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POLITICIANS WILL TODAY return to Leinster House full-time after over a year of Dáil sittings in the Convention Centre.
The Convention Centre on Dublin’s quays was used throughout the pandemic as it was large enough to allow for social distancing.
At the start of the pandemic, social distancing guidelines and a cap on the number of TDs in the chamber were put in place for Dáil sittings in Leinster House. However, in April 2020 the Convention Centre was chosen as the location for all TDs to be able to sit to vote on a new Taoiseach. Following that, it was used more regularly, not just for voting days, but normal sitting days of the Dáil also.
Leinster House has still been used at times during the pandemic, like on 10 November 2020, when TDs sat in Leinster House and then moved to the Convention Centre ahead of a confidence vote in Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
In what is seen as a return to ‘normal politics’, both the Dáil and Seanad will return to the Leinster House complex on a full-time basis from today.
The Dáil public viewing gallery is set to be used as extra seating for TDs to facilitate the full return of all 160 TDs.
The canteen and Dáil bar has already reopened.
The new arrangement will be tested today with the first day of the new autumn term kicking off with a motion of no confidence in Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney amid the fallout from the Katherine Zappone controversy.
It is understood that staggered voting could be used to avoid groups gathering together, with the public gallery also used to allow for the votes to be taken.
Speaking at the Fine Gael think-in in Trim this week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said it was a “difficult summer” in which party members felt “let down”.
“It will be an opportunity to refresh ourselves, to regroup and reset after what was not a good summer for Fine Gael, but more importantly to rebound and focus on the really important work that we are going to over the next couple of months,” Varadkar said.
Despite the progress in the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine programme, the controversy surrounding Zappone in her planned appointment to a UN special envoy role has overshadowed such successes, he said.
Coveney is set to be safe after today’s confidence vote, with his party rallying behind him and with the Taoiseach and other Fianna Fáil ministers speaking out in support of the foreign affairs minister.
Green Party TDs are also expected to support the government in the vote.
Labour has said the confidence motion is not a priority the party but that its TDs will not vote confidence in Coveney as it does not have confidence in the administration.
“We will vote against the government as we have done from the outset of this government, we have said we have no confidence in this administration and whenever there is a confidence vote in relation to it that is the stance we will take,” Labour’s Brendan Howlin TD told reporters this morning.
Howlin said that while Coveney is likely to win the vote he hopes that the government listens to the arguments outlined because the initial process in selecting Zappone was “quite frankly unacceptable”.
Howlin said that while issues such as housing, health and climate change are of greater priority it is not possible to make significant progress on these issues “if there isn’t confidence in politicians”.
The Social Democrats will also vote against the government and Coveney, with co-leader Róisín Shortall TD saying today it is not possible to have confidence in the minister “after all that has happened”.
Other smaller opposition parties are likely to back Sinn Féin’s move against Coveney.
All eyes will be on which backbencher Fianna Fáil TDs might choose to be absent for the vote this evening. The Taoiseach has said a six month suspension for TDs that vote against the government or abstain from the vote will apply.
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Some disgruntled Fianna Failers resent their leader and party having to publicly speak up for a Fine Gael minister, but as set out in the programme for government, parties must be united for motions of confidence and support the government.
As a veteran of a number of coalition governments, Howlin said today that a government is “fatally wounded” when “trust breaks down” between coalition partners.
“You might not hear it voiced in the Dáil today but I know from talking to Fianna Fáil members, not only elected members, but members of the party that they feel taken for granted, that there is an imbalance in the government and that Fine Gael believe that they really are the government, and that the rest of their to make up the numbers,” he said.
The confidence motion in Coveney is set to be debated from just before 6pm today for about two hours.
Speaking about why her party is choosing to move on the minister on the first day back of the Dáil, Sinn Féin leader Mary McDonald said:
“The issue here is around the entire culture of Irish politics now for a century, exemplified by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.”
“This is a mess of their making. Are we prepared to look the other way and tolerate crony politics? The answer is no,” she said.
The coming days
Other than the motion in Coveney, there is a busy week of politics ahead.
Cabinet meets this morning to discuss the Sale of Alcohol Bill.
Minister Helen McEntee, who is currently on maternity leave, made a commitment a few months ago to reform the licensing laws in Ireland.
