Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Government has bullied through a new hybrid speaking system into this Dáil. The Government created a speaking system with another designation and it wants to control that designation as well. It already has a majority in this Dáil, but it wants the majority of the designations as well. Incredibly, in the new Standing Orders, the Chief Whip of the Government will be able to control who asks the Government's questions from this new group. That is an incredible situation. We in Aontú have demanded that the Government stop. We even asked the Government to participate in mediation but it has refused. The display in the Dáil last week was disgraceful. Grown adults were shouting at the top of their voices to drown out the democratic functions of this Dáil. I was present in the Chamber. If the truth be known, this Chamber was the opposite of dignity at work. It was embarrassing that we had that situation broadcast internationally. I have no doubt that Verona Murphy has made mistakes; she made mistakes last Tuesday. That is absolutely true. The people complaining that she made mistakes are the people who made the environment impossible for her to work in. I am aware of TDs saying the Ceann Comhairle was not listening to them.

The Ceann Comhairle could not hear anything last week because of the volume of noise in this Chamber. It is a situation whereby people outside of the political bubble in this Dáil are furious. I have been talking to people in my constituency and, for most people, it is a curse on all our houses over this current situation. The Dáil is an absolute disgrace.

See this speech in context