The Social Democrats have been successful in a bid to secure two Oireachtas committee chairperson roles by arguing that suspended TD Eoin Hayes is still a deputy for the party.
The Committee on Dáil Reform met on Wednesday to discuss the establishment of the various committees.
The process of selecting which party gets committee chairperson roles uses the D’Hondt method, which allots positions depending on the strength of parties and groups.
Chairperson jobs are high profile and come with an allowance of €10,888 for the holder.
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The Social Democrats won 11 seats in last November’s general election and the party would be in line for two committee chairperson roles as a result.
However, the party had concerns it would end up with just one due to Mr Hayes’s suspension.
The Dublin Bay South TD was suspended by the party last December after it emerged that he did not sell his shares in Palantir – a company that has supplied software and technology to the Israel Defense Forces – until a month after he was elected as a Dublin city councillor last June.
This contradicted information he had previously given that he had sold the shares in the company, where he worked from 2015 to 2017, before he entered politics.
The Social Democrats have not outlined when Mr Hayes’s suspension will come to an end.
He has been listed as an Independent TD on the Oireachtas website. However, the party has insisted he is still a Social Democrat TD.
Social Democrats acting leader Cian O’Callaghan has written to the clerk of the Dáil, Peter Finnegan, telling him: “There were 11 Social Democrat TDs elected to the Dáil and, notwithstanding internal disciplinary measures, there remain 11 Social Democrat TDs in our party.”
He asked that “all documentation produced by the Oireachtas Service accurately reflects this”.
The matter was discussed at the Dáil Reform Committee meeting on Wednesday and it was agreed that proportionality for the committees will be based on the general election results.
The Irish Times understands that the Government parties will get 15 committee chairperson roles, Sinn Féin will get seven, there will be two each for the Social Democrats and Labour, and two for the groups of independents and smaller parties.
A spokeswoman for the Social Democrats said: “It has always been the case that committee positions are allocated proportionately based on the results from the general election.
“That position was maintained at the Dáil Reform Committee this evening.
“This was important to reflect the mandate that the Social Democrats received at the election.
“The decision doesn’t just have an impact on the number of chairperson positions – it also impacts the choice of committees available to the party and the number of committee positions,” she said.
“The fact is that 11 Social Democrats TD were elected in November. Internal disciplinary measures have been taken against one of those TDs, Eoin Hayes. That should not, and did not, have an impact on the allocation of committee places.”
