Sargent fails to block Dáil six-week break
The Dáil today voted for a six-week Christmas recess with one objection.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent called for TDs and senators to return in early January like the public and private sectors.
He said to Ceann Comhairle Rory O’Hanlon: “I would ask that the Government and all of us be required to come back two weeks earlier on January 11, because there is a general mood in the public mind that the Dáil is not succeeding in responding to the issues affecting people in their daily lives.”
Despite Mr Sargent’s objections, the Dáil passed a motion to return at 2.30pm on Wednesday, January 25.
“I think the turkeys have not been saved by the Dáil,” quipped Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton.
Some TDs and senators will return in early January for committee work.
Dr O’Hanlon said in the Dáil yesterday that 525 Oireachtas committee meetings had sat during 2005, and a record 43,000 Dáil questions were processed.
