During this afternoon's debate on Irish foreign policy, neutrality and the Triple Lock, Danny Healy-Rae expressed concerned about unvetted immigration.

Donegal's Thomas Pringle was... unimpressed.

F bombs ahoy: pic.twitter.com/4BaG8fmj2S

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) November 22, 2023

INDEPENDENT TDS Thomas Pringle and Danny Healy-Rae have been involved in heated exchanges in the Dáil today, with Pringle telling Healy-Rae that he doesn’t “f*cking listen to what anybody says”.

During a Dáil debate on Irish foreign policy and neutrality, Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae intervened to criticise the Government over the number of refugees and International Protection applicants arriving in Ireland.

“There’s more men coming than women. We can’t understand it,” he said to Minister of State at the Department of Defence Peter Burke.

“We want to know where they’re coming from, they have to be vetted, if someone is allocated a house inside in Killarney in Kerry… by Kerry County Council, they won’t be left in without being vetted, yet we don’t know where these are coming from, who they are, or what record they have.

This is gone too far minister. And take it to the rest of them cos you’ll get it in the neck next year or the year after or whenever it is, the people are waiting for you to deal with this because you haven’t dealt with it.

As he spoke he was repeatedly told to take his seat.

After Healy-Rae had finished, Donegal TD Thomas Pringle was given his time to speak. He began by dissociating himself from the Kerry TDs comments, which he labelled “an absolute disgrace”.

“I just want to say before we start, that I want to be totally dissociated from any of the comments that were previously made here in the chamber because I think it’s an absolute disgrace. I just wanted to make that clear before I go on,” he said.

As he began his prepared contribution, Healy-Rae began to heckle him from across the chamber, shouting that Pringle should not call him “a disgrace”.

Pringle responded:

“Well it’s obvious you don’t f*cking listen to what anybody says, because thats not what I said.”

He said that if Healy-Rae opened “…your ears instead of your mouth you may f*cking understand what people are saying”.