TAOISEACH Micheál Martin has insisted that the government and the Dáil are “working” after the explosive and “unacceptable” scenes that erupted in Leinster House this week.
This is following the row over speaking rights reaching fever pitch in the Dáil this week over the government’s attempts to allow speaking time – traditionally allocated to opposition parties – to Michael Lowry’s Regional Independents group, despite staunch condemnation from the opposition.
The Taoiseach was speaking at City Hall in Limerick today (Friday) ahead of the inaugural meeting of the Limerick Mayoral and Government Consultative Forum.
When asked by reporters if something has to give in the Dáil following the explosive scenes earlier this week, the Taoiseach said the government is “working” and the Dáil is working “but not optimally”, adding that “I think in the interest of all members of the house, people want to Oireachtas to work and want to Oireachtas to work effectively”.
Addressing the heated row in the house, he said the “government watched the government’s demeanor and posture”, “we didn’t shout anybody down, we didn’t scream anybody down”.
He referred to the arguments from the opposition as “unacceptable”, saying: “No matter what our views are, you can’t just, in a coordinated way, shut people down in a manner to make sure that they don’t get their voices (heard)”.
He said that he himself wasn’t allowed the “right to speak” during the row.
“I kept speaking, but there were attempts to drown me down in a very coordinated way,” he said.
The Taoiseach made the trip to Limerick for the first sitting of the Limerick Mayoral and Government Consultative Forum, which is to be chaired by the Minister for Housing.
The Taoiseach met with Mayor of Limerick John Moran, officials from Limerick City and County Council, Housing Minister James Browne, Minister of State at the Department of Housing and Limerick TD Kieran O’Donnell, and Arts, Culture, Communications, Media, and Sport Minister Patrick O’Donovan, also a Limerick TD.
Though he is not a regular member of the forum, the Taoiseach said he made the trip to Shannonside today as he was “particularly anxious to signal government’s commitment” to the forum and the new Limerick mayoral role.
He said he was committed to “getting up the boat” of Limerick and to work through the issues and “ambitious agenda” that Mayor Moran was to put to the government.
“What I’m interested today is in developing a modus operandi, a process by which government and Limerick can work together in terms of advancing the ambitious agenda that is here,” he told members of the press.
Speaking after what he described as a “historic” first meeting of the forum, Mayor Moran said the Taoiseach was “fully engaged” in the issues brought to the table for Limerick.
“We had lots of hard questions, we had honest conversations about the amount of money that cities like Limerick need,” Mayor Moran said.
“It was a discussion about Limerick, a discussion about regional development, and particularly the housing issue,” the Mayor said, adding that “specifically, we pointed out that we want funding”.
When asked if the Taoiseach was going to borrow any of his ideas for Limerick at a national level, especially around his plans for modular housing to address the ongoing housing issue, Mayor Moran said: “I won’t second guess what the Taoiseach was thinking, but with the number of questions I was getting, I think he was listening very carefully.”
