A number of TDs sitting on the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) say they will not co-operate with a new Sinn Féin chairman until party leader Mary Lou McDonald makes a statement on the ongoing controversies engulfing the party.
Following his resignation from Sinn Féin, Laois-Offaly TD Brian Stanley is due to be stripped of his chairmanship of the PAC, with the party due to name his replacement shortly.
Chairpersons of committees are appointed by Dáil Éireann using the d’Hondt system, a formula that results in the committee chairs proportionately reflecting each party’s representation in the Dáil Chamber.
Fine Gael’s Ciarán Cannon and Fianna Fáil’s James O’Connor have both said they will not co-operate with a new Sinn Féin chair while there are outstanding questions about Mr Stanley’s resignation and the ongoing controversy in Northern Ireland over employment references to a former press officer who has pleaded guilty to child sex offences.
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“As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I will not be co-operating with a newly appointed Sinn Féin Chairperson until such time as Mary Lou McDonald makes a full statement to Dáil Éireann on all of the serious issues coming to light about her party,” Mr Cannon said.
Mr O’Connor has questioned why Mr Stanley remained as head of the PAC if a complaint was under consideration.
Meanwhile, Green Party whip and PAC member Marc Ó Cathasaigh has said that for the time being, Social Democrats TD and committee deputy chair Catherine Murphy should take up the mantle.
“Catherine Murphy is the vice chair there, I think she was on the last PAC as well, and she’s excellent. Very good on the committee, very experienced and as a short term measure I don’t see any issue with her chairing the committee,” he said.
He said he didn’t know enough about the situation to have a view on whether he would co-operate with a new Sinn Féin chair of the committee.
While each political party usually decides who it will appoint as chair of the committees it has been allocated, Dáil standing orders also say that if a committee chair is unavoidably absent, the committee can move to elect one of its members as chair. A source said such a vote could become problematic as TDs on the PAC have already indicated that may not support a Sinn Féin chair.
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