If at first you forget to vote against…
Posted by Maman Poulet on 11 Mar 2010 at 01:39 am | Tagged as: Uncategorized
On Tuesday night an amendment to the Finance Bill was agreed in the Dáil. Amendment No. 3 was proposed by Joan Burton.
The Minister shall within one month from the passing of this Act prepare and
lay before Dáil Éireann a report on a cost-benefit analysis of tax expenditures
provided for by this Act, setting out the costs of tax foregone, and the benefits in terms of job creation or otherwise.
Here’s the Leas Ceann Comhairle Brendan Howlin putting it to the house.
( from Alexia Golez on Vimeo.)
On Wednesday morning, the government proposed an order of business which would have seen the Amendment debated again. Over night it seems the government had realised it did not intend to accept the amendment and they wanted to have a second go at it. It’s a bit like Wonder Woman’s golden belt – put it round the amendment and everyone will forget it was ever spoken about and the issue could be voted on again – the right way this time – well the defeated way if you were the government.
Now the opposition weren’t too happy about that plan and Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk got himself into a terrible mess trying to put the order of business to the house. There was a precedent being set here, the government are defeated on something and they want to have a second go at changing it.
Later yesterday the debate on the Finance Bill was restarted and still the government were trying to get Amendment No. 3 re-taken. The opposition continued to protest. Minster for Finance Brian Lenihan then had to intervene and say that matters should proceed as the opposition wanted and that the amendment would go to the Seanad and he would have it re-amended to increase the timescale involved. Brian Lenihan should have been paying attention when the amendment was put to the house if they didn’t want it to be accepted.
All this a day after Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly made a stinging attack on the powerlessness of parliament and the role of the Executive in policy making without debate or consultation.
You gotta love Joan! This is brilliant the govt might answer “anseo” but they’re definitely not in charge. A now confidence motion in the monster for health, and then go after the lovely sweary girl and it will be game over.
I suppose someone at some point has to ask the awful question but this incident following on from the manner of his defence of Willie O’Dea which struck many people as not being typical of Brian Lenihan and the fact that Martin Cullen has raised the issue of the impact of certain types of medication on a person’s ability to perform their normal duties in the same way as before, is Brian Lenihan now showing signs of his performance being affected by his treatment?
We, the public are not privy to the form or the duration of his treatment, if it is the case that the worst of it is over and a minor slip here and there is going to be the extent of the impact then fair enough let him continue in office but if it has got some more months to run (in particular into the summer months when preparation of the budget will be underway) then we have to ask is the upcoming reshuffle the right opportunity to make a change. At the very least someone senior in the cabinet has to be designated as his 2nd.
I know people will say that’s I’m merely trying to score political points but I honestly can’t think of anyone more capable in FF than Brian Lenihan to be in the position of MoF at the moment. And while I don’t agree with much of the detail and some of the substance of what he is doing, he is, when playing at the top of his game, incredibly able. The question remains is he playing at the top of his game?
[...] by Maman Poulet on 13 Mar 2010 at 01:59 am | Tagged as: Irish Politics You will remember how the government tried to change the result of a vote on the Finance Bill during the week (by tabling said amendment for debate again) because Brian [...]
[...] suppose someone at some point has to ask the awful question but this incident whereby the government forgot to oppose a Labour party amendment to the Finance bill and following [...]