TDs add period of silence to prayer

Proposals to scrap the Dáil daily prayer have been voted down by TDs.

Instead, they have voted to add 30 seconds of silent reflection to the prayer, which is read out by the Ceann Comhairle before proceedings commence.

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone abstained from the vote and ministers of state Finian McGrath and John Halligan opposed the retention of the prayer and the addition of a silent reflection.

The three Independents had earlier voted against the Government and in favour of a Sinn Féin proposal to replace the prayer completely with 60 seconds of silent reflection, but the proposal was defeated by 94 votes to 41.

Afterwards, Minister Shane Ross (Independent Alliance) said the vote showed the Dáil was working in a “new and democratic way”, which meant the will of the members was being obeyed.

“We have just come from the Dáil, where there has been a free vote and three members of the Independent Alliance voted one way and two members of the Independent Alliance voted another way. That’s something that people are going to have to get used to, because that’s the ethos on which we stood and which we continue to stand,” he said.

The proposal to add a period of silent reflection after the prayer, read out in both Irish and English, came from the Dáil Business Committee.

The Social Democrats were among those who had called for an end to the Dáil prayer as part of wider moves to separate church and state.

Ahead of the vote, Deputy Catherine Murphy said: “The primary function of the Oireachtas is to enact legislation. All the laws we debate and pass will be underpinned by a belief or value system.

“For some, that is a religious value system; for others, values such as equality, solidarity, democracy, honesty, and accountability form a civic morality that is not drawn from any religious belief system.

“I believe we need to develop civic responsibility and morality and to do that we need to separate church from state.”

Some 97 TDs voted for the change, while 17 TDs voted against, with 19 abstentions.