Govt slammed over Dáil break
The Government came under fire today for adjourning the Dáil during one of the most crucial times for the North's peace process.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte hit out at Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his ministers for taking the break just four weeks after their summer recess ended.
He said: “Next week is one of the most critical periods in the peace process in Northern Ireland.
“The situation is extremely fragile. The Government is happy to welcome the support of the opposition in respect of Northern Ireland.
“But in the most critical week of the peace process in recent times we are not going to be able to even ask a question because the Taoiseach and his ministers won't be in the Dáil chamber. It has to stop.”
His comments came after the collapse on Tuesday of the latest peace process deal.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble put on hold a carefully choreographed deal because he was unhappy with the lack of clarity around the latest IRA disarmament act.
Since Tuesday Mr Trimble has been pressing the IRA to waive a confidentiality clause in decommissioning legislation which it invoked.
This prevented Canadian General John de Chastelain from providing specific information on the type of arms destroyed by the IRA.
When Mr Ahern returned to Dublin from Belfast on Wednesday he told the Dáil he had been reluctant to travel to Northern Ireland amid fears the deal would not satisfy unionists.
Although the Dáil only returned from its three-month summer recess on September 30, it adjourned yesterday for a week-long break.
Mr Rabbitte accused Mr Ahern and his ministers of not wanting to be held accountable for their decisions.
The opposition leader said: “They don’t want to make themselves amenable to the Dáil only in so far as they constitutionally have to do it.
“They don’t want to answer questions, they want to avoid being in the Dáil.”
Leader of the Seanad Mary O’Rourke defended the decision.
She accused opposition parties of hypocrisy, saying that they secretly welcomed the break.
Ms O’Rourke said: “The very same people who were taunting us about having the week were people who had been going around saying ‘Are we having a week off? Oh good’. I hate hypocrisy.”
She said one of the reasons for the break was that it coincided with school holidays – but she denied that parliamentary work was being driven by the school calendar.
