Attempts to elect a new taoiseach in Ireland lay in tatters on Wednesday after a rebellion by opposition parties resulting in the suspension of the Dáil until Thursday morning, Lisa O’Carroll writes in from Dublin.
Micheál Martin had been due to be officially appointed by the president of Ireland at 2pm with a cabinet unveiled around 5.30pm.
Unable to control the house, speaker Verona Murphy stood up, adjourned the Dail until tomorrow morning and walked out.
The extraordinary scenes meant a cancellation of the set piece pageant expecting involving Martin being elected for taoiseach and then travelling to the the official residence of the Irish president where Michael D Higgins would sign the warrant of appointment of the taoiseach.
The day was derailed as soon as the new Dail tried to take office just after 11am.
Sinn Féin, Labour and other opposition parties protested in angry scenes over attempts by opposition TDs propping up the government remaining on opposition benches.
Murphy suspended the Dail twice and a further 30m adjournment just before midday turned into a four hour hiatus.
She tried to reboot proceedings just after 4pm instructing the house to get on with the business of electing the taoiseach Micheál Martin.
But her instructions were drowned out by a cacophony of protests from opposition benches shouting “disgrace”, “outrageous” and “no agreement”.
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