THE FINE Gael and Labour Party whips have sharply criticised Dr James McDaid for alleging that the Opposition was deliberately losing Dáil votes.
Dr McDaid, who was expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party when he abstained in a vote on the cervical cancer vaccination programme in November 2008, was speaking in a radio interview yesterday.
Questioned about his poor attendance record for Dáil votes, he said most of the votes he missed were over procedural issues on the Order of Business which were “totally irrelevant”.
“You may have a draw 72-72 on the Order of Business, that doesn’t matter. But if you have any legislative votes, Fine Gael and Labour pull their deputies,” he told TodayFM.
He claimed the Opposition parties “pull out six or seven deputies to make sure that the Government doesn’t lose a vote, because there is one thing they don’t want now at the minute, despite what they say, they don’t want a general election and that is the factual situation”.
“The way the system is working currently there is no chance that the Government will lose a vote,” he added.
He claimed this was because “the Opposition do not want to get into government”.
Fine Gael whip Paul Kehoe strongly rejected Dr McDaid’s claims. He pointed out that the Ceann Comhairle recently had to use his casting vote on behalf of the Government and on other occasions the Government majority was only two or three.
Labour whip Emmet Stagg said Dr McDaid’s claims were “absolute nonsense”. He added: “There is absolutely no basis for suggesting that we would try and lose a vote.” Mr Kehoe said: “I’m surprised that Jim McDaid claims to know what’s going on in Dáil Éireann when he is not there too often himself.
“We give a pairing arrangement to the Government when the Dáil is sitting, for senior Ministers to be away or if Government TDs are hospitalised or ill or have a family engagement, but under no other circumstances.”
He challenged the Donegal TD to substantiate his claims: “If Jim McDaid has proof of the Fine Gael chief whip holding back deputies, I would like him to come out with it.” Mr Stagg said: “The Government have a majority of six at any critical time. There is a pairing arrangement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael which doesn’t affect the size of the majority.”
In relation to financial issues where an Opposition majority would precipitate a general election, Mr Stagg said: “We would try and maximise our vote with the objective of bringing down the Government.”
