Taoiseach admits 'Dáil isn't working' over speaking rights row
Micheál Martin said an instruction was given to all government members 'not to heckle, not to get involved in any toing and froing, respect the chair, respect the Dáil itself, allow people the right to speak'. File Picture: Oireachtas TV/PA Wire
The Taoiseach has admitted that the Dáil has been unable to carry out its work properly because of the speaking rights row which has dominated proceedings since the Government was formed.
Micheál Martin told reporters during a visit to Limerick on Friday: “The Government is working — the Dáil isn’t, but the Government is”.
He moved to clarify the remark by adding: “The Dáil is [working] but not optimally”.
He stressed that the Government is very focused on issues including the impending announcement of US tariffs being imposed on the EU and on the pharmaceutical sector.
He defended the Government’s progress since being formed, adding: “We have put in place already, since the Government was formed, the architecture through the Cabinet sub-committees to enable us to get going on a whole range of issues and that work is well underway.”
He said that people want the Oireachtas to work effectively.
He said: “If you watched the Government’s demeanour and posture in the Dáil last week, we didn’t shout anybody down, we didn’t scream anybody down, and I think that was unacceptable behaviour.
"So that is the first basic requirement and that should happen next week.”
He said an instruction was given to all government members “not to heckle, not to get involved in any toing and froing, respect the chair, respect the Dáil itself, allow people the right to speak".
“I wasn’t allowed that right last week. I kept speaking, but there were attempts to drown me down in a very co-ordinated way,” Mr Martin said.
Meanwhile, he said that the death of Limerick teenager Aoife Johnston from sepsis in December 2022 should not have happened.
The 16-year-old had been left waiting 13 hours in University Hospital Limerick before being given antibiotics, even though a GP referral letter queried possible sepsis. A report by former chief justice Frank Clarke found her death was “almost certainly avoidable”.
The Taoiseach was speaking after a meeting on Thursday between Aoife’s parents, health minister Jennifer Carroll McNeill, and HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster.
Mr Martin said: “Aoife’s death should not have happened. I believe it would be her birthday today."
He was speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Limerick Mayoral and Government Consultative Forum on Friday morning, during which Limerick mayor John Moran and his team highlighted a serious of objectives for the city.
They include housing projects, the development of the railway to Shannon and to Foynes port, as well as the development of the Colbert Quarter close to the railway station.
