The pair clashed on Wednesday…
Tensions between Fine Gael and Sinn Féin reached a new high on Wednesday when Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mary Lou McDonald clashed in the Dáil, which culminated in some personal remarks.
“Is it any small wonder the people of Northern Ireland do not have an executive or an assembly?” Varadkar said in response to a comment from Lou McDonald.
“It’s because this is the attitude of Sinn Féin. They are constantly hectoring and making smart-aleck remarks. There is a lack of temperance, a lack of respect for other people and an inability to listen or to compromise.”
Varadkar and McDonald exchange insults in Dáil https://t.co/TBWwF6lP6p pic.twitter.com/ViddvPCxht
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 27, 2017
When questioned by McDonald about what compromises should be made to form a new power-sharing executive in the north, Varadkar responded by saying, “The deputy is very cranky today.”
To which McDonald responded, “I am not cranky at all. I find the Taoiseach facile and dismissive on important issues.”
The clash led to McDonald being asked to leave the chamber by acting Ceann Comhairle Alan Farrell.
McDonald said while leaving that she wanted an answer to her question about what compromises they should make and said that she would write to the Taoiseach for a reply to her question.
Well, she followed through on her promise…
Mary Lou McDonald has just sent this letter to Leo Varadkar following those feisty Dáil exchanges yesterday pic.twitter.com/g3DcyaMbdz
— Hugh O'Connell (@oconnellhugh) September 28, 2017
The letter expands on what McDonald was saying in the Dáil on Wednesday and also said that the government’s attitude towards the Good Friday Agreement and Stormont raised some “serious concerns”.
It also sought clarification on issues such as does the government support the Irish Language Act in the north, and does it support the Bill of Rights in the north?
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