No confidence motion over government's handling of fuel crisis could lead to row in the Dáil over response to protests

 The Dáil is set to vote Tuesday on a confidence motion over government's handling of fuel crisis. 

Sinn Féin has said its no confidence motion in the Government is needed after the Government ‘poured fuel on the fire’ of the fuel protest last week. 

Sunday, the Government announced a €505 million package of measures to cut the cost of living.

Excise duty will be reduced by a further 10 cents until July, while the cost of green diesel will be cut by 2.3 cents. An increase in the carbon tax has been delayed until October.

A multimillion euro scheme to assist hauliers and farmers is also being drafted.

On The Claire Byrne Show, Political Editor for the Irish Independent Mary Regan said a row could be expected as confidence motion in the Government is set to be announced and leader questions are due to be cancelled. 

Mrs Regan said the Taoiseach was expected to speak first, followed by Sinn Fein and the rest of the opposition to respond.

“The sense is that there is definitely confidence amongst the Government parties”, she told Newstalk. 

“They're not fearing any deflections. There are nine independents supporting the government.

“The ones that could cause the most concern are the Healy-Raes”. 

She said that Micheal Healy-Rae’s position as a junior minister and his brother Danny’s criticism of Fianna Fail's leadership may be indicators they would cast opposite votes of confidence in the Government. 

Regional Independent Group TDs Danny Healy-Rae and Michael Healy-Rae. Picture by: Alan Rowlette.

“The agenda will be a mix of looking into why the protests happened and examining the government’s handling of the fuel crisis. 

“I think the approach of the government will be to sort of deflect the focus back onto the opposition for how they approached all of these. 

“It's been a political crisis for the government that they have to sort of regain the narrative from.”

What the vote of no confidence means

Mrs Regan explained that while this may have been the worst week for the Government, they would still need to show that there is still some leadership after what transpired.”

Asked about the current state of a Left-alliance including Sinn Fein in the aftermath of the protests, Mrs Regan emphasized that the party had remained below the radar for the most part. 

“Sinn Féin took a different approach to those parties of the left in terms of these protests and parties like Labour and Social Democrats. 

“They weren’t joining the podium. They weren’t joining protests. They were calling on the Government to provide more clarity and bring forth more support for people.”

Michael McDowell, Senator, Former Tánaiste and Minister for Justice said the Government deserved criticism for the way it handled the fuel protests which unfolded across the nation last week. 

Members of the public sitting in a tractor wheel as farmers are protesting on O'Connell Street Dublin. Photo: © RollingNews.ie

He labelled the planned closures of oil deports, blockades of roads as illegal and that the Government should have had a pre-existing “contingency plan” to deal with it. 

“The government has a duty and has a very clear duty to cushion the Irish economy from excessive increases in energy prices”, he told Newstalk presenter Claire Byrne. 

Aontù TD Paul Lawless, who had previously called upon the Government to cut the VAT on fuel, said the new fuel scheme announced on Sunday was a good first step in dealing with the fuel protests. 

“This crisis was brewing for several months,” he said on The Claire Byrne Show Tuesday morning. 

“I stood over several days with many of the protests that were happening, these were good.

“I think [the VAT rate on fuel] could afford to be reduced. We cannot continue with this high level of taxation at a time of such a few, few crises and escalating prices.”

Main Image: Dail Eireann. Picture by: Image shot 2009.