Ahern says Lenihan 'kebabs' scandal over

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today the scandal of Conor Lenihan's "kebabs" remark was now over as far as he was concerned.

Mr Lenihan apologised to the Dáil yesterday for telling Socialist TD Joe Higgins to "stick with the kebabs" during an exchange.

Mr Higgins said the "snide" comment was a reference to his support of Turkish workers embroiled in a row with construction company Gama.

Speaking at a press conference with Gama workers in Dublin today, Mr Higgins repeated his assertion that Mr Lenihan's comments were "incredibly insensitive" given the predicament of the Turkish workers.

He said the issue had been raised during a meeting between Minister for Enterprise and Employment Micheál Martin, workers and their union representatives this morning.

One of the workers told the press conference they were "very, very offended to be compared to a piece of meat" by a Government minister. This was "adding insult to injury", he said. The workers were seeking an apology from Mr Lenihan through Mr Higgins.

Opposition parties clamoured for Mr Lenihan, who is Minister for State for Development Co-operation and Human Rights, to resign despite telling the Dáil he "regretted the remarks made and regret sincerely if any offence was caused," yesterday.

Mr Higgins said the apology was insufficient.

But Mr Ahern said today that he accepted Mr Lenihan's apology and the issue was now over. "People should understand the heat of the Dáil," the Taoiseach said. "He shouldn't have said it, but he apologised."

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern last night said the remarks had been made "in the heat of the moment", and that he did not believe it was a resignation matter.