A FIANNA Fáil member was asked to leave the Chamber after refusing to withdraw a claim that the chairmen of some tribunals had acted as shop stewards in regard to legal fees.
The remark by Jim Walsh drew a strong reaction from the Opposition benches, with Joe O’Toole complaining that the House was being disgraced and his Independent colleague David Norris saying that Mr Walsh was defying the authority of the chair. “We now have an extremely serious situation. Senator Cannon has said he is telling the truth.”
The row led to two suspensions of the sitting. Mr Walsh had earlier called for a debate on the legislation underpinning the tribunals which, he said, were costing taxpayers “an absolute arm and a leg”. He could understand that people in the legal profession would want to see the “gravy train” continue. The Government was not blameless for having agreed the extraordinary fees that these lawyers were earning, but they had to recognise that some tribunal chairmen had used their positions to act more or less as shop stewards for the wealthy legal profession. Mr Walsh could not be heard further amid the ensuing uproar.
Calling for the remark to be withdrawn, Mr Norris said this was a democratic State and it was a dangerous accusation to make about a legally established body and its chairman.
“It’s outrageous and I demand that it be withdrawn,” he said. Mr O’Toole said he believed the House had been disgraced by the remark. They could have strong debate, but there was a tradition that they did not “have a go” at people outside the House.
The separation of powers was crucially important as well. There were constitutional and conventional reasons and there was a strong history of the House which should surely make it clear to Mr Walsh that he should take back what he had said.
Cathaoirleach Pat Moylan said he had made it clear on a number of occasions during sittings of the Seanad that it was wrong to embroil in debates people who were not present to defend themselves. Mr Norris demanded the chair rule on Mr Walsh’s remark.
Mr Moylan said he had asked several times for a retraction.
Mr Walsh said Senator Eugene Regan had consistently raised issues concerning people outside the House and had been “given tremendous clapping because of it”. He had written to the chair about this.
“Regarding the comments that I made about chairmen of the tribunals making representation to the Government with regard to the fees of lawyers, I stand over them 100 per cent.”
The sitting was then suspended for 10 minutes.