The Government and Opposition parties are on a collision course tonight after an apparent breakdown in talks over speaking rights in the Dáil.
Five Opposition parties have described the Government proposals submitted to the Dáil Reform Committee this week as "utterly unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
A joint statement has been issued by Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and Independent Ireland.
It describes the Government proposals as: "Yet another cynical attempt to manipulate speaking time in order to grant special privileges to TDs who were part of negotiating the Programme for Government and clearly and unambiguously support the government."
The Opposition parties have said they will attend a meeting of the Dáil Reform Committee meeting next Wednesday, but what is on offer from the Government is completely unacceptable.
Since then, talks have taken place to try and find a compromise on how Independent TDs supporting the Government, like Micheal Lowry, could be allocated speaking time.
This evening's statement suggests those efforts have failed, with the Independent TDs in question branded as "Government TDs."
The statement adds: "Michael Lowry's group of TDs cannot be considered as members of the Opposition.
"They cannot avail of Leader's Questions and Priority Questions which are opportunities that are solely for the Opposition to hold the Government to account."
The statement concludes: "These proposals would make a mockery of the functioning of the Dáil and will be firmly opposed by the Combined Opposition at the Dáil Reform Committee and in the Dáil itself."
It is signed by Mary Lou McDonald, Ivana Bacik, Cian O’Callaghan, Richard Boyd Barrett and Michael Collins.
Government's proposals submitted to the Dáil Reform Committee
The Government's compromise proposals on Dáil speaking rights is contained in a two-page document which was circulated to Opposition TDs on the Dáil Reform Committee this week.
In its preamble, the proposal says that the business of the Dáil needs to be scheduled so that it "respects the mandate of each and every TD elected to it".
The document then states: "A modern parliament is not necessarily made up of 'government' and ‘opposition’ members, and there are members who can’t readily be categorised as such."
This provision relates to the Independent TDs who are supporting the Government but are not either Ministers or Ministers of State.
The Government plan says that if there are "at least five" such members, then they can have representation on the Dáil Business Committee and, more controversially, the right "to question the Taoiseach" in the Dáil.
Standing Orders would be amended to create "Other Member's Questions" which allows for "one brief question about a matter of topical public importance, to the Taoiseach on two days per sitting week".
Providing Independent TDs, who support the Government, the opportunity to question the Taoiseach is a red-line for Opposition parties.
They also completely reject the suggestion that there are anything other than 'Government' and 'Opposition' TDs.
The Government Chief Whip Mary Butler said the best way to address changes to the Dail's Standing Orders is within the Dáil Reform Committee and, she argued, this process should be respected.
She said it is imperative that this issue is resolved so that Oireachtas committees can be established as soon as possible.
Deputy Butler added the Dáil is an ever-evolving parliament, standing orders must evolve to recognise this and the mandate of each and every TD must be respected.
FF TD denies Govt trying to blur lines
Social Democrats' acting leader Cian O'Callaghan said the Government is again proposing what it proposed a few weeks ago.
He said creating speaking slots for Government back-benchers and Independent TDs supporting the Government should not be equivalent to those given to Opposition leaders.
He said this would not work and would mean that difficult and challenging questions were not asked.
"They shouldn't be given prime slots that are usually just for Oppposition party leaders," he told RTÉ's Prime Time, accusing the Government of trying to create groups of 'hybrid' or non-alligned TDs.
Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe denied the Government was attempting to blur lines and he said the Ceann Comhairle had already ruled that Regional Independent Group were not a group in Opposition.
However, he said Dáil Standing Orders needed to be changed to recognise their speaking rights.
"We accept the Ceann Comhairle's ruling. We do not wish to blur the lines between Government and Opposition," he told the same programme.
He said speaking rights were needed for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Regional Independent TDs to raise issues with ministers and about their constituencies.
Mr O'Callaghan said government backbench TDs raised questions all the time, but Opposition speaking rights should not be extended to TDs like Michael Lowry, who had backed the negotiation of the Programme for Government.
Mr McAuliffe said this was not about Mr Lowry or taking time from the Opposition, but about the same small number of speakers from the Opposition getting the majority of the speaking time to question ministers.
