FG gets upper hand on number of Dáil committees

A COALITION tussle over how many Dáil committees should be axed has resulted in Fine Gael getting its way.

Senior Labour figures had expressed concern that cutting the number from 22 to below 16 could be going too far.

However, Fine Gael, still stung from its U-turn in failing to keep its pledge to reduce the number of junior ministers, wanted committees drastically pushed back to just 12. It seems that 13 or 14 committees will be created as part of a general overhaul of the system.