Up to 6 TDs missing as Dáil resumes

UP to six Government TDs could be missing for Dáil votes this week because they are stranded abroad due to the travel crisis.

But the opposition will also be missing some of their TDs, which makes a defeat on any vote less likely for the Government.

The Dáil resumes today following its Easter break, and in normal circumstances all TDs would be expected back at work.

But the Government chief whip’s office said yesterday that “five or six” Government TDs may miss some or all of this week’s Dáil business. But it said it did not expect the opposition to attempt to capitalise on their absence given the unique circumstances involved.

Fine Gael, however, last night refused to say if it would offer “pairs” to the absent Government TDs.

This is the system whereby a Government TD away on official state business is paired with a Fine Gael TD who abstains from voting in the interests of fairness.

“Fine Gael is offering a very tight policy in terms of pairing,” a party spokesman said. “Only deputies that are specifically on Government business will be offered a pair.”

That raises the possibility that Government TDs who have been stranded abroad while on holidays will not be paired – and therefore cause the coalition a headache when it comes to votes. But because the opposition parties are missing some of their own TDs, it creates less of a worry for the Government.

At present, when the Independent TDs who support the coalition are factored in, the Government has a majority of 84 votes to the opposition’s 78.

The absence of up to six Government TDs could wipe out that majority were they not to be granted pairs. But at least four opposition TDs are also stranded abroad.

Among the Government TDs absent is Fianna Fáil’s Sean Ardagh, who, as chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, had travelled to Malta last week to review its electoral system. He was accompanied by fellow committee member and Fianna Fáil colleague, Senator Denis O’Donovan.

They flew to Madrid and are driving from there to Cherbourg in order to catch a ferry to Ireland, which is due in Ireland on Thursday.

Absent also are Fine Gael’s James Reilly, Olivia Mitchell and Jim O’Keeffe, and Labour’s Brendan Howlin. Fine Gael said Mr Reilly had been doing voluntary work in Haiti and had flown from there to New York in order to return to Ireland. But flights to Ireland were cancelled.

Labour’s Mr Howlin is stuck in Amsterdam where he was attending a political conference.