Mary Lou McDonald

He does not know when the Minister knew.

4. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach the engagements he had with the National Emergency Co-ordination Group in the days before, during and after storm Éowyn. [10820/25]

This motion of no confidence in the Ceann Comhairle is a response to a concerted and co-ordinated plan by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael; a plan to run roughshod over the democratic rules of the Dáil for their own political gain.

Last Tuesday, not alone did the Ceann Comhairle put herself at the centre of that Government plan, she led the charge.

In an unprecedented, and frankly breathtaking display of bias, the person charged with safeguarding and preserving democracy in this House helped to tear it apart. The Ceann Comhairle actively and enthusiastically fulfilled the bidding and the aims of the Government, acting, not as the impartial Chair of the Dáil, but more like a loyal Minister under political instruction from the top.

She was acting as the Government's Ceann Comhairle, signed, sealed and delivered by Michael Lowry. What we witnessed was an unrivalled partisan display. The Ceann Comhairle forced through the Government agenda, showing blatant disrespect and contempt for the mandate of the combined Opposition. In forcing through the Government's plan, Verona Murphy took a wrecking ball to the long-established dem…

There were also a raft of junior Ministers with big pay hikes, more super junior Ministers and, of course, the prized position of Ceann Comhairle to boot. Nobody with any respect for the position of Ceann Comhairle would ever have been party to such a disgraceful arrangement. A deal was struck by Micheál Martin and Simon Harris with Michael Lowry, a man whose actions the Moriarty tribunal found to…

-----or Simon Harris, for that matter? What debt is owed to him that the Taoiseach is willing to tear down the integrity of the Dáil just to keep him sweet? We know that providing him with access to the main platform where the Opposition holds Government to account was part of this grubby deal. Tomorrow, the Government plans the ludicrous spectacle of Lowry group of TDs standing up after Leaders' …

The Taoiseach has claimed that the Dáil will never be the same again. I agree, but that is not because the Opposition is standing our ground. It is because of his underhanded manoeuvres to rig the Dáil and stack the Opposition in his favour. That is the threat faced here, which certainly has some resonance with events elsewhere in the world. If people ever wonder why Governments come and go but n…

A disgrace.

Housing is one.

Are you pointing at me?

Do not point at me.

They want housing.

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that in order for the Ceann Comhairle to fulfil her obligations as set out under Standing Order 10, she must retain the confidence of both Government and Opposition members; and further notes that the Ceann Comhairle no longer retains the confidence of opposition TDs of this House.".

On our amendment.

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to repeal the provision in the Water Services Act 2017 allowing Uisce Éireann to introduce a customer charge for use of water in excess of the specified threshold amount. We move this legislation today because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael cannot be trusted on water charges. The legislation would scrap water charges once and for all b…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

The brazen stroke engineered by the Taoiseach yesterday represents an unprecedented sabotaging of the democracy of the Dáil. This mess is entirely of the Government's making-----

-----and the chaos that unfolded in this Chamber is a response to the Taoiseach running roughshod over the democratic functioning of the Dáil to suit his own agenda and to protect his grubby deal with Michael Lowry.

A deal so important to the self-serving political interests of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, that he moves heaven and earth to allow Deputy Lowry and his group of TDs to be both in Government and Opposition at the same time. Of course, this plan is of mutual benefit. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael seek to blunt the Opposition and dodge accountability. Michael Lowry and his crew seek a way to gain politic…

A murky deal with a man the Taoiseach once described as "a rogue politician", who he called on to resign his Dáil seat because of the findings of corruption against him, now pulls the strings as king-maker in the Government's coalition and gives the two fingers to the Opposition, to democracy and to the Irish people.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach took a sledgehammer to the rules and procedures of the Dáil and was assisted in this task by the Ceann Comhairle. Yesterday, the person responsible for safeguarding the Dáil's democratic processes led the charge on behalf of the Government's agenda.

The Ceann Comhairle bulldozed Dáil rules to get the Government's plan over the line to protect the very deal that put her in her position.

A deal brokered by her mentor, Deputy Lowry, who sat smiling and giving the two fingers to the people of Ireland while the chaos unfolded. A Cheann Comhairle, you took a wrecking ball to Dáil procedure to facilitate this charade.