Minister Hildegarde Naughton will today seek Government approval to draft the General Scheme of the Bill that could see extended closing times for bars and possibly nightclubs reformed, as well as bringing Sunday trading times into line with the rest of the week.
Minister for Arts and Tourism Catherine Martin will also bring a report to Cabinet on the night-time economy.
The Government’s legislation programme for the autumn session will also be brought to Cabinet for approval and publication by the Chief Whip today.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is also set to update his ministerial colleagues on the National Vaccination Programme. Details of the booster programme and the COVAX plan will also be discussed.
Leaders’ Questions will resume today, as will committee meetings, with representatives from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) appearing before the Oireachtas Health Committee today.
The progress of the National Broadband Plan is also up for discussion at the Oireachtas Communications Committee, with some concerns about the pace of the roll out given the move to more people working from home and needing reliable broadband.
Tomorrow, the Public Accounts Committee will dive into the array of procurement issues the government has dealt with since the onset of the pandemic, in an attempt to see if taxpayers’ money was spent wisely at a time when regular procurement rules around tendering went out the window during the public health emergency.
The busy political week comes ahead of the Taoiseach travelling to New York next week to attend meetings and events to mark Ireland hold the presidency of the UN Security Council this month.
The UN Security Council presidency rotates between members of the Security Council each month, with Ireland taking the presidency role on from India.
As part of the presidency, the Taoiseach will chair a meeting of the Security Council in New York on 23 September, which concerns climate and security – a key concern for Africa in particular.
- With reporting by Rónán Duffy
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Are they sure it’s not 3034? After all, we have to allow for objections, cost over runs, missed deadlines, disputes and legal cases. 2034 seems a bit optimistic to me.
Forget the MetroLink, build that white water rafting facility instead. Much better for Dublin City – who needs a direct link to the airport when you can just walk anyway? Better for the environment.
Ah yes, Irish government projects. Expect this to be pushed further back, and its cost to be octupled by the date it was set to have been completed originally. Also expect the electorate to do nothing about it but moan online because they’re too afraid to vote for an alternative government.
@Barry Teehan: Overhead tracks? Well no, there’s buildings, roads and, well, a city in the way. This is arguably more complicated as this has lots of stations. Politicians just need to grow a pair, ignore the naysayers and NIMBYs and get it done.
@caelan: wouldn’t have the capacity. Also, it’s about much more than the airport – it’s about linking swords to the city centre, via the airport, santry, ballymun, dcu & glasnevin.
Think about how busy the existing luas lines are and neither of them have trip generators as big as swords of the airport.
Also, even if it did have the capacity, we should be future proofing
@caelan: Really think a long distance Luas line is a half measure. The Luas is fine for short trips crosslinking various parts of the city, but it is too slow for linking bigger outskirt towns like Swords to the city and also takes up valuable road space that could be used for bike and bus lanes as well as cars. I’ve been over in Tallaght at matches and when I looked it up it was quicker to get into town by Dublin bus than Luas. Hardly what we need to link the airport to town.
Living opposite the M 50
I cannot that no one ever thought of running a rail/ Luas type of system along side the motorway,with stations at where the train line runs underneath it at Clondalkin onto then Finglas then Ballymun with link to Airport from there.
The planner’s in this country again missed out on a chance to build a modern and much needed multi link system
The stops I mentioned could have lins to mainline rail into the city as well as serving the outskirts of this expanding City.
Putting Ryan in as transport minister was always going to be a disaster. You think being leader of the Green Party he would be all for a metro. Not our Eamon, he would rather see the roads clogged with fumes from the buses and cars.
We could do with clarity on a huge range of government issues, generally we get spin and outright lies, that’s how you keep the corruption under wraps.
Metrolink is obsolete! It’s not good value for money! We can do better with developments and advancements in transport technology and the alternative could serve the whole city not just one single route/line http://www.thedublinloop.ie Don’t be surprised later this year when BusCONnects gets refused planning permission from An Bord Pleanála because of the poor quality of cycling infrastructure! We need to put the majority of all traffic underground!
