FIANNA fÁIL leader Micheál Martin has accused his opponents of subverting the constitution after the failure to elect a new Táoiseach in the Dáil today.
Mr Martin is expected to be nominated for the position, having previously been elected Taoiseach in 2020.
However, the opposition objected to the nomination process getting underway, with Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy adjourning the Dáil until tomorrow.
The stumbling block is a plan to allow Independent TDs, who have supported the proposed coalition government, to have speaking time on opposition benches.
‘Unacceptable and unprecedented’
Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the largest opposition party Sinn Féin, described the proposal as an attempt by the government to have their ‘cronies’ on the opposition benches.
However, Mr Martin said today’s objections, delays and suspensions during a fiery session amounted to ‘the subversion of the Irish Constitution’.
“The most fundamental obligation of the Dáil is to elect a Taoiseach and indeed a government,” he addd.
“That opportunity was denied today by a pre-meditated, co-ordinated and choreographed position by the opposition and particularly by Sinn Féin party.
“There was numerous attempts to facilitate agreement, at various times people thought agreements had been arrived at, and it became clear to us that there was no intention ever to reach agreement on the nomination of a Taoiseach or a government today.
Mr Martin, pictured with Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, described the day’s events as ‘unprecedented’ (Image: Alan Rowlette / RollingNews.ie)“This is the first time, I think, in over 100 years that the Dáil has failed to elect a government, to fulfil its constitutional obligations.
“There is nothing more fundamental that the Dáil has to do — is obliged to do — than elect a government. Any other issues pale in significance in comparison to that fundamental obligation.
“The people have voted in a General Election. There was a majority of the people’s representatives in Dáil Éireann today prepared to elect a government.
“They were denied the opportunity to vote — that is a fundamental subversion of the Constitution and of our democracy.
“It’s unacceptable and unprecedented.”
‘This takes the biscuit’
After winning 48 seats in last November’s General Election, Fianna Fail and third-largest party Fine Gael agreed to form a coalition government with support from Independents.
Four of those Independents who were not given junior ministries have proposed forming a technical group, which would allow them speaking time on opposition benches.
However, Ms McDonald suggested it undermined voters who expect the opposition to hold the government to account.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, second from right, pictured outside Leinster House this evening with — from left — Cian O’Callaghan, deputy leader of the Social Democrats, Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins, Ivana Bacik, leader of the Labour Party and People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett (Image: Leon Farrell / RollingNews.ie)“[T]he speaking arrangements outlined, or proposed, by the Government Whip underscore again a cynical and unprecedented ruse from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to place their Independent cronies — supporters of the government — on the opposition benches and to afford to them the same speaking rights as genuine parties of opposition, which, remember, are elected here by hundreds of thousands of voters to hold this government to account and express the democratic wishes and desires of those people and communities,” she said in the Dáil.
“I have seen brazen actions by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in past Dáil and in past governments but this takes the biscuit.
“Rather than agreeing to temporary measures which afford these government TDs speaking rights as though they were members of the opposition, this should have been called out from the get-go.
“The Ceann Comhairle said she will be independent and fair in her deliberations. What has been proposed today is anything but fair or independent and is completely unacceptable to those of us in Sinn Féin and, I believe, to the opposition as a whole.”
The Dáil is expected to resume tomorrow.