Fianna Fáil agrees deal with Fine Gael on committee chairmanships

FIANNA FÁIL last night agreed a deal with Fine Gael on the awarding of Oireachtas committee chairmanships, thereby avoiding a confrontation in the Dáil.

Fine Gael had threatened to escalate disruptive action in the Dáil, if Fianna Fáil did not give the main opposition party more of the lucrative positions.

Fine Gael argued that its increased size in the Dáil following the general election merited a greater share of the chairmanships.

Fianna Fáil had been intent on awarding most of the positions, worth an extra €20,000 to the chosen TDs, almost exclusively to its backbenchers.

The two parties were remaining tight-lipped last night on the exact nature of the deal reached. However, it is expected that the Government will today announce who has got what.

There will be three new committees: children’s rights, the Constitution and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

During talks with the Government’s chief whip, Tom Kitt, both Fine Gael and Labour had argued for chairmanships to be allocated proportionate to parties’ representation in the Dáil.

Fine Gael had argued for five committees to reflect its 20-seat increase and for the introduction of the D’Hondt system of proportional allocation.

Labour had been intent on “digging its heels in” next week by calling for votes and speaking for the maximum period of time allowed in the Dáil.

Fine Gael had planned on ending the “pairing” agreement with Fianna Fáil whereby one of its TDs would refrain from voting when the Taoiseach is absent from the Dáil for functions that are not government-related.

Yesterday, during a four-and-a-half hour debate on the establishment of committees, Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin called for a rotation of the committee chairpersons on a yearly or two-yearly basis.

“It is disgraceful that we are now four months on from the general election and still no Oireachtas committees have been formed,” he said. “It is totally unacceptable that committee places are divvied up by the larger parties and that smaller parties such as Sinn Féin and independents have to depend on larger parties giving up places to them in order to gain access.”