{"id":11417,"date":"2025-01-31T16:38:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=11417"},"modified":"2025-01-31T16:38:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:38:30","slug":"fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\/","title":{"rendered":"Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune, according to Social Democrats acting leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMichael Lowry is attempting to rewrite history. Having previously bragged about his role in Government, he is now claiming he is in Opposition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of objecting to this farce, Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not just an embarrassing capitulation by the larger coalition partners, it is a shameful abdication of democratic principles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Lowry Independents are not \u2018unaligned\u2019. They are a core part of this Government\u2019s support network and have in fact proudly proclaimed themselves to be Government members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is ludicrous and outrageous to suggest that these backbench Government TDs should be given Opposition speaking time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny attempt by the Government to persist with this fiction will not fly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMiche\u00e1l Martin and Simon Harris need to ask themselves an important question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much damage are they willing to do to this Government\u2019s reputation to keep Michael Lowry happy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>January 31, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune, according to Social Democrats acting leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan. \u201cMichael Lowry is attempting to rewrite history. Having previously bragged about his role in Government, he is now claiming he is in Opposition. \u201cInstead of objecting to this farce, Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,278,664,7],"tags":[665],"class_list":["post-11417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aidan-farrelly","category-cian-ocallaghan","category-opposition","category-press-release","tag-dail-reform"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune - 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\/ga\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune, according to Social Democrats acting leader Cian O\u2019Callaghan. \u201cMichael Lowry is attempting to rewrite history. Having previously bragged about his role in Government, he is now claiming he is in Opposition. \u201cInstead of objecting to this farce, Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T16:38:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-01-31-at-16.17.01.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T16:38:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":188,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-01-31-at-16.17.01.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"D\u00e1il reform\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Aidan Farrelly\",\"Cian O'Callaghan\",\"Opposition\",\"Press Release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-are-dancing-to-michael-lowrys-tune\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael are dancing to Michael Lowry\u2019s tune - 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