The Government has bullied through a new hybrid speaking system into this Dáil. The Government created a speaking system with another designation and it wants to control that designation as well. It already has a majority in this Dáil, but it wants the majority of the designations as well. Incredibly, in the new Standing Orders, the Chief Whip of the Government will be able to control who asks the Government's questions from this new group. That is an incredible situation. We in Aontú have demanded that the Government stop. We even asked the Government to participate in mediation but it has refused. The display in the Dáil last week was disgraceful. Grown adults were shouting at the top of their voices to drown out the democratic functions of this Dáil. I was present in the Chamber. If the truth be known, this Chamber was the opposite of dignity at work. It was embarrassing that we had that situation broadcast internationally. I have no doubt that Verona Murphy has made mistakes; she made mistakes last Tuesday. That is absolutely true. The people complaining that she made mistakes are the people who made the environment impossible for her to work in. I am aware of TDs saying the Ceann Comhairle was not listening to them. The Ceann Comhairle could not hear anything last week because of the volume of noise in this Chamber. It is a situation whereby people outside of the political bubble in this Dáil are furious. I have been talking to people in my constituency and, for most people, it is a curse on all our houses over this current situation. The Dáil is an absolute disgrace.
Sentiment score: -0.17
We are 123 days since the general election and this Dáil has sat for 21 days.
Sentiment score: 0.00
There is not a committee functioning in this Dáil at the moment. No wonder we cannot build a hospital in this country without the prices ballooning out of control. No wonder there is not a house for a young person, and that young people have to emigrate to actually get a house. It is beyond time that we cop on to ourselves in this Chamber and see can we work to fix those issues. This issue has eclipsed the biggest existential economic threats to this economy, which are the tariffs, in the past number of weeks. We dearly need to listen to the people outside of this bubble, and we need to cop on to ourselves fast.
Sentiment score: -0.09
Deputy Guirke spoke for one hour last year in the whole year.
Sentiment score: 0.00