Sean Ó Fearghaíl 'enormously humbled' by his re-election as Ceann Comhairle

Mr O Fearghail first commiserated with his vanquished opponent and “good friend” Mr Naughten, saying it had been “an honour” to compete with him.

The newly elected chair said that one of his first acts in office would be to make contact with his opposite number at Stormont Alex Maskey in a bid to strengthen cross-border cooperation in the wake of Brexit.

He called for the Dáil business committee, which was established under his stewardship in the last Dáil, to be reconvened as soon as possible.

“I am enormously humbled by the result,” Mr O Fearghail said. “I do appreciate what you’ve said, and I can only guarantee you your words will spur me on to work more diligently on behalf of all members of this house.”

He was speaking with reference to the congratulations he received from all corners of the house regarding his election, and commending him for his achievements over the course of the last session.

Most effusive in his praise was Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, describing the Kildare TD as having been a “superb” Ceann Comhairle both in terms of reform and in the manner with which he had dealt with the requests of all TDs.

He said that the sedate nature of Mr O Fearghail’s Dáil could be summarised in the fact that no TD had been expelled from the chamber under his watch - an act which had become almost a daily occurrence under his predecessor Sean Barrett.

#OireachtasTV - Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD reached the quota with 130 votes - Denis Naughten TD received 28 votes - the Clerk of the Dáil has deemed Seán Ó Fearghaíl the successful candidate. #CeannComhairle #seeforyourself https://t.co/NuM3iQd63F pic.twitter.com/WxilpG9mJM

— Houses of the Oireachtas - Tithe an Oireachtais (@OireachtasNews) February 20, 2020

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy meanwhile said that “the chair is in good hands”.

A number of deputies, in offering their congratulations, acknowledged also that Mr Naughten had raised “some very good, useful suggestions” in his pitch for the role of Ceann Comhairle earlier in the afternoon.

Both Labour’s Brendan Howling and Solidarity-People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett agreed with Mr Naughten that accountability in public life requires urgent reform, with the example of parliamentary questions and negligible replies to same raised on multiple occasions.

“Your accommodating nature for all has made this Dáil a more relevant place,” Mr Boyd Barrett said.

Earlier, Mr O Fearghail had received 130 votes via secret ballot against 28 delivered for Denis Naughten, beating the quota by 50 votes.

In doing so, he became both the first and second person to be elected by such a vote. Prior to 2016 the Ceann Comhairle had been an appointment of the Taoiseach.

The decisive result was not unexpected given a majority of TDs had appeared to be in favour of Mr O Fearghail’s reelection, both on foot of his record in the last Dáil and due to a consequent reduction in Fianna Fáil’s effective votes in the new parliament.

Two ballot papers were rejected as invalid as no first preference was indicated on either of them.