Northside TDs named to Dáil committees

Northside TDs have been named to chair influential Dáil committees.

There has been a delay in setting up Dáil committees over the row about independent speaking times, which has rumbled on since January, but this week the government and opposition parties have announced they have picked their people to lead Dáil committees.

Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly will chair the committee on petitions, Fine Gael TD Naoise Ó’Muiri will chair the committee on climate, environment and energy, while the Irish Times has reported that Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon will chair the committee on drug use.

Aside from the €10,888 bump in salary, chairing a Dáil committee can help boost a TDs profile – former Labour leader Alan Kelly became an unlikely star in the RTÉ affair as the Tipp TD was chair of the Public Accounts Committee and told former RTÉ star Ryan Tubridy he “had no credibility whatsoever” in the wake of the 2023 payments scandal at the broadcaster.

The delegation of Dáil committees is decided by the D’Hondt method (an equation designed to give political science graduates nightmares), which means that parties are designated committee chairs relative to the number of seats they hold in the Dáil.

As the largest party in the Dáil, Fianna Fáil gets eight of the 28 chairs up for grabs, Sinn Féin and Fine Gael get seven apiece, while Labour and the Social Democrats get two apiece.

There were some ructions that Dublin Bay South TD Eoin Hayes was included as a member of the Social Democrats after being suspended “indefinitely” from the party in February, but acting leader Cian O’Callaghan successfully petitioned the Dáil that Hayes should be treated as a member of the Social Democrats for the intents of carving up Dáil committees as he was elected to the Dáil as a member of the party.

Hayes being counted as a member of the Soc Dems meant that they joined Labour in securing two Dáil committee chairs, as both parties won 11 seats apiece in November’s general election.