Anger at TDS who skip Dáil for rugby tour

THE decision by a group of TDs to skip the first two weeks of the Dáil term to play rugby in Australia was last night condemned as unjustifiable and “stupid”.

The eight deputies four each from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were due to return to Leinster House this week after a 14 week break.

Last night, Dáil colleagues said the trip would do little to dispel widespread public cynicism about politicians' productivity and holidays at a time they were receiving unprecedented wage rises.

The eight rugby players were among almost 50 TDs who were absent from the chamber for the first major vote after the Dáil returned from its summer break.

And, embarrassingly for Fine Gael, the party could only muster 20 votes for the vote on Wednesday night, which stemmed from its own major policy initiative to halt benchmarking payments for the public sector.

While some of its 11 absentees were 'paired off' against government ministers on official business, three of the party's front-bench members, Simon Coveney, Jimmy Deenihan and John Deasy, are in Australia along with the party's youngest TD, Damian English.

The four Fianna Fáil deputies who travelled are: MJ Nolan, Sean Power, Jimmy Devins and Batt O'Keeffe, the manager of the side. Other parties have voiced unease about the propriety of the trip, including Labour chief whip Emmet Stagg. He said if a Labour TD had requested to go, "I would have refused it on the basis that it was the first week back in the Dáil and there were crucial issues to be decided.

"We are returning after a three months' break. It would not be acceptable to me as a whip to allow anybody go. It is stupid," he said.

The Green Party's John Gormley was equally dismissive. "It seems to me inappropriate. In benchmarking terms, it is a good example of when productivity has not been displayed."

Simon Coveney, who is captaining the side, yesterday dismissed criticism of the trip's timing. He said the tournament, involving six parliaments, coincided with the start of the Rugby World Cup.

Speaking from Australia, he told RTE radio: "When the dates for the tournament were announced, it became clear there was a clash. We had to sit down and make a decision whether to participate or not.

"And if other parliaments had made the decision not to participate because of parliamentary sittings, then there wouldn't be any tournament at all."

Pointing out that all TDs were paying their own expenses, he did, however, accept there were questions over timing. "I am uncomfortable with the fact that we're missing the first [two] weeks of the Dáil," he said.

Fianna Fail deputies seemed unperturbed by the controversy. One party insider said the Government's comfortably majority meant it was a less critical issue.