Policy vacuum leaves little for parties to fight over

THE Dáil finally returns from its six-week Christmas break today in the manner in which it left off — overwhelmed by the Mahon Tribunal and under-occupied with legislation.

The third confidence vote in five months will dominate the beginning of the brief 20-day Easter session, as Fine Gael tries to exploit what it perceives to be differing attitudes to the corruption probe from the three government parties.

As Chief Whip Tom Kitt published the legislative programme yesterday, Labour immediately branded it a “work of fiction” as nine of the 17 bills are leftovers from the list first announced in September.