Sinn Féin proposal to allow NI politicians sit at special Oireachtas committees rejected

Proposals from Sinn Féin to allow Northern Ireland Assembly members and MPs to sit at special Oireachtas committees have been rejected by the Government, Labour and the Social Democrats.

The Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform voted ten to five against the proposal at a meeting on Wednesday.

Concerns were raised about the impact on the system of allocating committee memberships as well as constitutional and legal implications of such a move while there were also suggestions that other parties in the North should be consulted.

Speaking after the result Sinn Féin’s chief whip Pádraig MacLochlainn told The Irish Times it sends a “really poor message to nationalists in the North” and claimed it was about “limiting representation”.

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He said he didn’t accept any of the “excuses” given by Government politicians that voted against the move and he argued that constitutional concerns were a “red herring” highlighting how Northern politicians sit at the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

He said special committees, like the forthcoming one on autism do not vote on legislation and this means constitutional concerns don’t arise.

A Government source said such committees still discuss policy that becomes legislation and that’s where the difficulties could lie.

Under Sinn Féin’s proposals all of the political parties with members in the Assembly or Westminister would have been invited to nominate one representative to sit on special Oireachtas Committees.

Politicians from the North can participate in the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and representatives from Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party regularly do.

Unionists, though invited, do not take part.

During Wednesday’s meeting of the Dáil Reform Committee Sinn Féin members Mr MacLochlainn and Aengus Ó Snodaigh appealed to other parties to unite behind the proposal.

However, sources said Government chief whip and Fianna Fáil TD Jack Chambers, Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin and Duncan Smith of Labour spoke against it.

Mr Chambers is said to have raised concerns about the implication on the d’Hondt system for allocating committee memberships between the parties in the Oireachtas as well as legal and constitutional concerns.

The meeting also heard that TDs and Senators wishing to be members of special committees would be impacted and concern was raised about a lack of consultation with other parties in the North.

Ten TDs — those from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party, Labour and the Social Democrats as well as Independent TD Cathal Berry voted against Sinn Féin’s proposal.

People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny and Independent TD Carol Nolan voted with three Sinn Féin TDs in favour.

One committee source said there is not “vehement opposition” to the proposals but “more work needs to be done”, including engagement with other parties in Northern Ireland.