INDEPENDENT TD MICHEAL Healy-Rae hung up the phone during an interview on RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime show this evening, telling host Sarah McInerney that he was not given the time to answer a question on the controversial Dáil speaking time arrangements.

The incoming junior minister had joined the radio show in the wake of today’s Dáil fallout, but voiced anger at RTÉ journalist McInerney as she questioned him about the controversial speaking arrangements that sparked the chaotic series of events.

“We thought that the transition to president Trump was going to be difficult – we never thought this was going to be the situation in Ireland today,” Healy-Rae said.

“I had hoped that we would have got the business of electing a Taoiseach and a government over with today, but unfortunately we’re in the situation that we’re in”.

“I’m disappointed that we are where we are, but the long and the short of it is we are where we are”, he added.

Healy-Rae is one of the four members of the Regional Independent Group who will be sitting on the government’s side of the Dáil. All eight members who negotiated the programme have argued there is precedent to allow four of their TDs to sit in opposition.

Asked by McInerney if the incoming government faced backlash because they had tried to “pull a political stroke” by giving opposition speaking time to government-supporting independent TDs, Healy-Rae seemingly gave up on the interview, saying “we’ll leave this now”.

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“You rang me two minutes ago, and I was asked to come on and answer a question,” Healy Rae said.

“If you’re going to ask a question and answer yourself, the best thing I can do is go away and let you talk away yourself. I wanted to make a point, and if I can’t make it, well I’ll just leave you to talk away”.

McInerney denied the claims that Healy-Rae was not given sufficient time to answer the question on the precedent that has been set to allow TDs who negotiated in the programme for government to sit in opposition benches.

Healy-Rae hung up shortly after, cutting the interview short.