“Thanks for shouting me down again,” Tánaiste Simon Harris told People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy in a heated Dáil exchange today.
During a debate concerning reports that Israeli Defence Forces weapons had been transported over Irish airspace, Murphy interrupted Harris, prompting a sharp response from the Tánaiste, who accused Murphy of refusing questions from journalists and then obstructing answers when in the chamber.
“I know you’re having difficulty this week,” Harris said.
“You won’t take questions from some journalists, and when you come in here, if you don’t like the questions, I know when you ask me a question, you won’t let me answer it.”
Harris urged Murphy not to interrupt further, emphasising the seriousness of the topic under discussion.
“So you don’t take questions from some, and you don’t accept answers from others,” Harris continued.
“So don’t shout me down, please, on an important issue.”
The confrontation in the Dáil follows an incident earlier this week when Murphy and his People Before Profit colleague Ruth Coppinger refused to engage with a question from a Gript journalist during a media event on the Leinster House plinth.
The refusal led to immediate criticism from other members of the press corps, with one journalist describing the TDs’ actions as “unfair” and raising concerns about “press freedom.”
The event ended prematurely after other journalists decided to stop engaging in protest at the refusal to accept Gript’s question.
Footage of the incident has since gone viral on social media, gathering more than a million views in less than 24 hours.