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Why is this TD always shouting and roaring in the Dáil?

Richard Boyd Barrett turns up the volume whenever he takes to his feet in the chamber.

RICHARD BOYD BARRETT has developed a bit of reputation for shouting and roaring in the Dáil chamber.

The People Before Profit TD is a fan of big hand gestures and the sort of speech that becomes louder and louder the longer he speaks.

So much so that during the debate on the Budget last year one government minister put his headphones in as the Dún Laoghaire deputy let rip at the coalition.

rbb headphones Oireachtas TV Oireachtas TV

It’s not just in the Dáil chamber either.

Last week, we came across the deputy giving it socks during a protest about homelessness outside the Dáil.
https://vine.co/v/eulL62iXMhB

“I just have a loud voice and I am used to the politics of the street,” Boyd-Barrett told TheJournal.ie in a wide-ranging interview yesterday.

He believes being clear is a good contrast to “some of the mumbling that goes on” and said he gets “depressed by the scripted nature” of some government debate.

We also asked if anyone has ever told him to turn the volume down…

Video: Paul Hosford / TheJournal.ie

Watch out for more from the interview on TheJournal.ie in the coming days.

WATCH: Why Richard Boyd Barrett thinks heroin and cocaine should be decriminalised

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Hugh O'Connell
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