TDs voted for easy Friday before break for Christmas
TDS this week voted to have a lower than normal attendance threshold on the Friday before their Christmas break – despite child homelessness and domestic violence being on the agenda.
The threshold – or quorum – was changed earlier this year to just 10 elected representatives present before noon (around 6%), and 20 members (12 %) after that time.
But not satisfied that the noon deadline would rouse 20 members, on Tuesday the Dáil voted that the 10-member quorum would apply for the entire day on Friday – the last one before the Dáil began a four-week holiday.
Anthony Flynn, chief executive and founder of Inner City Helping Homeless, said the fact that fewer than 20 TDs arrived to ‘discuss the most serious issue to face society today is an indictment on Government’.
‘This is both shocking and alarming,’ he told the Irish Mail on Sunday. ‘The crisis is nationwide and involves all.’
Mr Flynn added that 299 children have become homeless since the current Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy took office. ‘This is unacceptable and shows a clear lack of political will to solve the crisis,’ he said. ‘Child homelessness has grown by 20% under the current Government and has increased by 287% in three years.’
It is the second time in a week that the reduced burden of attendance has been placed on our politicians’ shoulders, and in practical terms, means that many TDs could choose to avoid Leinster House and travel home instead.
During Friday’s debate on child homelessness, 15 deputies addressed the House. Fianna Fáil had four speakers, Sinn Féin had three, Fine Gael had two, People before Profit had two, while Labour, the Green Party, the Solidarity and Socialist Party, and Independents for Change each had one representative present.
Later, 13 deputies debated domestic violence – six members of Fianna Fáil, three from Fine Gael, with one from Sinn Féin, Labour, People before Profit, and the Social Democrats. However, there was significant crossover and in total only 19 deputies spoke in the four-hour session.
Labour deputy Jan O’Sullivan, who was present for the Dáil debates on Friday, said: ‘The Friday sittings are clearly not attended by many, many members of the House, and should be reviewed. The revised quorum was introduced purely for practical reasons to get the business of the House started on time, but it certainly needs further discussion.’
In a statement to the MoS, Minister for Employment Affairs & Social Protection , Regina Doherty said the quorum ‘has absolutely no bearing on the contributing number of deputies’.
‘It was reduced to 10 for business before noon due to the large number of committee meetings that take place at the same time,’ she said. ‘As far as I know it was always 10 for Friday sittings.’
‘It’s both shocking and alarming’