{"id":11207,"date":"2025-01-20T13:43:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T13:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=11207"},"modified":"2025-01-20T13:43:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T13:43:59","slug":"peadar-toibin-should-end-charade-of-government-backbenchers-masquerading-as-opposition-tds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/peadar-toibin-should-end-charade-of-government-backbenchers-masquerading-as-opposition-tds\/","title":{"rendered":"Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn should end charade of Government backbenchers masquerading as Opposition TDs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Social Democrats do not accept that there is any precedent for this undemocratic power grab by any incoming government<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Aont\u00fa leader Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn should end the charade of Regional Independent TDs masquerading as members of the Opposition by leaving their technical group so its numbers fall below the threshold for speaking rights, according to Social Democrats acting leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is outrageous that Regional Independent TDs, who negotiated a programme for government and intend to wholeheartedly support the incoming administration, are attempting to hijack Opposition speaking time in the D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis farce could come to an immediate end if Aont\u00fa, whose two TDs are in the Regional Independent Group, left that grouping. This would bring the number of TDs in that group below the threshold of five TDs, which secures D\u00e1il speaking rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn is ordinarily highly critical of stroke politics and claims to be committed to accountability. Yet, his inaction is facilitating a situation in which de facto government backbench TDs are masquerading as members of the Opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just an attempt by Independent TDs to have their cake and eat it, it is damaging our democracy and undermines the public\u2019s trust in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Democrats will be vigorously opposing any attempt by Regional Independent TDs to join the Opposition benches. We will be making a joint submission, to the Ceann Comhairle, with other Opposition parties outlining the errors in her legal advice. We do not, for example, accept that there is any precedent for this undemocratic power grab by any incoming government.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this is a problem that has a simple and straightforward solution. Deputy T\u00f3ib\u00edn living up to his rhetoric on accountability and ending this charade today.\u201d<\/p>\n

20 January, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Social Democrats do not accept that there is any precedent for this undemocratic power grab by any incoming government Aont\u00fa leader Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn should end the charade of Regional Independent TDs masquerading as members of the Opposition by leaving their technical group so its numbers fall below the threshold for speaking rights, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cian-ocallaghan","category-news","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPeadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn should end charade of Government backbenchers masquerading as Opposition TDs - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/peadar-toibin-should-end-charade-of-government-backbenchers-masquerading-as-opposition-tds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn should end charade of Government backbenchers masquerading as Opposition TDs - 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