members of Dáil Éireann irrespective of party affiliation or none and losing the confidence of a sizeable number simply spells trouble,” he added.
The former Laois-Offaly TD said that, “Tonight, after a skirmish the government will ensure the vote of confidence is passed with a comfortable majority and announce the matter has been dealt with and put to bed. Time to move on,” before warning,
“The government will win the battle tonight but I fear the war will be far from over.”
The dispute stems from the wish of non-ministerial members of the Regional Group of independent TDs, of which Ms Murphy was part prior to being elected as Ceann Comhairle, to be given opposition speaking time.
Following disruptive scenes on January 22 during the nomination of Michael Martin as Taoiseach, it was decided that the non-ministerial members of that grouping could not be allotted speaking time as part of the opposition in a new technical group.
The government then used its majority to create a new grouping of ‘Others’ in which it argued that both the independents and the government’s backbench TDs would be granted speaking rights.
This led to a lengthy disruptive standoff last week as Ms Murphy labelled the actions of TDs “an absolute disgrace” as Dáil business was abandoned due to opposition protests over the move.
Ms Murphy firmly denies allegations that she had acted in any way unfairly during last week’s proceedings and is expected to win the confidence vote comfortably later today.
Shane McCormack