Government survives vote in the Dáil on turf selling

Photo: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The Government survived a vote in the Dáil on turf selling after potential rebels were persuaded to remain on board.

TDs were voting on a Sinn Féin motion calling on the Dáil to approve a motion to scrap plans to restrict the sale of turf, to cancel the carbon tax increase on 1 May and to temporarily remove excise duty on home heating oil.

Despite a number of senior ministers including Leo Varadkar, Paschal Donohoe, Simon Coveney and Charlie McConalogue all absent and a number of other Government TDs in Strasbourg, the Government side defeated the Sinn Féin motion by 72 votes to 63.

Having lost the vote by electronic means, Sinn Féin requested the vote be taken by roll call.

Despite the victory, government whips were “scrambling” to avoid an embarrassing defeat in the Dáil over the banning on the sale of turf as several TDs were threatening to “go missing” for the vote.

Fine Gael TDs told the Irish Examiner that whips had contacted them asking if opposition members in their constituency would be able to pair, so they are scrambling to get pairs for a few people.

Ahead of the vote, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there will be no proposal which effect traditional turf practices or the sharing of turf in rural Ireland.

Mr Martin told the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting tonight that the issue of turf cutting could have been handled better. Mr Martin said he will maintain a “constructive approach”.

“There will be no proposals which effect traditional turf practices or the sharing of turf in rural Ireland. The rights people currently have will be protected in rural areas. There is a pragmatic and sensible way to resolve this,” he said.

After a nervous week for the Government amid threats of TDs abstaining on the vote, Mr Martin appears to have done enough to assuage potential rebels, with several expressing happiness with the new compromise deal.

At the meeting, Mr Martin said the real villain here is smoky coal which is the centrepiece of our focus. There will be further discussions and draft regulations have not yet been finalised which may have to be referred to the European Commission, he said.

He said as the government is committed to strengthening supports and delivery in rural Ireland. “We want to leave a footprint of delivering in agriculture, community development and infrastructure in rural Ireland,” he said.

He added the Sinn Fein motion before the Dáil on Wednesday night calling for the removal of the proposed carbon tax increases, would remove a lot of the ring fenced funding which ensures a just transition, funding for retrofitting, fuel poverty supports and agri environmental measures as well.

Ahead of the vote a number of Fianna Fáil TDs who had been vocal in their opposition to the proposals said they would be supporting the Government's counter-motion.

Jackie Cahill said Mr Ryan had been "left with no uncertainty" as to the level of anger and opposition to his planned ban on the sale of turf during a meeting earlier this week.

However, he said: "We have to give the counter-motion time to work".

Cathal Crowe also confirmed that he would be supporting the countermotion, stating that it was robust and had gone further than he had even expected.

At the Fine Gael meeting, Clare TD Joe Carey, who has also voiced serious concerns about the proposed ban, hit out at Sinn Féin for tabling what he called a "populist" motion.

The Fine Gael representative said he would be supporting the Government's countermotion.

"Negotiations on turf only began this week, there has been some interaction, but we want to conclude that process and that will take some time," he said of meetings that had been held between Mr Ryan, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil this week.

Earlier, the Taoiseach said in the Dáil that there will be no ban on turf sales "for the remainder of the year".

He was replying to the Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who argued he should reverse his position on seeking to restrict turf sales.

Micheál Martin said: "There is no ban on the use of turf in rural Ireland and there will be no ban for the remainder of the year."

Also at the Fine Gael meeting, Senator Regina Doherty raised the resignation of Cork councillor Karen Coakley from the party amid claims of "skullduggery" and bullying behavior.

She said that it was "not good enough" for the party to put out a statement saying no formal bullying complaint had been made and there were serious questions that needed to be answered.