Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Niall Carson/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Quiet Men
Lost for words: The TDs who spoke a handful of times in the Dáil
Ten TDs have spoken fewer than four times in the Dáil in the past year.
JACKIE HEALY-RAE cost us €14,142 for every word he spoke in the Dáil chamber in 2010 – and Bertie Ahern was even worse value: he didn’t speak a single word all year.
The Irish Daily Mail has published a list of the Dáil’s ten worst contributors – and the chattiest among them have opened their mouths just three times in 2010.
The Tight-lipped Ten include:
- Bertie Ahern (0)
- Jackie Healy-Rae (1)
- Michael Woods (1)
- Christy O’Sullivan (2)
- Eamon Scanlon (3)
- Dr Rory O’Hanlon (3)
- Tom Kitt (3)
- Noel Grealish (3)
- Michael Fitzpatrick (3)
- Michael Lowry (3)
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Healy-Rae defended his speaking record, saying “Why should I go crawling to ministers with my problems across the floor of the house when I can go directly to them?”
A spokesman for Bertie Ahern said that there was a “long-standing precedent that former Taoisigh are not requested to speak in Dáil debates”.
have your say