Government forces through two-week Easter break for TDs despite row

THE Government has forced through a two-week Easter break for TDs.

It came despite calls from the opposition for the Dáil to continue to sit to deal with the banking crisis.

The Dáil finished for Easter last night and will not resume until 2.30pm on Tuesday, April 20.

The recess means that the Dáil has sat just 30 days in the first quarter of this year – or an average of 10 days a month.

This is because the Dáil only resumed after the Christmas break on January 19, sitting its customary three days a week since then.

The proposed Easter break provoked the traditional row in the Dáil yesterday.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the length of the break was unjustified because of the need for the Dáil to debate crucial issues.

“It has been the tradition that the Dáil adjourns for a fortnight for Easter. Whatever argument there may have been in the past about whether that is a good or bad idea, or good or bad practice, it is certainly not acceptable for the times in which we are living,” Mr Gilmore said.

The banks bailout, Anglo’s calamitous results, and the latest Live Register figures all had to be urgently debated by the Dáil, he argued.

“It is a mark of the sign of the times that 435,000 people are on the Live Register, the 10th successive month which it has been over 400,000,” Mr Gilmore said.

“When we address this issue (of a recess), we should take account of how these decisions are seen by the public who send us here. The idea that, at a time like this with so many issues which require attention, the Dáil should be closed down for over a fortnight for Easter is not acceptable and credible.”

The Labour leader’s comments were echoed by Sinn Féin’s Dáil leader Caoimhghín O Caoláin.

“The proposal to go into recess for two weeks is excessive,” he said. “A single week for Easter is more than adequate, appropriate and justifiable, but to go into a second week is, in the current circumstances, not in any way sustainable, no matter what explanation can be offered. The Government has not shown the basic argument as to why we should take this decision.”

The opposition forced a vote on the issue, but the Government won it comfortably, by 69 votes to 64 – meaning the two-week break will go ahead.

TDs say they will be working in their constituencies during the break.