Dáil should move back to Leinster House - Sorca Clarke

Westmeath TD Sorca Clarke has called for sittings of the Dáil to return to Leinster House.

"If the public saw the shenanigans that are going on in the National Convention Centre, there would be a revolution,” the Sinn Féin TD said.

Following the formation of the Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Green Party coalition last month, the Dáil moved to the National Convention Centre amid concerns over physical distancing.

Although the owners of the convention centre are not charging the State for the use of the building, it is still costing taxpayers around €25,000 per Dáil sitting. According to RTÉ, the bulk of the €25,000 is spent on staff and broadcasting costs.

Deputy Clarke (pictured above) says that it is hard to get constituency work done in the convention centre. TDs are wasting valuable time travelling from their offices in Leinster House to the convention centre, she says.

"It’s not unusual to see TDs wandering around for hours on end, doing what exactly? It’s not like you are back in Leinster House in your office with the door closed making calls and doing constituency work. You can’t. Every word in the lobby of the convention centre echoes up three storeys.

"The other option is to run back and forth, and despite what Google Maps tells you, it is not a 13-minute walk, it is closer to a 25-minute walk. That’s an hour there and back or the guts thereof with your laptop in tow. It is absolutely dead time,” she said.

The Sinn Féin TD, who topped the poll in the Longford/Westmeath constituency in February’s general election, believes that it is time to seriously consider returning to Leinster House.

“I don’t think staying in Leinster House was fully explored and the possibilities were fully explored. If you even look at where the Ceann Comhairle sits, there are two doors either side of him. If you wanted to have a vote, you could have a walk through vote where you organise 150 adults to line up socially distant in the corridor and go in to make their vote. We are expecting kids to go back to school in a few weeks and be able to maintain social distancing in a lot smaller spaces," said Deputy Clarke.

“I think it needs to be looked at again. There are possibilities, options out there that haven’t been explored. I have no problem sitting in the chamber if there is half the number of TDs and we are wearing masks,” she added.