Good morning.
With much of the political focus over recent weeks on events overseas, all eyes are firmly back on the Dáil today as the speaking rights debacle will finally be put to a vote. At least that’s what the Government will be hoping.
The Government will introduce its proposals in the chamber this afternoon to amend the standing orders to give time to Michael Lowry and other Government-supporting Independents to ask questions of the Taoiseach or Tánaiste.
A vote is scheduled to take place at around 3.10pm with the Government planning to push through the changes with its majority.
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However, Opposition parties have not ruled out a Dáil “walkout” and protracted obstruction to business, Harry McGee reports.
Leaders of all Opposition parties met yesterday evening to co-ordinate their response to the Government’s motion.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald posted on X afterwards: “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have broken their word. We will not accept it. Michael Lowry’s group are Government TDs. You can’t be in Government and Opposition at the same time. Sin é.”
Ms McDonald and Labour leader Ivana Bacik both spoke with Taoiseach Micheál Martin separately late last night in an effort to resolve the impasse.
Ms McDonald described her telephone conversation with the Fianna Fáil leader as “forthright and direct” and told him he was turning “democracy” on its head.
Ms Bacik told him why Labour would not accept the speaking rights proposal and again sought a meeting involving all Government and Opposition leaders in advance of the vote.
The Government’s proposal provides for the creation of a new TD category known as “other members”, which would include backbenchers from Government parties and other TDs that form groups of at least five deputies in order to avail of the new speaking rights.
Under the changes to standing orders is the introduction of a new eight-minute-long “other members questions” session on Wednesdays and Thursdays. In these sessions, one TD per day in the new category would be able to pose a question to the Taoiseach or Tánaiste.
Privately, Opposition TDs said yesterday that it was likely there could be a repeat of the disturbances that led to the election of Mr Martin as Taoiseach in January being delayed by a day.
Expect some very angry and possibly chaotic scenes in the Dáil chamber later and follow irishtimes.com for coverage throughout the day.
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Housing dominates our news coverage this morning with this article focusing on comments made by the Central Bank of Ireland’s governor Gabriel Makhlouf yesterday.
Mr Makhlouf said the Government should consider whether its many policies and interventions in the housing market are “mutually supportive” before introducing new ones, Eoin Burke-Kennedy and Mark Hilliard report.
Speaking at the publication of the bank’s updated consumer protection code, he said: “The number one issue in housing is planning. It’s absolutely planning. This is not a unique situation in Ireland, but planning is a problem.”
Minister for Housing James Browne later disagreed with Mr Makhlouf’s comments and doubled down on his view that finance, and not planning, was the priority issue, particularly in relation to building apartments in Dublin.
He insisted that finance was “broken” and was not working, and the proof of that was the lack of apartments currently being built.
Meanwhile, the latest figures from Daft.ie make for more grim reading for first-time buyers.
They show that house prices across the country rose by an average of 3.7 per cent during the first three months of this year, with inflation now reaching its highest level in eight years.
Typical listed prices have reached just over €346,000, a level 11.6 per cent higher than a year previously and 35 per cent higher than at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Elsewhere, the Government is expected to approve new legislation which sets out that workers who currently have to retire at 65 under their employment contracts will have the right to remain in work for a further year.
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke will bring a memo to Cabinet this morning proposing that private sector employees be given the option of staying on at work for another year until they reach the State pension age of 66.
Minister for Equality Norma Foley will also bring forward a memo outlining plans to cut the tax-free payment for homeowners who provide accommodation to Ukrainians fleeing war from €800 to €600 a month.
Ms Foley will tell Cabinet that the reduction in the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) is to reduce any potential impact of it on the rental market and to remain in line with recent policy changes in supports for beneficiaries of temporary protection.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan will bring forward a memo seeking approval for implementation of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact in Ireland.
Best Reads
Fintan O’Toole on how Ireland’s love triangle of America, Britain and Europe is ending in a nasty divorce
Former government press secretary Nick Miller has been hired as a speechwriter for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, reports Jack Power
Former Sinn Féin advisor Siobhán Fenton on how the presidential election presents a unique dilemma for the party and is the source of intense internal debate
Ian Curran previews what should be another interesting day at the Web Summit trial as former director Daire Hickey is set to give evidence
And in case you missed it, Niamh Towey had a good piece at the weekend on why there is such a shortage of homes to buy in Ireland
Playbook
Cabinet will meet this morning at Government Buildings while the Dáil resumes at 2pm with Leaders’ Questions, followed by the Order of Business and the motion on speaking rights.
Taoiseach’s Questions are due to follow and the Government will bring forward the Statute Law Revision Bill 2024 for debate at second stage.
As Cormac McQuinn reported last week, more than 3,300 obsolete laws enacted in the 19th century are to be repealed under the legislation.
Sinn Féin has a Private Members’ motion on the National Ambulance Service followed by questions to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon and topical issues.
Dáil proceedings are set to conclude at about 10.45pm.
In the Seanad, focus is on the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Bill 2024, which will provide for the establishment of a Marine Accident Investigation Unit (MAIU) within the Department of Transport. There will also be statements on road safety.
The full Oireachtas schedule can be found here.
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