INDEPENDENT Ireland TD Richard O’Donoghue told the Limerick Post this week that he helped defuse the speaking rights impasse in the Dáil last week.
There was consternation in Leinster House amid farcical scenes during the process of nominating a Taoiseach. A dispute over speaking time led widespread chaos and conflict as negotiations to elect a new Taoiseach were pushed back numerous times.
County Limerick politician Richard O’Donoghue this week said that he had a part to play in disabling the heated deadlock. He did this, he claimed, by helping to negotiate the joining-up of Aontú’s two TDs – Peadar Tóibín and Paul Lawless – to the Independent Technical Group.
The group also includes Deputy O’Donoghue and three fellow Independent Ireland deputies — Michael Collins, Michael Fitzmaurice and Ken O’Flynn, along with Independent Paul Gogarty.
“This grouping will now have significant opposition speaking rights,” he said.
O’Donoghue, who is General Secretary of Independent Ireland, approached Aontú leader Tóibín, whose party was then aligned to the Regional Independent Group, ahead of the subsequent speaking rights row in the Dáil.
According to Deputy O’Donoghue, his group “will operate strictly as a technical assembly, emphasising its role as a platform for discussion and expertise rather than a political alliance or joint political platform”.
“Under this new framework, speaking time and rights will be allocated equally and on a pro rata basis to all members of the group, ensuring that every voice is heard and valued,” he explained.
