AS TDS AND Senators returned to Leinster House today after the two-week Easter break, tempers were running high.

Fists were passionately flung in the air, and voices were raised as the Dáil debated the motion of confidence in the Government tabled by Sinn Féin over the coalition’s handling of last week’s fuel protests that almost brought the country to a standstill. 

At one point, even a crutch was flung in the air and used as a mock rifle by Independent TD Paul Gogarty as he appeared to joke about the carnage that was about to ensue.

In the end, the Government won the vote, 92 votes to 78. 

But not without losing one junior minister in the process. 

The debate was pretty tame up until Kerry TD and junior minister in the Department of Agriculture, Michael Healy-Rae, took to his feet to declare he would be resigning his position and voting no confidence in the Government. 

The bombshell caught everyone off guard. 

Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae waves to the crowds gathered outside Leinster House after resigning in the Dail as Minister of State. Press Association Press Association

Healy-Rae left the chamber and made his way out to the Kildare Street entrance of Leinster House, where he triumphantly threw his fist in the air in a symbol of solidarity with protesters who had gathered for the confidence vote.

“I’m not letting the Government down, the leader has let the people down,” Healy-Rae told reporters. 

People celebrating outside Leinster House, Dublin, after hearing that Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae tendered his resignation in the Dail. Press Association Press Association

Back inside the Dáil chamber, things had heated up massively as TDs from Aontú and Independent Ireland began their speaking slots. 

They accused the Government of abandoning ordinary working people, an accusation the Government dismissed outright. 

Insults were flying

Across the day, TDs did not shy away from name-calling.

And they seemed to only ramp up and become more nonsensical as the day went on.

Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan was pilloried for his comments yesterday, when he said he wanted the media regulator to launch a review into how the media covered the protests. 

His gripe was that the coverage was “lopsided” in favour of those protesters. 

Labour leader Ivana Bacik was having none of this. 

“Goodbye Victor Orban, hello Patrick O’Donovan,” Bacik quipped. 

Elsewhere, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan was christened with not one, but three new nicknames in the heat of the day’s events. 

Taking to the plinth before the motion of confidence got underway, Labour TD Ged Nash lashed out at the minister for escalating the protest when he dramatically announced he was sending in the army on Thursday morning, without consulting Minister for Defence Helen McEntee.

“The government were flailing in [their handling of] this. I mean, we saw the disputes between Helen McEntee and Rambo last week. Jimbo, as we started calling him,” Nash said, in a reference to the fictional character portrayed by Sylvester Stallone.

Nash followed this up by saying O’Callaghan was “a guy that’s really hard to take seriously at the moment in terms of how he responded to this direct challenge last week”.

The name seemed to stick, with Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan deploying it again during the confidence motion in the Dáil.

O’Callaghan accused ministers of fanning the flames of the protest and said:

“GI Jim O’Callaghan arrived on the scene thinking that he was Rambo.”

A short while later, Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn gave the final nickname of the day to the Justice Minister. 

As he lambasted the Government for “blaming [Donald] Trump for absolutely everything”, O’Flynn turned the blame to Government ministers. 

“What did Big Jim – James Bond himself – go out and do? He said we will turn the army against our own citizens,” O’Flynn said. 

The Justice Minister wasn’t the only government member to come away from today with a new nickname. 

While he hit out at the Government for the half a billion euro package that was agreed, Independent Ireland TD Richard O’Donoghue took aim at junior minister in the Department of Agriculture, Timmy Dooley. 

He told the Dáil “Timmy Doolittle” would be a more fitting name. 

Meanwhile, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien also joined in on the name-calling when he accused Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty of being “a late bloomer to democracy”. 

In return, a bewildered Pearse Doherty shouted back that O’Brien was “arrogant”. 

At another point, O’Brien was met with the ire of Ken O’Flynn after he accused Independent Ireland of being “misogynistic” for heckling women ministers. 

“After the way your party treated me? Homophobics, the whole lot of you,” O’Flynn shouted back, in what seemed to be a reference to O’Flynn’s 16 years in Fianna Fáil.

For context: Last year, the Cork North Central TD told the Sunday Times that in his experience, the Catholic Church was more welcoming to gay men than Fianna Fáil. 

As the temperature continued to rise during the confidence debate, Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon also called out Independent Ireland TDs for their heckling of government ministers.

“The bully boys in the corner never said a word when I was speaking, unlike their interventions when my female ministerial colleagues were,” he said.

“Hear, hear,” said Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill beside him.

Another heated exchange came when it was the Justice Minister’s turn to contribute. 

As he wrapped up his remarks, Pearse Doherty shouted across from the Sinn Féin benches: “No apologies for calling in the army?”

“You should recognise and respect our army,” the minister retorted as he got back to his feet.

“You respected another army for long enough,” he added.

At the outset of the debate, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy had read out the rules of engagement and warned that constituents expected the debate to be carried out in a “respectful manner”. 

It seems her warning fell on deaf ears.