A ROW BROKE out in the Dáil this afternoon over the government’s decision to wrap up early for the week having run out of legislation to debate.
Opposition TDs slammed the coalition for not putting on more legislation to debate today.
The Dáil has now taken an hour for lunch, will resume for Topical Issues and then break for the week early this evening.
Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy was furious at the decision.
It’s unbelievable to think that we’re going to close this house due to the lack of debate and lack of legislation to come through and I suppose it’s another sign of spin over substance.
Responding for the coalition, the Communications Minister Alex White said that legislation that had been on the schedule had been debated and dispatched with this morning.
He said the debate had finished early because there were no speakers from the opposition benches.
As opposition TDs hit back across the chamber, government chief whip Paul Kehoe became particularly incensed.
The Fine Gael TD repeatedly shouted that not one member of the opposition was in the chamber this morning.
Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen insisted he had been in the chamber.
But Cowen was told by White that his performance was “not actually persuading anybody”. The Labour minister added:
The government stands ready to debate these issues, but if there is nobody over there there is not a lot we can do.
Troy insisted he had been at a committee meeting, while Sinn Féin’s Sandra McLellan said she had been present for a debate on childcare legislation.
Then her party colleague and a particularly annoyed Jonathan O’Brien chipped in, telling the government:
I don’t know if your Christmas night out is tonight like and you want a half day or what. But there are various [pieces of] legislation coming before this house and you want to go home.
A vote was called, the government won and, a short time later, everybody went to lunch.
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