The Government has won a motion of confidence in itself following a heated Dáil debate over the decision to remove the eviction ban.
The final vote was 86 in support of the Government and 67 against.
Neasa Hourigan, who is now on the independent benches, voted confidence in the Government. There was uncertainty about her intentions following her decision to vote against the Government in the eviction ban vote last week. She was expelled from the party for 15 months.
READ MORE: Live updates as Government faces no-confidence vote over eviction ban
Several Independents also voted confidence in the Government. This included Denis Naughten, Cathal Berry, Sean Canney, Noel Grealish, Michael Lowry and Matt Shanahan. Former Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry and former Fine Gael TD Joe McHugh also backed the Government.
Independents Peter Fitzpatrick, Verona Murphy, Michael Fitzmaurice, Marian Harkin, Thomas Pringle, Catherine Connolly, Michael McNamara and the Rural Independent Group all voted no confidence.
Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and Aontú also voted no confidence.
The debate kicked off early on Wednesday morning, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar starting his contribution by criticising the Labour Party, who tabled the original confidence motion.
He took aim at Ivana Bacik’s comments at the Labour conference in Cork last weekend saying it would build one million homes over the next decade.
The Taoiseach says that the opposition was engaging in “political theatre, performative anger, performance art”.
“When asked how the number was arrived at or how it would be realised, the Leader of the Labour Party had no answers,” he said.
“When pressed, she took a page straight out of the President of Sinn Féin’s book – ‘sure aren’t the Irish great at building things’.
“We all know where the figure of 1 million promised new homes came from. It’s a round number. That’s all. And there was a Conference speech to be made.
“I know that Labour does not have confidence in the Government. But it seems to me that it has long lost confidence in itself.
“It does not know whether to stand over its decisions in Government and say that it would do it all again, for the good of the country, if given the chance or whether like a character in the Crucible it should recant, confess, purge itself of its own past in the hope of being embraced back into the fold by the wider Left and so spare itself more fire.”
The Government continued to go after the Labour Party’s one million home promise, with Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys and Paschal Donohoe criticising the suggestion.
Minister Humphreys said that Labour is “going down the populist” route that Sinn Féin takes.
“If Labour are trying to take on Sinn Fein when it comes to political opportunism, it will be a race to the bottom and a race that you will lose.”
She said that Labour are “not hurlers on a ditch” and are better than “soundbites” like the one million homes in a decade call.
Ms Bacik did not react well to the Labour criticism, saying that the only person engaging in political theatre was the Taoiseach. She argued that the Government spent more time “lambasting” her party than defending its policies.
There were heated scenes as the Government went after Labour, with Higher Education Minister Simon Harris telling Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin to “stop wagging his finger”.
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said that her party had no confidence in the Government.
“This government came to office declaring it would be the Government to fix housing,” he said.
“Yet, you have clung to the same failed policies. The calamitous results are plain to see. Indeed, they define life in Ireland for a generation.
“Sky-high house prices. Record, extortionate rents, and a level of homelessness that we could only have imagined in our worst nightmares.
“Your record in government has been low targets set; low targets missed.
“Deadlines set; deadlines missed. Figures announced. Figures massaged. A government big on promises, very short on delivery.”
There were a number of rows in the Dáil, with several fraught moments between Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin who sparred with a number of Government reps.
Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl branded the debate a "disgrace" as he criticised heckling from both sides.
There was also sharp criticism of the Government’s decision to lift the eviction ban, with People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett argued that deciding to lift the eviction ban was “cruel and immoral”, while Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin branded Darragh O’Brien as the “Minister for Homelessness”.
One of the most interesting contributions came from People Before Profit’s Mick Barry who said that Will Smith will be remembered “as the guy who charged the stage at the Oscars and socked the presenter in the jaw” rather than for his role in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
He says that lifting the eviction ban was the “Government’s Will Smith moment”.
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