PETER MATHEWS’ ONGOING spat with Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett took another turn today as the independent TD was prevented from speaking.
Barrett refused to call on Mathews during the Order of Business prompting Mathews to object and say that, as an elected member of the House, he was being ignored.
As he has done repeatedly in recent weeks, Mathews wanted the Taoiseach to commit to pass new bankruptcy laws before Christmas.
This ongoing campaign has seen him kicked out of the Dáil repeatedly. Here he was taking another walk – his third in less than a month – yesterday:
Rather than eject him from the chamber today, Barrett refused to call on Mathews and told the Dublin South deputy:
I’ll tell you something, when you decide to apologise to this House for your behaviour, not just yesterday, but other days, totally ignoring the chair and the rules. Sit down, please sit down.
Mathews insisted his behaviour has been “absolutely flawless”.
But Barrett repeatedly told him to sit down or else face being voted out of the Dáil and suspended for three days.
“This is absurd,” Mathews said as he sat down, saying Barrett had ignored “a parliamentarian elected to this House”.
But the Ceann Comhairle shot back: “Your behaviour is absurd.”
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