Republican News · Thursday 31 January 2002

The hidden Ireland in Leinster House

BY MÍCHEÁL MacDONNCHA

Hospitals are in crisis, cutbacks in education and services for people with disabilities are taking effect, unemployment is on the rise and the economy is on the slide but until 30 September Fianna Fáil and the PDs will not have to answer to the Dáil for their misgovernment. The FF/PD majority in the Dáil last week voted to adjourn until well after the children are back in school.

The opposition parties, including Sinn Féin, called for the Dáil to sit for longer, but the Taoiseach and his colleagues disappeared into the sunset regardless. Big brother Maurice recently rebuked the plebs for booing his little brother Bertie at Irish international soccer matches, the Special Olympics and Gaelic games in Croke Park in Clones. But like many a Taoiseach before him, these brief embarrassing interludes will not worry Bertie too much. After all, with the Dáil in recess, he no longer has to answer to elected representatives for several hours two days a week.

The Taoiseach used to be in the Dáil for three days a week until the Labour Party did a shoddy deal with the government which means the Taoiseach does not have to come into the Dáil at all on Thursdays. This was one of the last acts of the Ruairi Quinn leadership. When the present leader Pat Rabbitte has rebuked the Taoiseach for not being answerable, Rabbitte has winced as Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin reminds him it was Labour that gave Bertie the day off from the Dáil.

Of course it is not only the ham-fisted opposition of Labour and Fine Gael that so often lets the government off the hook. The media in general prefers sensation to real reporting and remarkably little of what is newsworthy in the Dáil is reported at all. This creates a double disadvantage for the five Sinn Féin TDs, who face the anti-republican bias that still exists in much of the media as well as the under-reporting or non-reporting of their work in the Dáil.

Last week, the final of the session, was a perfect example. Sinn Féin TDs spoke on ten separate pieces of legislation, as well as questioning the Taoiseach and ministers and participating in various Oireachtas committees. Yet very little of this was reported in the print media. Only the Irish Times consistently reports the Dáil in any kind of depth, but very little of the contributions of the Sinn Féin TDs was reported last week.

Just to give readers a flavour of the extent of work being done, here is a snapshot of last week, day by day. It is by no means comprehensive.

Tuesday 1 July

2.30pm - Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin questions the Taoiseach on public private/partnerships, housing and drugs.

3pm - SF TDs attend briefing by Disability Federation of Ireland.

4.36pm - Four of the Sinn Féin TDs seek emergency debates on key issues, including the closure of Navan carpets and the growing job losses as raised by Seán Crowe. The Ceann Comhairle rules them all out as not of sufficient national importance.

At the Order of Business, the Sinn Féin TDs object to the rushing of legislation through in the last week of the sitting, including the Protection of the Environment Bill. Votes are held as the Opposition objects.

6pm - SF TD Arthur Morgan participates in debate on final stages of the Protection of the Environment Bill. This Bill takes powers on waste management away from elected councillors, allows councils to refuse to collect refuse from people who refuse to pay bin charges and paves the way for incinerators.

7pm - SF TDs take part in Dublin Sinn Féin protest against Protection of the Environment Bill at gates of Leinster House.

9.30pm - SF TDs vote against Protection of the Environment Bill.

Wednesday 2 July

11am - Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin questions Taoiseach on the need for fundamental tax reform.

11.36am - Government again challenged by SF TDs on order of Business. Votes follow.

12.30pm - Aengus Ó Snodaigh opposes government's Immigration Bill, which further erodes right of asylum seekers and immigrants, and tables extensive amendments.

1.30pm SF TDs vote opposing Immigration Bill.

2.30pm - Angus Ó Snodaigh questions Minister for Defence on proposed EU 'Common Defence' and the threat to Irish neutrality.

7.30pm - Arthur Morgan speaks for SF in debate on the Housing crisis.

8.30pm - SF TDs vote in support of motion calling for effective government action on Housing.

3.45pm - 10.30pm - Aengus Ó Snodaigh for SF in debates on Arts Bill and Intoxicating Liquor Bill.

Thursday 3 July

10.30am - SF TDs challenge Tánaiste Mary Harney on proposal to adjourn Dáil to 30 September. Vote in opposition to the adjournment.

11.50am - Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin tables extensive amendments to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Bill, challenging that institution's charitable status and their extensive property dealing and lack of proper accountability. Government guillotines Bill in half an hour.

12.30pm - During debate on Bill to set up new commission to administer the Houses of the Oireachtas, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin calls for worker representation on the Commission. Government refuses to assent.

1.30pm - Aengus Ó Snodaigh tables amendments to Official Languages Bill, which provides for implementation of the rights of Irish speakers to do business with public bodies through Irish.

3.30pm - Official Languages Bill is passed unopposed - an historic day for the Irish language but virtually unreported outside the Irish language media.

4.30pm - Debate on the Flood Tribunal - Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin leads for SF and questions Taoiseach's handling of Flood resignation and calls for legislation to curb massive lawyers' fees at tribunals.

7.30pm - Having questioned the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Joe Walsh, Arthur Morgan was the final speaker of the Dáil session. With characteristic impishness he told the Ceann Comhairle: "If I speak I will only sing the National Anthem."