They won’t have put down a single track in 2034 either. Nothing to do with COVID, or funds, or even local objections… Irish politicians are simply incapable of building public transport, instead choosing to let Irish Rail play with the legacy British Victorian railway they inherited. This is just the latest rotten batch who aren’t up to it. They proudly continue the legacy of wasted hundreds of millions of our money on consultants, PDFs, delay tactics, and waffle. Many of us knew that when Metro North was scrapped (by LEO VARADKAR) and came back to life as Metrolink, they weren’t serious about building it. Governments that are serious about infrastructure don’t scrap plans and keep re-designing it until the end of time. Time-wasters dither and plan. Doers, do.
It is beyond absurd that in a few weeks time, when the peasants are treated to the reveal of the castrated, shredded National Development Plan, GREEN PARTY MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT EAMON MICHAEL RYAN will be presenting a climate strategy whose first move is to cancel all public transit investment for the next 20 years and divvy out the cash to some motorways. Carbon tax, congestion tax, mega high fuel taxes for the privilege of sitting in traffic.
And the plans being scrapped aren’t even ambitious. We’re talking about a single, simple basic metro line and the electrification of some existing infrastructure. Basic infrastructure that should have been built in the 70′s when it was first announced. DART+ doesn’t come with the underground tunnel, nor does it even provide any stations. And even that’s beyond our capabilities to consider doing before 2034++.
@Search Eagle: surely the eu should just step in and run this country and put in the proper infrastructure across the country that it deserves.we have never been capable of governing ourselves here.
Maybe they are basing it off Metro 2033 and Metro 2034, or playing the games to get an idea of what it will look like within a year of allowing the scobes and young lads in Canada Goose bomber jackets onto it.
Why am I not surprised? Could it be the fact we have inept, self-serving politicians? Or… is it the bureaucratic process that is at fault? Maybe it is because no-one in charge has the ability to coordinate and plan?
i think Ireland missed a massive opportunity in the past year and a half to push ahead with so much of the admin and planning works for projects like Metro – i know we werent near being able to get actual construction yet – but all the bodies who were ‘working from home on full pay could easily have progressed with the planning of major projects like this – same with some essential works – i despair driving around Dublin these days looking the the number of cones and roadworks – the Germans designated roadworks and maintenance works essential and brought forward planned works to maximise the opportunity of having low or no traffic thru busy cities like Berlin – we of course didn’t bother use our brains at all and are now watching all city centre grind to a halt as backlog of construction and maintenance works get done …we are so annoying in ireland sometimes
There are not enough spurs off both green and red. This would be a start and would increase capacity. There is no reason for every tram to travel cross city. Why is the Shelbourne hotel stop not ever used for example
How government plans, organises and tenders large projects needs a complete overhaul. There’s so much red tape. Some of it makes sense to avoid corruption. But the delays mean that it takes so long that the plans change drastically between governments. Whole stations have been built for this metro that will never be used. The other side is the tenders go to the lowest bidder, who then hammers the government on everything to inflate costs. Look at the Children’s Hospital. And unsuccessful bidders then bring frivolous lawsuits against the government causing further delays. Something you’d never see in the private sector. The government need to outsource the whole process to a third party that can get in the weeds. Maybe on a rolling contact. Like how the Luas is run.
It’s been delayed since the 90s, so what’s another 7 years. Funny thing is the Irish built most of the UK and America, yet they’re incapable of doing it at home, says it all really about the way this country is run.
Dublin airport and surrounding population centres would be better served with hydrogen cell powered buses using upgraded orbital road infrastructure that already exists. The global carbon footprint of another white elephant LUAS style project could be avoided, no CPOs, no army of consultants and lawyers.
@Brian Haines: The Luas has been a massive success, though. Expensive, late, but ultimately a showcase of how people will use good quality transit when provided. Too successful for its own good. The Green Line before COVID was beginning to fall to pieces under the strain.
There’s no avoiding CPOs, consultants and lawyers if we want to get meaningful infrastructure built, even for our bus systems or using electric vehicles. Bus Connects Dublin (and latterly Cork) represent the painful outlay required to reconfigure our cities, towns and villages for walking, cycling, and bus. Somehow through the painful public consultations and some rather daft initial proposals, a half-decent compromise has resulted. So expect that to hit the shredders soon too.
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