In this week’s Meath Chronicle (1st Feb 2025) Deputy Gillian Toole questioned whether Opposition efforts to prevent government-supporting TDs from using Opposition speaking time and opportunities was ‘an attempt to silence the Independent voice’.

Speaking in response, Sinn Féin TD for Meath East, Darren O’Rourke TD, said this was a totally false claim and hypocritical in the extreme from Deputy Toole.

Teachta O’Rourke said:

“This from Gillian Toole is absolutely enraging. It’s a totally false claim, it’s hypocritical in the extreme and it’s a deliberate attempt to distract.

“Deputy Toole knows full well that the controversy in the Dáil has nothing to do with taking speaking time from Independent TDs or ‘silencing the Independent voice’.

“Instead, it’s about protecting the fundamental principle that you cannot support the Government at every single turn and then claim to be in Opposition and to take Dáil speaking opportunities that are dedicated to Opposition TDs (e.g. Leaders and Priority Questions).

“This is not a question of Independent TDs versus TDs in political parties, it’s a question of Government versus Opposition. The job of Government is to govern. The job of opposition is to hold government to account. To suggest you can help craft a Programme for Government, commit to support the Government ‘in good days and bad’ and then step into the Opposition is simply ludicrous. You cannot have your cake and eat it.

“Indeed, the principle is well established in the Dáil. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers, for example, have never had Leader’s or Priority Questions when they are in government. To suggest we should have a different approach for government-supporting Independent TDs is patently absurd.

“The truth of the matter is this: If Michael Lowry and Gillian Toole are allowed to proceed as they want and intend, it is Opposition voices that will be diminished or silenced. Some of these Opposition TDs are, in fact, Independents. Deputy Toole is fooling no-one when she claims otherwise.

“This is the basis of the controversy in the Dáil last week and it won’t go away until the clear differentiation between Government and Opposition is recognised in Dáil Standing Orders and speaking rights. It is an important principle and it is worth fighting for.”