Media given assurances after Dáil stand-off

THE Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil yesterday gave assurances that the media will be allowed stay in the press gallery during temporary adjournments of the Dáil.

Ruairí O’Hanlon clarified the right of the press to stay in the Dáil chamber, a day after Oireachtas authorities attempted to remove the media during a series of suspensions.

The matter was raised with him by Labour Party chief whip Emmet Stagg, who objected to any attempt to remove journalists.

Mr Stagg received a call from the Ceann Comhairle yesterday confirming the rule that the press gallery had to be emptied during a recess no longer applied.

“The principle that sittings of the Dáil should be in public is so fundamental to our democracy that it is written into the Constitution,” said Mr Stagg.

“Any attempt to impose restrictions on the ability of the media to report on proceedings in the Dáil chamber is incompatible with the principle that the House should meet in public,” he said.

Authorities in Leinster House asked journalists to leave the press gallery on Tuesday during a suspension that followed Fine Gael’s Bernard Allen being asked to leave the House for disorderly conduct.

The Dáil had been debating the letter sent by Cork-based oncologist Dr Seamus O’Reilly exposing serious inadequacies in cancer care services in the south of the country.

In all, the Dáil was suspended four times during a prolonged and heated debate that saw three deputies - Mr Allen, Kathleen Lynch and Dan Boyle - leave the chamber.

Journalists refused to leave the press gallery when requested arguing that during the last Dáil, it was established journalists were within their rights to stay in the gallery. This, they said, was because the Dáil was still in public session, notwithstanding a temporary recess being called.