Ceann Comhairle's decision on speaking rights should be respected, says Sinn Féin TD

Vivienne Clarke

Sinn Féin TD Padraig Mac Lochlainn has welcomed the ruling by Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy and said this should be a moment when common sense has finally prevailed.

Mr Mac Lochlainn also told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that this “should be the end of the matter.”

It had been “a political stroke too far” for Michael Lowry and the seven regional independent TDs to one day say they were government TDs and the next day to say they were going to be in opposition and ask Leader’s Question.

“Hopefully the government and Micheál Martin particularly finally see sense rowing behind this and give speaking time and committee positions to government TDs from the government side.”

There will be a meeting of the Standing Orders and Dail Reform committee today, following a number of “nightmare” meetings last week.

Mr Mac Lochlainn said that the actions of the government had been “a real insult to intelligence” and Micheál Martin had not responded to requests to meet leaders of the opposition over the weekend.

"The Ceann Comhairle had now made her decision, “everybody should just respect that now and move on. “

The Ceann Comhairle was put in a “very insidious position” by the government and the Taoiseach had made no attempt to resolve the issue, he said.

Mr Mac Lochlainn denied that the Ceann Comhairle had been bullied by the opposition on the first day of the Dáil.

“Verona Murphy is a formidable woman. I don't think she'd be bullied by anybody. What was happening in the Dáil that day was the opposition standing up for our rights as an opposition to do our job, to hold the government to .

"We were challenging head on an obvious political stroke that was being facilitated, particularly by Micheál Martin, and he continued to back that political stroke.

"As we speak right now we don't know what Micheal Martin's going to do. He ignored the opposition all weekend. Hid away again, was probably going to leave it to the Ceann Comhairle to handle this mess again.

"I know she's made her decision and he needs to respect that. Show some leadership and put Michael Lowry where he belongs in the government benches.”