Disruption which led to the suspension of the Dáil was “regrettable, unseemly and unbecoming”, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.
Opposition leaders are to meet on Wednesday morning after the Dáil was disrupted amid a row on speaking time changes.
The opposition party representatives are to discuss their response to the disorder in the the lower house of the Oireachtas.
There were chaotic scenes of shouting, interruptions and allegations of misogyny on Tuesday as weeks of tension over the speaking rights row boiled over during Leaders’ Questions.
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy fielded interruptions and tried to continue Dáil proceedings as opposition TDs took to their feet and objected to the Government’s proposals.
She declared the order of business and changes to the standing orders passed before adjourning the Dáil until after 9am on Wednesday.
Her position was called into question after leading opposition figures refused to express confidence with her after the suspension of the Dáil.
Speaking about the leaders’ meeting, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman told The Late Debate they would discuss how the opposition would proceed, as well as the role of the Ceann Comhairle.
In a statement on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused the opposition of trying to bully and intimidate Ms Murphy, and said it “marked a new low” for the opposition.
“The prolonged barracking and the disgraceful lack of respect for the mandates of elected deputies was shocking in its intensity,” he said.
He said the actions of opposition have been “completely disproportionate over what is essentially an additional eight minutes of speaking time on two days in the Dáil”.
“The opposition have not lost a single minute of their time or ability to hold Government to account,” he said.
Tánaiste Simon Harris said the level of anger displayed by the opposition on the speaking rights row was “disproportionate” and did not “indicate a willingness to try and find a way forward here”.
Speaking to reporters in Lebanon, Mr Harris said the public wanted to see elected representatives work on the issues facing Ireland, including housing, economic headwinds from the EU-US trade dispute and the safety of Irish peacekeepers abroad.
“What has happened in the Dáil is really regrettable, really unbecoming, really unseemly, but we’ve got to move forward now, because I think the people who pay our wages, our bosses, the people of Ireland, want us to get on with it.”
Asked if Government could do anything to ameliorate opposition concerns, he suggested the re-establishment of committees may see a return to cross-party work.
“The Dáil needs to get into that rhythm now.”
He added: “We need to move on and restore decorum in the Dáil chamber.”
Asked about an incident in which Government-supporting Independent TD Micheal Lowry raised two fingers up to members of the opposition, Mr Harris said: “I think that was also unseemly and unbecoming, but I think that behaviour wasn’t isolated to any one deputy.
“Because I think when you have grown men standing up and shouting and roaring at the Ceann Comhairle and refusing to follow her direction – a person who was elected to implement the rules of the House.
“You know the rules are very simple. When the Ceann Comhairle stands up, you sit down. And to see adults standing up, shouting and roaring, hooping and hollering, isn’t anything you’d want see in any workplace, least of all the Dáil.”
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien described the disruption in the Dáil on Tuesday as “despicable.”
“I've never seen anything like it and I’ve been in the Dáil since 2007,” he told Newstalk radio.
“The behaviour yesterday was just absolutely totally and utterly outrageous. Some of the comments that were shouted across the chamber, from the opposition I might add, all from the opposition and particularly from Sinn Féin. And it was co-ordinated and it was planned,” Mr O'Brien said.
“Unquestionably [the opposition] had planned this, that they would try to bring about maximum disruption to the business of the house. We have many very serious issues for our people to deal with. We have changes in the geopolitical landscape. We've tariffs looming. We've got to protect our economy, our people, and our jobs. And what I saw yesterday, frankly, just as a citizen, if you leave it aside as being a TD or a Minister, I was absolutely disgusted.”
Labour party leader Ivana Bacik said the situation was “a mess of the Government's own making”.
“They have sought to manufacture a situation where TDs who are patently in Government will also be deemed somehow to be not in Government, to be a part of opposition or to be in this construct of other members,” she told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
“So that will undermine our capacity as opposition, true opposition leaders, to hold Government to account. That's why we are so opposed to this. That's why this issue has united opposition leaders from parties.”
Ms Bacik added: “What it felt like yesterday in the chamber was that the Ceann Comhairle was steamrolling through business and that I think is a very difficult and it's a very serious matter.”
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy described Mr Lowry’s two-finger gesture as “two fingers from Michael Lowry to the public, to the basic principles of parliamentary democracy, and it's two fingers that is endorsed by Micheál Martin and Simon Harris and the Government.”
Speaking on Newstalk radio on Wednesday morning, Mr Murphy said he was not “personally” focussed on forcing the resignation of the Ceann Comhairle.
If there was a vote of no confidence there was every chance it would fail because the Government had a majority, he said.
“I think we need to force the Government back and force the Government to remove the standing order change that was ran through yesterday and the protests need to continue to do so. This is not just about our rights as an opposition to hold the Government to account, it's about the rights of future opposition.
“I don't accept that democracy is simply majority rules. I mean, would you be saying that if they came in with a change of standing orders to say that nobody in the opposition can speak? And we have a majority, so we're going to vote that through. Would that be accepted as the majority? Democracy has to include some rights for the minority.”
“I do not accept that this is over, yes, I have never seen anything like it, what the Ceann Comhairle did, so she ran through the order of business without any opportunity to speak on it or even vote on it, she then just abandoned whole sections of yesterday's Dáil agenda to allow supposedly the standing order amendment to be moved, no opportunity for debate – it was incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it. The opposition still has significant power here, and we need to continue the protest.” – Additional reporting: Vivienne Clarke
