Dáil Ceann Comhairle talks keeping order as TDs adapt to ‘new politics’

In this era of ‘new politics’, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl talks to Juno McEnroe about the unenviable job of maintaining order in a fragmented, argumentative Dáil.

With a more fragmented and argumentative Dáil, the role of its chairman is unenviable, especially when some TDs become irate, ignore parliamentary rules and must be read the riot act.

Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl has managed to refrain from suspending deputies from the new 32nd Dáil after more than a year in the chair. He has pulled up many a disorderly deputy, but successfully overseen a chaotic unfamiliar parliamentary regime which the public has come to know as ‘new politics’.