Sinn Féin shuts down Dáil with stand-off that became sit-in

Sinn Féin effectively shut down the Dáil today and gave the equivalent of a two-fingered salute to long-established Leinster House protocol.

After a bruising day for the party yesterday when the Maíria Cahill controversy was dissected in the national parliament, deputy leader Mary-Lou McDonald made a bold attempt to refocus attention on water charges.

Unsatisfied with the answers she was getting on the contentious issue from Tánaiste Joan Burton, Ms McDonald remained on her feet and persisted with questions, much to the chagrin of Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett.

Defying his instruction to leave the Dáil chamber, Ms McDonald and her Sinn Féin colleagues staged a stand-off which turned into a sit-in after Government and other Opposition TDs departed.

While Gerry Adams chatted to veteran party official Rita O'Hare in the public gallery, the press gallery groaned under the weight of an unusually large number of journalists, supplying the party with the precious oxygen of publicity all parties crave.

For months now we have been watching the escalating level of tension between Labour and Sinn Féin, and particularly between Ms Burton and Ms McDonald.

Their weekly clashes, when Ms Burton takes the hot seat at Leaders’ Questions in the absence of Taoiseach Enda Kenny, have become an enjoyable fixture on the often humdrum Leinster House agenda.

But healthy sparring between political opponents tipped over into something close to rancour today, when Ms McDonald pressed Ms Burton (Minister for Social Protection as well as Tánaiste) on the her intentions.

The Sinn Féin deputy leader demanded a commitment from the Labour leader that water charges would not be deducted from social welfare payments, pensions and wages.

Ms Burton took a circuitous route in her answer, eventually saying that Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly was finalising a fresh package that would bring clarity to the situation next week.

The Dáil’s descent into disarray followed, with an unprecedentedly bitter tone to exchanges when Ms Burton returned briefly to collect her paper work.

Did Ms McDonald succeed in refocusing the agenda in a way that suited her party? Undoubtedly.

Water charges will eclipse everything else on the political agenda next week, when the Government delivers its “last chance” package of revised charges.

A Northern journalist of my acquaintance, thoroughly fed up with the childish antics of the parties at Stormont, told me recently: ”At least you work in a proper parliament”.

But the Dáil did not operate like a proper parliament today.

The appropriateness of the tactics employed by Sinn Féin this afternoon might be open to question, but the reality is that many hard-pressed voters care little for Leinster House protocol and tradition.

Few will lose any sleep over the need to reschedule the debates on legislation that should have taken place today.

If the strategy was to get the Maíria Cahill controversy out of the headlines and retrieve the high ground on the water charges issue which will dominate next week, then Sinn Féin has had a good day.

Meanwhile, where is Fianna Fáil?

In boxing terminology, the party is playing by Queensbury rules while its main Opposition opponent is slugging it out in a bare-knuckle fight.