Green Party’s Neasa Hourigan suspended from parliamentary party for 15 months after voting against Government

Rebel Green TD Neasa Hourigan has been sanctioned by her party for voting against a Government motion on the eviction ban in the Dáil on Wednesday evening.

Ms Hourigan has been suspended from the parliamentary party for 15 months and also loses all her Oireachtas committee positions including her €10,082-a-year role as Oireachtas budgetary oversight committee chair.

The sanctions are more severe than on two previous occasions when Ms Hourigan failed to vote with the Government.

The Green Party move came after a lengthy meeting of its TDs and Senators on Wednesday evening.

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Ms Hourigan has been highly critical of the Government decision to allow the temporary ban on evictions to expire from the end of the month.

In an RTÉ interview immediately after the Coalition leaders agreed that course of action she said it was “completely the wrong decision”, describing it as “heartless” and expressing her disappointment that Green Party leader Eamon Ryan did not “speak up for Green Party values and Green Party policy”.

On Wednesday the Dublin Central TD abstained in two Dáil votes brought about by a Sinn Féin motion calling for the ban to be extended into 2024.

Ms Hourigan then voted against the Government’s own countermotion.

[ Eviction ban: Government wins Dáil vote on ending measure later this month ]

A Green Party statement said: “The Green Party parliamentary party has agreed to remove the party whip and suspend Deputy Neasa Hourigan from the parliamentary party for not less than 15 months after she voted against the Government earlier this evening.

“It will be open to her to apply for readmission after this period.

“Deputy Hourigan will also lose her Oireachtas committee positions.”

The statement added: “The parliamentary party regrets having to take these steps but believes that effectiveness in Government relies on unity in every vote.”

[ Eviction ban vote shows why Government is more stable than it may appear ]

It is not the first time Ms Hourigan has been suspended from the party whip.

She was outside the fold for six months last year along with fellow Green Patrick Costello after they voted against the Government in a Sinn Féin Dáil motion on the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) in May.

[ Miriam Lord: No skin off Leo’s nose if a few Coalition TDs jump ship rather than vote to end eviction ban ]

She did not lose her committee roles on that occasion.

Mr Costello voted with the Government in Wednesday’s Dáil votes on the eviction ban.

Ms Hourigan previously had her Dáil speaking rights removed for two months along with Minister of State Joe O’Brien after they failed to vote with the Government on a tenant’s rights Bill.