Varadkar/Doherty spat a portent of things to come

World of Politics with Harry McGee

For those who watched in anticipation to see what would happen between Henry Shefflin and Brian Cody after Galway’s Leinster Final loss to Kilkenny, they were waiting for the type of tetchy encounter that happens on a regular basis in the Dáil.

Trading insults is part-and-parcel of parliamentary proceedings but there are occasions – and they have become more frequent of late – when they become visceral. It can happen when somebody needles or provokes an opponent into saying something personal.

The most infamous, of course, is Green Party TD Paul Gogarty telling Labour’s Emmet Stagg to “f*** off”. But there are legions of examples, including from those who were normally very good at keeping their composure in the face of provocation.

That included Bertie Ahern who was so riled by Gay Mitchell’s accusation of him putting up a smokescreen on financial policies in 1994 that he shouted across the chamber at the Fine Gael Deputy.

“Nobody’s smoke-screening,” he shouted. “Perhaps if you stopped waffling, if you stopped waffling, we might get some work done. You’re a waffler, you’ve been years around here waffling.”

The needle between Fine Gael and Sinn Féin has been consistent for years, invariably following a familiar theme.

Sinn Féin accuses Fine Gael of being an out-of-touch elite, an old boy’s network, unconcerned about the plight of ordinary people.

In turn, Fine Gael accused Sinn Féin of being a party with shady finances, shady people and a shady past. When the going gets tough, it offers a menu of tax-dodgers, criminals, murderers, and murky finances that have made it the richest party in the country.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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