On prevailing side: this member voted with the winning side in 22 of 449 decisive votes (2 abstentions excluded). Read it as a government-or-opposition indicator rather than a measure of influence — the figure is near 100% for members supporting the government of the day and near 0% for those opposing it.
This is the point of the site: contributions keep the party held on the day, not the one held now.
| Party | Recorded as | Contributions | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC | Ceann Comhairle / Chair | 7,413 | 2020-03-19 – 2025-07-09 |
| IND | Independent | 2,272 | 2020-02-20 – 2025-10-08 |
Membership spells on record: IND 2016-03-10–2016-05-30 · I4C 2016-05-31–2020-01-14 · IND 2020-02-08–2024-11-08 · IND 2024-11-29–2025-10-25
Leaders' Questions are at noon and we have two hours for this debate so I am sticking rigidly to the time. There are three speakers from the Independent Group, beginning with Deputy McNamara.
I thank the Deputy.
The Deputy has had three minutes.
Deputy Bríd Smith is not agreeing to the Bill being read a Second Time.
We are going to have to check the procedure for that.
It will be some minutes while we check the procedure because it is unusual at this point. Please bear with us for a few moments.
The Minister has moved that the Bill be read a Second Time, Deputy Bríd Smith objected to that and I took a few minutes to reflect on and check it. The Deputy raised an interesting point but there is no provision for her objection. There were two votes last night. I was in the Chair when we took the votes on the motion on sitting arrangements. That was when the business was set out and that decided how we would take it today. I am afraid that is all I can do.
I hear what the Deputy is saying and she is making a good argument. However, the motion on how we proceed today was put last night and it was passed by a majority of the House. Under Standing Order 176(1) on the Second Reading of a Bill: The debate on the motion, that the Bill be now read a second time, shall be confined to the general principle of the Bill. It goes on to say what can be said. That motion determines how Second Stage is read and we copper-fastened that last night with two motions. I am not going to …
I understand where the Deputy is coming from. I am sorry but I will not allow a debate on it. At this point I have to make a ruling on it. I perfectly understand what the Deputy is saying. It is part of the system that I read out that the Bill will now be read a Second Time and nobody can object to that at this point. In my limited experience and understanding of the system, it is not possible at this point to call a vote. I may be wrong but that is the ruling I am making.
I am sharing time with Deputy Pringle. I wish I could say I welcome the opportunity to speak to this debate but "welcome" does not come to my mind. I feel nauseated at the language being turned on its head, the same language of "It is for your own good" that was used to put people into these homes and so on. I listened carefully to the language used during the debate and have tried desperately not to be personal, although I do have a personal connection with a home, which I will not go into, and I have acted profes…
We will not get to the other questions. We have limited time.
There are questions in other people's names. I am sorry.
I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 27A and the name of the member in each case: (1) Deputies Ruairí Ó Murchú and Mairéad Farrell - to discuss the issue of warehousing debt for businesses; (2) Deputy Cathal Crowe - to discuss the EU's traffic light system and measures for a sustainable recovery of civil aviation; (3) Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire - to discuss testing and tracing of school staff and students in schools; (4) Deputy Steven M…
We will leave it like that as we have run out of time. The Deputy is happy for the Minister to go back to him.
Through the Chair, please. The Minister of State will be let speak.
I ask Deputy Ó Broin to let the Minister of State speak.
Various quotes have been mentioned and I will start with one. Just over a year ago, on 15 October 2019, the following observation was made at the housing committee, "I do not support co-living at all, as it is not a solution or even a partial solution, to our housing problem." I have made the point many times that we have to make language mean something if we want to work to restore integrity to politics and want people to believe in us. Nobody ever asked us to be perfect but they asked us to say what we mean so th…
I remind the Minister that he is sharing time.
I apologise for my earlier interruption, as I thought the Minister was sharing.
In accordance with Standing Order 80(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Thursday, 22 October 2020.