Rabbitte leaves Dail after row with Ceann Comhairle (article)

Villain

Pat Rabbite had a major row with the Ceann Comhairle today which resulted in the Dail been suspended for 5 minutes and him leaving the Dail.

From RTE

Dáil halted as Rabbitte rows with O'Hanlon

02 June 2004 12:48
The Dáil was suspended for five minutes this morning following a bitter clash between the Ceann Comhairle Rory O'Hanlon and the Labour Party leader, Pat Rabbitte.

Mr Rabbitte said Dr O'Hanlon was the most partisan chair the House had ever seen, accusing him of being 'congenitally incapable of being fair'.

He was protesting that the Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, standing in for the Taoiseach, had failed to answer a question about the closure of rural Garda stations.

After the five-minute suspension, Mr Rabbitte refused to withdraw his remark and left the chamber.

In a statement issued after his row with the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Rabbitte claimed that the abuse of the Dáil by Ministers emphasised the urgent need for reforms.

He said Minister Joe Walsh's failure to answer a question was 'only the best example of the contempt regularly demonstrated for Dáil Eireann by Ministers standing in for the Taoiseach when he is absent'.

Deputy Rabbitte added that the opposition cannot reasonably be expected to discharge its legitimate role of holding the government to account if the Ceann Comhairle intervenes unreasonably, as he is wont to do.

However, Fianna Fáil backbencher Pat Carey accused the Labour leader of deliberately setting himself up to receive a 'red card' from the Ceann Comhairle in order to get 'a cheap bit of publicity'

I can understand his frustation I watch the Dail proceedings as often as possible and when Bertie is away Mr Walsh is very poor at answering questions.

The Ceann Comhairle should be making sure the answers are given, Fair play to Rabbite

pdh

Fair play to the Rabbitt, a bit of GrandStanding before the oul election, making out Labour are some kind of opposition.

I mean you can't get any more establishment than Peter Cassells in Leinster. He's been running the country and deciding policy in this country as part of Social Partnership for the past 15 years and then he has the cheek to complain about the state of public services..........

tomcosgrave

They are some kind of opposition.
I've seen FF people sitting in the Dáil twidding their thumbs while the opposition - Labour, Green, FG, SF plus Independents lay into the government who are never there (save for a juniour minister and a couple of backbenchers) lay into them on issues of policy, and the only thing that FF seems to be capable of doing in those situations are making smart remarks and dodging questions.

That said, the opposition parties should be ashamed for making it easier for Bertie to escape question time in the Dáil.

It is high time for the Dáil to be reformed in how it proceeds in day to day business - the shocking images of an empty chamber frequently shown on news broadcasts should be a thing of the past.

pdh

Agree with you about reform in Leinster House, but who agreed with FF last year that the Bert need not show up for Question Time, none other than Rabbitt's Labour party, just Stickies in disguise........

Villain

Your 100% correct PDH that it is "GrandStanding before the oul election" but his point none the less is valid, the Ceann Comhairle lets FF away with way too much, they always answer the easy questions while completely ignoring the hard ones.

arcadegame2004

Pat Rabbitte only did this because every time a TD is suspended from the Dail it dominates the airwaves and TV screens when current affairs are being discussed. I would rather vote for the Monster Raving Looney Party than Labour.

MadsL

Monster Raving Looney Party

Didn't know that you were standing for Election. Which Ward.

By the way I will give 100 euro to the charity if you choice if in 24hrs you can provide a single shred of evidence that asylum-seekers are being given a free house.

gandalf

Madsl any more insults and you will be running your charity on another board!!! Keep that discussion to the relevant threads as well !!!!

gandalf

Oh course Rabbitt was grandstanding thats part of what politics is about. But he did have a relevant gripe. Everytime a member of the Government is asked a question that will make them look bad in any way they seem to ignore it. Today he asked a question that would concern a large number of voters in rural areas about Garda stations being closed down and it was ignored. Royston Brady has been asked by numerous news organisations about explaining his views and values and has more or less refused.

Too many people in this country do not vote and that is bad, but there are too many that do vote but do so like sheep without question or analysis of what they do and that is worse.

TomF

I suspect Pass Rabbiss left because he had a conflict between remaining in the Dail and his daily fix of three or four interviews with the radio and TV media.