Tag Archives: Dáil Éireann

PERHAPS like toddlers up past their bedtime, TDs were just over-tired as they hurled abuse at each other across the floor of the Convention Centre last week. As the first term of the 33rd Dáil drew to an end with a blazing row over speaking slots, the Leas Ceann Comhairle Catherine Connolly noted that it was very late and everyone was very tired. And after all, forming a government had taken a full four months. The gruelling process caused at least one minister to sink into those plush-looking Convention Centre seats for 40 winks, once the three-way coalition deal was finally done. Toddlers, we can easily forgive. With seasoned politicians, it’s more difficult. Several aspects of first term for the history-making coalition have been unedifying. We have had conflicting messages from the parties and internal wrangling within them. After packing their bags for a six-week break, TDs engaged in further back-biting; online and in the national newspapers. You could be …

IT would be something of an understatement to say that a lot has happened in the months since Monday, February 10. It snowed in North Clare on the day that Cathal Crowe was unveiled as a new TD, after a General Election count fraught with drama. And while many thought hell would freeze over before Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would coalesce, and join with the Greens in a history-making new administration, that is what has transpired, against the backdrop of a global pandemic. Ten days later Deputy Crowe took his seat in the Dáil, and received the keys to his new office on the third floor of the Leinster House 2000 building. Since then, he has been putting in gruelling 14-16 hour days and, after the protracted process of government formation, he believes he has found his stride as a national representative. “As a first-time TD, you’re on a very steep learning curve,” he said. “It’s like Fresher’s Week …

THE issue of Clare Bus has been raised in Dáil Éireann, with three of the constituency’s TDs appealing directly to Minister Shane Ross to intervene in the dispute with the National Transport Authority (NTA), which resulted in new contractors being appointed to the rural transport service in March. Deputy Cathal Crowe outlined the importance of the service saying, “We are not a leafy suburb with DARTs and Luas trams going down through it. We rely very much on rural transport.” The Fianna Fáil TD described the dispute over funding as “shambolic” and, referring to the staff of Clare bus said, “They are the only group of workers I can think of in the State at present who have been made redundant, not by the Covid crisis but by Government body hard-balling.” In her maiden speech in Dáil Éireann, Sinn Féin TD, Violet-Anne Wynne asked, “Will the Minister also step up and engage an independent mediator to resolve contractual issues between …

THE importance of Shannon Airport for Clare was stressed in the Dáil last week, with calls for it to be helped through the Covid-19 crisis. “Shannon Airport is the driving force in Clare and the Mid-West Region. At this time of crisis, it has been deemed essential and has accepted many cargo flights of personal protection equipment, PPE. “When the crisis is over, there will be an acute need for the Department to provide the airport with a capital expenditure fund,” said Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe. “For too long, the airport has had to self-finance all major projects, including a recent €15 million upgrade of the runway. “All such outlays seriously eat into the airport’s financial resources meaning that it has very little funding left over for marketing the airport, attracting new routes and retaining existing routes. There is urgent action needed in that regard. “The funding needs to be ring-fenced for the airport to safeguard it in the …

ENNIS artist Mick O’Dea has been given unprecedented access to the State’s art collection housed in Leinster House for a landmark one-hour documentary, which will debut on Monday. For the first time in broadcasting history, the collection will be showcased in House of Art. Having been given unprecedented access, Royal Hibernian Academy president, Mick O’Dea, discovers the stories, the artists and the people behind this unique collection, revealing a rich tapestry of our socio-political history. The documentary, produced by Red Shoe Productions, will be launched with a premiere screening in The Little Museum of Dublin, where Mick and director Maggie Breathnach will do a question and answer session.The documentary will then debut on Oireachtas TV on Monday at 8pm. There are over 300 pieces of priceless art housed in Leinster House. With the foundation of the State in 1922, successive governments were keen to create a pantheon of heroes aimed at affirming national self-image. With over 18,000 pieces in the …

DR Michael Harty has told Dáil Éireann that Clare would lose inter-county hurlers, if parts of the county were subsumed into Limerick. He was speaking on a Private Members’ Local Authority Boundaries Review debate on Tuesday, which looked at similar issues in Cork. “Anyone familiar with Clare hurling will know that most of our senior team, which has been successful in recent years, come from that area. I am sure people in those areas would not swap the saffron and blue for the green of Limerick, although I am originally from Limerick myself. These are the issues that are important to people when a boundary change is proposed and they are not to be underestimated,” the Independent Clare TD told Dáil Éireann. “Such was the opposition to this proposal that it was not politically possible to pursue it and the then Minister, Phil Hogan, decided not to act on the annexation proposal. A group called Clare Against the Boundary Change …

THE 100th anniversary of the election of Éamon de Valera at the 1917 East Clare By-Election will be marked by a series of commemorative events in Ennis later this month. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Síle de Valera, grand-daughter of de Valera and former Clare TD, will attend the events planned for Saturday, July 22. The commemorative events will take place at the Old Ground Hotel at 2pm and will include lectures from noted historians, music by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éíreann and a photographic and election memorabilia exhibition. Deputy Martin will make an address to the audience. Following the activities in the hotel, a full dress parade, led by a brass band, will march, led by Micheál Martin and Síle DeValera, from the Old Ground Hotel to the O’Connell Monument – the site of some of Éamon de Valera’s most famous speeches. At the O’Connell monument, there will be a re-enactment of the announcement of the election of de Valera, …

A MAJOR political upset could be on the cards in General Election 2016 in Clare should the results of a Clare Champion-commissioned opinion poll be replicated on February 26. Using a sample ballot paper, the poll, undertaken by the marketing department at Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), indicates that Independent candidate Dr Michael Harty and Sinn Féin’s Noeleen Moran are poised to take seats, at the expense of sitting TDs, Joe Carey of Fine Gael and Labour’s Michael McNamara. Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley and Fine Gael’s Pat Breen are effectively home and dry. With national polls indicating that the outcome of General Election 2016 is poised delicately in the balance, the Clare result could be a major contributory factor in determining the shape of the next government in the 32nd Dáil. The closeness of the contest at national level has been heightened by the reduction in the number of seats by eight to 158. Conducted last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, …