Labour leader Pat Rabbitte yesterday warned that he would proceed with his plan to table a motion of no confidence in Ceann Comhairle Rory O'Hanlon if Dr O'Hanlon does not adopt what Mr Rabbitte described as "a more flexible approach" to allowing the Opposition to raise issues during standing orders.
Mr Rabbitte said that tabling such a motion was, to his knowledge, unprecedented in the Dáil and it was not a step he would take lightly but he believed that the Opposition was in general agreement that Dr O'Hanlon was far too rigid in his control of debate.
"This Ceann Comhairle is immensely inflexible and restrictive and he is very protective of the Taoiseach and I was merely asserting those facts in the Dáil and what I said was, if it was to continue into the new year, he would be inviting a motion of no confidence," he said.
Mr Rabbitte said that he believed it was a mistake to abandon the old system, where the Opposition provided the Ceann Comhairle, which had worked well over the years and served all parties well when they were in opposition.
Looking ahead to the next general election, Mr Rabbitte conceded that the rainbow government of Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left of which he was a part had made a major mistake when calling a general election in June 1997.
"Twenty years down the road, 1997 will be written about and analysed - it's past and it's history now but it was a hell of an achievement by the rainbow government to lose that election," said Mr Rabbitte.
"We were on the cusp of a boom that the country had never seen before, we were creating jobs at the rate of 1,000 per week, inflation was low, employment was rapidly expanding and we lost the election - bad timing, bad judgment in terms when to call an election.
Mr Rabbitte was speaking during a visit to Cork where Cork city councillor Ciarán Lynch was selected to contest the next general election for the party in Cork South Central and Macroom-based councillor Martin Coughlan was selected to run in Cork North West.
