INDEPENDENT IRELAND LEADER Michael Collins has said that Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath “smeared the noble dead” by referring to Collins and his namesake as “traitors”.

The incident happened on Tuesday following chaotic scenes in the Dáil after a motion to create a new speaking slot for government backbenchers and independents was pushed through.

Collins and McGrath are said to have had a “heated” exchange, during which McGrath is understood to have described both the Independent Ireland leader and his Irish revolutionary namesake as two “traitors from West-Cork.”

When asked by the Irish Examiner if he had referred to Collins as a “traitor”, McGrath replied: “That’s what he is.”

The Examiner further reports that a Dáil usher had to separate the pair.

In a statement today, Collins said there was “widespread disgust” at McGrath’s remarks against both he and the “revolutionary hero General Micheal Collins”.

Collins said McGrath made the remark following his “unprovoked interaction” with Independent Ireland TDs after the Dáil vote on the speaking time arrangements, which were opposed by the opposition.

“These remarks from Mattie McGrath represent a new and pitiful low from a TD that has moved on from endlessly attacking his old nemesis Michael Lowry to attacking the honoured memory of Cork’s legendary national icon, General Michael Collins.”

Collins remarked that he and McGrath have political differences which “run deep” but added: “We do not speak ill of the dead.”

“We should not engage in this kind of historical vandalism that only serves to denigrate the memory of a great man who gave his life for this country,” said Collins.

File image of Mattie McGrath Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

While he said that McGrath’s remarks are “water off a duck’s back to me personally”, he cautioned that “General Collins’ memory is sacrosanct”.

“It should not be casually abused in the manner in which Mattie McGrath chose to do so,” said Collins.

Collins claimed there has been an “incredible level of revulsion and anger” following the remarks, and that this will “not easily subside”.

“I fully expect that they will cast a dark cloud over Mattie McGrath’s political life for the rest of this Dáil,” Collins added.

Mattie McGrath has been approached for comment.