THE GOVERNMENT suffered a scare in the Dáil last night when a vote on holding an immediate byelection in Donegal South West ended in a tie after two Fianna Fáil TDs voted with the Opposition.
Frank Fahey and Timmy Dooley “pushed the button the wrong way” in an electronic vote, according to Government Chief Whip John Curran. The vote was drawn at 76-76 and it took the casting vote of Ceann Comhairle Séamus Kirk to save the Government’s blushes.
Mr Curran said he would meet Mr Fahey and Mr Dooley. “My understanding is this was a genuine mistake but either way it’s not good enough,” he said. “Two people physically pushed the button the wrong way. I think they probably weren’t watching the clock.”
Mr Dooley said he and Mr Fahey had made a mistake.
“I pressed the wrong button in error. I assume it’ll be taken as error. The two of us were located side by side. We were talking. We’d arrived late and we pressed the wrong button.”
Mr Fahey could not be reached for comment last night.
Fine Gael chief whip Paul Kehoe commended Mr Fahey and Mr Dooley for voting with the Opposition, and said there should now be a byelection in Donegal South West.
Wicklow TD Joe Behan said while he understood why the Ceann Comhairle had voted with the Government in accordance with precedent, it could be argued he had a responsibility as chairman of the Dáil to vote the other way to ensure that the House was restored to full strength.
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin of Sinn Féin, who forced last night’s vote, told the Dáil: “Our system is flawed in that a government can obstruct the process of calling a byelection for selfish, political purposes. This should change with a constitutional obligation for a byelection to be held in a set period after the vacancy occurs.”
Earlier Taoiseach Brian Cowen rejected a call from Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore to hold byelections in Donegal, Dublin South and Waterford.
Pat the Cope Gallagher, whose election to the European Parliament last June created the vacancy in Donegal South West, said naming a date for the byelection was “entirely a matter for the Dáil to decide”.
He said he continued to provide a service for the constituency both directly and through a full-time office. Mr Gallagher also said he had sought clarity from the Department of Finance on a matter relating to his ministerial pension.
When he received the information he had requested, he would be in a better position to take a decision on that issue, he said.