Tánaiste rows with Matt Carthy over speaking rights in Dáil
Tánaiste Simon Harris has described the decision by the opposition to withdraw pairing arrangements as “utterly childish”. Opposition leaders and whips met this morning to discuss what further action they would take, after the Dáil reform committee pushed through a vote to enact the government’s amendments to speaking time. The meeting concluded with the parties agreeing to withdraw any pairing arrangements with government parties. Under the pairing agreement, a TD from an opposition party agrees not to vote when a Government deputy they are paired with is not present for the vote. This particularly comes into play when a minister is absent from a vote because of official business. Credit to : Irish Independent