FIANNA FÁIL TDs have been given a stiff warning that they will face censure from Taoiseach Brian Cowen if they miss Dáil votes, following a narrow Government victory last week.
The warning was given in a letter sent late last week by Government Chief Whip Pat Carey to all Fianna Fáil TDs, but not to Green Party, or Progressive Democrats TDs.
In the letter, Mr Carey said it was vital that FF TDs “never miss a vote without full permission from my office. Under no circumstances are informal pairing arrangements to be entered into with Opposition members.”
He went on: “Following discussions with the Taoiseach, I will be keeping record of any votes that may be missed by members. In the event of any missed votes, I will, on a systematic basis, be informing the Taoiseach of these. Both the Taoiseach and I will be dealing with these missed votes together if they happen to arise,” said Mr Carey, who was only in the Chief Whip’s office for a few days before his near-miss with disaster.
The near-miss occurred during a vote on a Labour Party private members’ motion, and it looked for some minutes as TDs gathered for the vote that the Government might be defeated. Supported by FF, Green and Progressive Democrats deputies, plus Independents, the Government has a working majority of 12 of the 165 voting TDs in the Dáil – the 166th is the Ceann Comhairle, John O’Donoghue. Once last week’s vote had been taken, it initially appeared that the Government had only survived by two votes, but whips from all parties agreed that one of the Opposition TDs had been double-counted on the electronic system.
Mr Cowen is understood to have been infuriated at the lack of discipline among Fianna Fáil TDs that led to the incident, and demanded action from Mr Carey to ensure that it did not happen again.
A mix-up within Fine Gael – which provides pairs to the Government to allow Ministers and TDs to be absent on government business – partly explained the 65-62 vote. However, up to six FF TDs were absent without leave.
Traditionally, government deputies of all hues have tended to get careless when they enjoy a significant majority, and are much more difficult for the government chief whip of the day to control.
Mr Carey’s predecessor, Tom Kitt, ran into serious trouble with senior colleagues last year when the Government barely survived a vote on Aer Lingus’s decision to withdraw services from Shannon.
