Micheál Martin

I respect their rights to be heard-----

-----as well as their rights to speak.

There is an attempt already to frustrate my attempt to speak here this afternoon in response to Deputy McDonald.

In a more serious vein, the Opposition has been endeavouring to, if you like, direct or dictate a new departure, whereby it becomes the Opposition-----

The Opposition is now saying that it is up to it to decide who sits where in this House, who forms what group-----

That is unprecedented by any yardstick.

I have never, and I am in this House-----

I was first elected to this House in 1989. I have never seen an attempt like this to say-----

I have never seen an attempt like this to tell-----

I hope Deputy McDonald notes that she got full respect and opportunity to speak from this side of the House. I was not afforded that respect and courtesy from the other side of the House when I endeavoured to answer a while ago.

Fundamentally-----

The point I was making is that I have never before witnessed political parties trying to tell others what box they are in or what group they belong to.

Let us see what is being proposed. Private Members' business still lasts for 120 minutes.

There is no change to that. Sponsor time is still 40 minutes, no change.

Sinn Féin's time remains exactly as it was in the last Dáil.

What is interesting is that each other Opposition grouping gains time in this Dáil under this proposal as compared with the last time out.

I can recall a time, when the Labour Party had a calamitous general election result, that we facilitated reducing the threshold to allow the Labour Party to have speaking rights. That is easily forgotten by the Deputy and her party members. There is no change in Ministers and Ministers of State responding to the Dáil. In other words, there is absolutely no change in terms of accountability of this…

What is farcical is the extraordinary manufactured political row, which is wholly disproportionate to this issue-----

In other words, the change is very modest. It does not in any shape or form justify the level of dramatic action and feigned outrage that we are witnessing on the Opposition side.

I agree with Deputy that there are far more substantive and profound issues------

-----facing this country that we should now be getting on with, such as housing and disability services------

-----and perhaps what will perhaps be the most significant and profound economic winds blowing in our direction that we have seen for quite some time.

That is what this Dáil and Oireachtas need to focus on. We also need to focus on the wars that are raging in Europe and the Middle East with appalling and savage loss of life and slaughter of people. Are we seriously suggesting that giving eight minutes per day-----

-----to backbench TDs is such a profound change in the Standing Orders that it necessitates the feigned outrage that we are witnessing-----

I definitely do.