Tóibín hits back at O’Callaghan over speaking time row

Aontú leader Peader Tóibín has hit back at comments by Dublin TD Cian O’Callaghan over his party being part of the opposition speaking group which is allowing government-backing independents to join their group.

Concerns were raised that 4 independent TDs – with Dublin Bay North TD Barry Heneghan among them – are allowed to be part of the Regional Independent Group back are also part of the confidence and supply arrangement which gives Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael a working Dáil majority.

However, should it be found that the 4 government supporting TDs (Barry Heneghan, Gillian Toole, Danny Healy Rae and Michael Lowry) are not able to back the government and also speak from the opposition benches the 4 TDs may be removed from the group.

Under current Dáil rules, a group needs 5 TDs to avail of speaking time; the Regional Independent Group currently has 10 TDs.

Aontú’s 2 TDs walking from the group (along with the government-backing independents) would bring the grouping to just 4.

Cian O’Callaghan called on Tóibín to end the “farce” but the Aontú leader fired back.

“Currently, if you are not in a Technical Group, you have little or no speaking rights. You have to beg, borrow, and steal one minute here and two minutes there to speak,” he explained.

“You have no Leaders’ Questions. You have to enter a lottery to question a Minister.  You have no Committee membership in order to hold Ministers to account. SF should remember this well, as they were in a similar situation when Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was their Dáil leader. Unfortunately, they seem to have lost their Standing Order reform zeal since those days. Aontú has always called for the Standing Orders of the Dáil to be reformed to allow for each TD to be able to speak in the Dáil on an equal basis. This should be the democratic basis of any parliament, and it would prevent the current difficulties.”

Tóibín noted that his party was opposed to the government yet Sinn Féin, Labour, Independent Ireland and the Social Democrats all took part in some form of negotiation with the new Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael government.

“If anyone thinks Aontú will give up our democratic right to hold this government to account, they are very wrong. If anyone thinks that that Aontú is going to give up our hard fought right to represent our constituents in the Dáil, they are very wrong. We will not renege on our promise to represent the nearly 100,000 people who voted for us,” he said.

“It is cynical for any party to demand that Aontú give up our speaking rights without offering to share their speaking rights with us. Is Mary Lou going to provide Aontú with her Leader’s question time, Minister’s questions or Committee debate time? Of course not.”

Tóibin remarked that “Cian needs to brush up on his maths,” saying that if Aontú withdrew from the Technical Group it “would not make any difference; the Technical Group would still exist and Aontú TDs would be silenced.”

“This may suit some in the cosy consensus that often passes itself for an opposition; those who have supported the government on many issues such as the referendums and immigration in the recent past; the simple answer to this is Dáil Standing Orders reform. But it appears that the parties shouting the most are the least likely to seek reform,” he remarked.