A major row has broken out after Michael Lowry, Danny Healy-Rae and other Independents have asked to sit on the opposition benches for the purposes of Dáil speaking rights - a day after agreeing to the Programme for Government.
They have proposed forming a "technical group" which would allow them to participate in the weekly leaders' questions where they can put issues to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.
Under Dáil rules, TDs have to be members of the opposition to form a "technical group" which enables up to five TDs - usually Independents or members of smaller parties - to group together to get rights to speaking time, questions and to submit private members' motions.
Although he led talks on behalf of seven Regional Independents, Mr Lowry has made the case that he and other members of the group who do not hold junior or senior ministerial office, are entitled to form such a group.
It has been proposed that the four members of the Regional Independent Group who have been appointed to junior or super junior ministerial roles would now resign from that group.
Under the proposal, Mr Lowry as well as Gillian Toole and Barry Heneghan, who were also part of the negotiations to form a Government would be joined by Mr Healy-Rae, Independent Carol Nolan and the two Aontú TDs, Peadar Tóbín and Paul Lawless in a new technical group.
They would then be entitled to sit on the opposition benches where they could take a high-profile slot in leaders' questions every week.
Their proposal was strongly opposed by members of the Labour Party, Social Democrats and Sinn Féin in what became a heated discussion at a meeting of the Dáil’s Business Committee this morning.
They pointed to statements from Mr Lowry and Mr Healy-Rae when the Programme for Government was agreed: "You can't come out one day and say you would support the government in good days and in bad, and the next claim you are entitled to rights from the opposition benches," said one source.
Another accused them of wanting to "run with the hare and hunt with the hound".
Some members "put it up to" the new Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, who was a previously a member of the Regional Independent Group, to make a ruling on Mr Lowry's proposal.
She is understood to have said she would make a decision as to whether it is allowed under Dáil standing orders after the government is constituted next Wednesday.
"This will be a key test for the Ceann Comhairle," said one source present at the meeting. "She will have to have the confidence of all members of the House and this will be an early test."
Others who are proposing to be part of the technical group said there is little difference between this proposal and TDs like Mr Lowry and Noel Grealish being part of an opposition technical group in the last Dáil while supporting the government in most votes.
"My reading of the standing orders are that they do allow for a technical group such as this to exist - it is not a million miles from the technical group on the last occasion," they said.
People 'shortchanged' by Programme for Goverment - Sinn Féin
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said the draft Programme for Government has "shortchanged individuals across the State".
He said there is "very little" new in the document compared to the last coalition's plan.
"A lot of it is lacking specific commitments. A lot of it is reviews, considerations and continuation of existing policies.
"The word continue appears 249 times ... and it just shows that there's very little that is new in relation to this. That's disappointing for people," Mr Doherty told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
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Fine Gael deputy leader Helen McEntee defended the draft programme.
She told the same programme that, on garda recruitment, the plan is to provide funding for at least 5,000 gardaí.
"Fine Gael set a target of 6,000 which would bring us, if you include retirements and people leaving over the years, to just under 18,000.
"I think I've always been very clear as Minister for Justice that the target of 15,000 needs to be reached and we need to go beyond that.
"But we also need to make sure that we have the structures in place to do that.
"So, a lot of progress has been made over the last four years to get to a point where we now have larger classes going into Templemore (Garda College).
"But our Programme for Government also commits to exploring other ways. Can we expand Templemore? Can we move outside of Templemore? Can we work with our universities."
On housing, Ms McEntee said: "We are very clear on our commitment. It's not about more of the same. It's about expanding the schemes that work, targeting first homes and making sure they are affordable, supporting the work of the LDA (Land Development Authority)."
Additional reporting Mícheál Lehane
