Irish opposition calls on parliamentary's resignation

27/3/2025 5:56

Irish opposition parties

called on the speaker of the lower house of parliament to resign

on Wednesday, just three months into her term, over a dispute

about speaking rights that has impacted the workings of

parliament.



Speaker Verona Murphy, an independent lawmaker whose

elevation to the post after a November general election was

supported by the governing Fine Gael and Fianna Fail and their

independent allies, said she would not resign and rejected

opposition allegations against her.



Opposition parties have protested against a government

proposal that government-supporting independents retain extended

speaking rights previously afforded to them from the opposition

benches. The issue has dominated the early weeks of the new

parliament.



The election of Micheal Martin as prime minister in January

was delayed by a day amid chaotic scenes in the lower house and

the issue has also held up the appointment of parliamentary

committees that are required to pass legislation.



The leader of the main Sinn Fein opposition party, Mary Lou

McDonald, told Murphy that the opposition's confidence in her

had been "decimated", accusing her of "bulldozing" parliamentary

rules by hastening a vote on the government's speaking proposals

that passed on Tuesday.



"The Ceann Comhairle (speaker) must be impartial, fair and

independent and by your actions, you have demonstrated that you

are not. Your position is therefore untenable so I ask you to

reflect very carefully on this because you need to go," McDonald

told Murphy in parliament.



Murphy, in a statement, said she categorically rejected the

"totally unfounded allegations" by the opposition.



"I fully intend to continue to carry out the onerous office

to which I was elected," she said.



Opposition parties on Wednesday published a draft motion of

no confidence, which they said they will submit if Murphy does

not resign.



The opposition has used the speaking rights issue to keep a

focus on government-supporting independent Michael Lowry, a

former minister who was found by a 2011 inquiry to have

"insidiously" helped a telecoms billionaire secure a mobile

phone licence in the 1990s.



A picture of Lowry raising his two fingers to an opposition

lawmaker who was recording raucous parliamentary proceedings on

Tuesday was on the front pages of major newspapers on Wednesday.

Lowry was quoted as telling local media that the gesture was

"not intended to cause any offence".