Gogarty's vote

Pat Leahy in the Any Other Business column in the Sunday Business Post today…

Green deputy Paul Gogarty appears to have determined a new method of voting in the Dáil chamber, superseding even the swanky electronic voting system that was introduced some years ago and still causes some deputies problems.

When the motion of confidence in the government was put to the House last Tuesday evening, Gogarty responded not by the customary ‘‘Tá’’ by which deputies orally indicate their positions before a formal vote. Instead, the TD gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up signal to the Ceann Comhairle.

Mind you, he then appeared to answer ‘‘Níl’’ along with the opposition deputies. Irrepressible is the mot juste.

Transcript from speech by Finian McGrath on the motion of confidence.

Finian McGrath: […] For this reason, I have no confidence in this Government. This is the reality for many people on the ground. It is about credibility, competence and confidence. I might add that I do not necessarily have confidence in some of the other parties who cannot make up their minds on particular issues and do not know where they stand on these matters.

I have in the past made some unpopular decisions in regard to banking but I did so in the national interest.

Paul Gogarty: Hear, hear.

FM: Unlike others, I do not play politics with the economic future of this country. The Government must accept responsibility for its part in wrecking this economy […]

Interesting.

Also, later in the debate…

PG: The two parties favouring an election would be seriously inconvenienced if one were called. Voters would be given the choice between an incompetent Fianna Fáil Administration and a bland uninspiring Fine Gael alliance with their Labour Party clones, chips off the old block. It would be the Dolly alliance.

Pity it wasn’t an electronic vote, eh?

Well worth reading McGrath’s speech in full too.