This article details the heated exchange during Leaders' Questions in the Irish Dáil when Taoiseach Micheál Martin was accused of calling Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald a liar in Irish. The incident sparked a furious reaction from Sinn Féin TDs, particularly Pearse Doherty, who defended the new Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy, who doesn't speak Irish fluently.
When the Taoiseach uttered those unparliamentary words about Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin benches erupted in noisy protest. Coiled springs are easily triggered. Nothing gets past them. The moment she heard them, Mary Lou McDonald was so scandalised a vat of smelling salts couldn’t have calmed her. 'A massive waste of money': Arts Council’s scrapped €6m IT system sparks fury in Cabinet Pádraig Mac Lochlainn had a complete meltdown. Aengus Ó Snodaigh spontaneously combusted.
Louise O’Reilly went ballistic. But, most unusually, it took a while for the “pingin” to drop. The Sinn Féin ranks appeared strangely unmoved when the Taoiseach made a most egregious accusation against their leader. He called her a liar. Worse still, he called her a liar in Irish, surely debasing our cherished native tongue. “Is oth liom a rá go bhfuil an Teachta Dála ag insint bréaga arís. Níl aon rud cruinn in aon chor sa mhéid a dúirt sí.” In fact, there was no reaction from deputies on any side of the House to this apparently premeditated broadside, even though they enjoy the occasional bit of parliamentary rírá agus ruaille buaille to spice up proceedings. Mary Lou was more interested in the Taoiseach announcing he is going to abolish rent pressure zones, and she wanted to know what fat-cat lobbyists had influenced this decision. “Who has your ear, Taoiseach?” she asked. “You’re singing from the same hymn sheet as the lobby groups for big institutional property funds.” As bruising encounters at Leaders’ Questions go, this was fairly unremarkable. The Opposition has had the Taoiseach on the rack since the new Dáil convened for insisting during November’s election campaign that 40,000 new homes would be built by the end of last year when independent projections indicated a much smaller final tally. The Sinn Féin leader was now turning the screw by bringing in Fianna Fáil’s shameful Celtic Tiger relationship with property developers and linking it to current policy. Speaking of big investment funds and lobbyists, the lobbying register “makes for some very interesting reading”, he told Mary Lou. It lists “the high level of activity” of her housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin and the various companies he has met, including Glenveagh Properties, Vulcan Consulting ...“ ... Cairn Homes, Ibec, on behalf of Property Industry Ireland, the Irish Institutional Property, Irish Residential Properties REIT, the Construction Industry Federation CIF, Tetra Capital Limited, Hines Real Estate Ireland Limited, Beakonshaw Limited, Hibernia Real Estate Group, the Ronan Group Real Estate about the glass bottle site, Cosgrave Property Group and Bartra Capital Property Management ...”“He’s doing his job,” said Pádraig Mac Lochlainn. “What’s your point?” The point, the Taoiseach explained, is that his party has been trying to “smear me and others by association” by saying they are responding to lobbyists. “We are not.” But Sinn Féin didn’t want it to end this way. Oh, no there isn’t, said the Chair. “The Taoiseach, I think, took advantage, perhaps, of you not following ...” Verona did a double take. She’s had a rough start in the job and bristled at the words “took advantage, perhaps, of you ...” “He accused me, he called me a liar.” Suddenly Pearse was roaring and Pádraig was incensed and Louise was rowing in with more indignation and the protesting grew louder and more intense. So Verona said she didn’t hear it but would ask the Taoiseach to withdraw the remark if he made it. Did he call her a liar? Sinn Féin wasn’t doing this to get at Micheál Martin. It was to protect the honour of the new Ceann Comhairle, who doesn’t speak Irish and is at the early learner stage. By insulting their party leader as Gaeilge, sneaky Micheál tried to smuggle in his “liar” accusation under Verona’s unsuspecting nose. Pearse, who has beautiful Donegal Irish, was outraged on her behalf. “You’re taking advantage of the Ceann Comhairle. You’re taking advantage of the Irish language,” he bellowed. She asked the Taoiseach again if he had used the words complained of and if so, would he withdraw them. Micheál, who speaks beautiful Munster Irish, muttered: “I was saying what the deputy was saying was untrue.” “Absolutely disgraceful,” thundered Pearse on Verona’s behalf. Terrible stuff, “taking advantage of the fact the Ceann Comhairle has no Irish”. Anyway, she said the Taoiseach said he didn’t say it. “He didn’t say he didn’t say it.” But one can’t blame Mary Lou and her colleagues for taking such offence. If Micheál Martin had been disrespected in such fashion the Fianna Fáil footsoldiers would have been up on the hind legs and howling too. Sinn Féin says the Taoiseach committed the cardinal error and dropped the actual “liar” word
Politics Ireland Dáil Micheál Martin Mary Lou Mcdonald Sinn Féin Fianna Fáil Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy Leaders' Questions Irish Language
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