SINN FÉIN PRESIDENT Gerry Adams has claimed he knows of at least two TDs who were intoxicated on the night the Dáil debated the liquidation of the former Anglo Irish Bank as part of the promissory note deal.
Adams told TheJournal.ie this week that there were members of other parties in the Dáil chamber who were drunk and said that he wasn’t being flippant when he raised the issue on the night and asked that the Leinster House members’ bar be closed.
“There were, in the chamber on the night, members of other parties who were intoxicated and other people know that as well,” he said while stressing that “the vast majority of TDs probably don’t take a sup at all”.
“I imagine they are here to do their work. But I do think it’s an anomaly that you have a bar, you actually have two bars, in a work place,” he said.
The late-night sitting of the Dáil last month to pass legislation that would liquidate Irish Bank Resolution Corporation went on into the early hours of the morning as the government sought a deal to abolish the promissory note repayments.
Gerry Adams on alcohol and the IBRC liquidation debate:
On the night – dubbed #promnight on Twitter – TDs argued over when to start debate on the bill, which led to Adams asking the Ceann Comhairle: “Could I honourably suggest that if you want some order from the government TDs then perhaps you should close the Dáil bar.
“That may be a useful way to get some order here.”
The issue of TDs being in the members’ bar during the course of Dáil business was raised again by Adams during the debate on the Finance Bill last week when he asked that “the bar be closed or that breathalyser tests be introduced for Teachtaí entering the chamber.”
“I’m not against having a drink, don’t get me wrong. I am not a killjoy in terms of having a jar, I enjoy a jar,” Adams told TheJournal.ie adding that there was a “culture in here” referring to the Dáil.
“This is a big bubble that we have in here,” he said.
“The vast majority of people in here are good people who took up public office and who joined political parties to bring about change. But it’s quite an archaic system and quite dysfunctional system.”
Adams added that he had been in the Leinster House members’ bar “maybe once or twice” but said he didn’t think he had a drink on those occasions.
TheJournal.ie will have more from a wide-ranging interview with Gerry Adams over the course of the weekend
Video: TDs argue over when to start debating the IBRC liquidation bill
Leader Interviews: Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin
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