A vote was cast for Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin when he was not in the Dáil chamber, it has emerged.

Both Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mr Martin leader have now also admitted to casting Dáil votes for colleagues, but both insisted their colleagues were in the chamber at the time.

The instance where a vote was cast for Mr Martin in his absence happened during a Dáil debate on reducing the number of seats in the EU Parliament in February. Mr Martin is recorded as not being present for two of the three votes on the legislation. However, for the last and final vote the Fianna Fail leader’s vote is recorded as being present.

During the debate, Fianna Fáil housing spokesman Darragh O’Brien is sitting in Mr Martin seat as he is taking the legislation for the party.

For the first two votes, Mr O’Brien is recorded as voting in his own seat - despite sitting in the party leader’s seat.

However, for the third and final vote, Mr O’Brien is not recorded as voting in his own seat. Mr O’Brien last night admitted he may have incorrectly pressed Mr Martin’s voting button during at the end of the debate.

The Fingal TD said he was leading the debate from Mr Martin’s seat and mistakenly pressed the button.

“The debate went on for more than an hour and for the final vote I may have incorrectly pressed the button on the seat I was sitting in,” he said.

The vote on European Parliament Election Amendment Bill (2019) was taken on February 28.

Mr Martin - whose party has been thrown into chaos by the ‘phantom votes’ controversy - said the practice of TDs pressing the voting buttons of other deputies “should come to an end”.

Speaking for Mr Varadkar, a spokesman said: “The Taoiseach has never asked anyone to vote on his behalf and has never voted on behalf of someone who was not in the chamber.

“On a small number of occasions he has cast a vote for a colleague but only ever if they were present in the chamber, as in ‘present and voting’ as the Constitution requires.”

The spokesman also pointed to remarks made by Mr Varadkar in the Dáil today.

The Taoiseach told the Dáil: “There is a world of difference between someone being present in the Chamber, although not in one's seat, and not being present in the Chamber or the building at all.

“To allay any future concerns or confusion, all Members should be in their seats for all votes from now on.”

The ‘votegate’ storm erupted after it was revealed that Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley’s vote was recorded on six occasions during a Dáil session despite his absence from the chamber.

The revelations have also exposed an apparently common practice of TDs pressing other Dáil members’ voting buttons when they are elsewhere in the chamber.

The main party leaders have all said this practice should end. Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, Labour leader Brendan Howlin, Eamon Ryan of the Green Party and Social Democrats co-leaders Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall said they have never pressed another TDs voting button and never asked another TD to vote on their behalf.

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Online Editors