Micheál Martin accused Pearse Doherty of “stirring it up” during a heated row in an Oireachtas committee after the Sinn Féin TD implied the Taoiseach changed his return flight from Japan so he could attend the All-Ireland hurling final.
Mr Martin was in Japan last week for an official visit and arrived back in Ireland at 8am on Saturday morning, having flown via Toronto in Canada. Originally, the Taoiseach was booked on another flight that was routed via Dubai that was scheduled to arrive in Dublin at noon. The match between Cork and Dublin was scheduled for 5pm that afternoon.
At a meeting of the finance committee on Wednesday, Mr Doherty said if Mr Martin had changed his flights on the basis of security advice, why was this advice not shared with the media delegation which travelled to Japan.
Mr Martin said it was a “nonsense story” which was suggesting there was a rescheduling of the flights because of the match. “There wasn’t,” he said, adding that either flight would have brought him home in time for the match.
READ MORE
He said journalists travelling to Japan did so independently and their flights were paid for by their own media organisations, which would take their own security advice.
Mr Doherty asked if there were any additional costs to the taxpayer, and did the State have to pay for an extra flight. Mr Martin said that no extra flight had been bought.
Mr Doherty said “the story suggests that actually under an abundance of caution you flew through Toronto because there was a risk of cancellation, and therefore you would miss the match”.
Mr Martin responded by saying Mr Doherty was making an assertion that was wrong and there was no cancellation and the change had nothing to do with the hurling match.
“I just want to unequivocally say the truth does matter. This had nothing to do with the match. The match was on at five o’clock that day. So either route would have been on time.”
He said Mr Doherty’s assertion had nothing to do with the budget or finance matters but was him “stirring it up” and “spreading falsehoods.”
He asked Mr Doherty to withdraw the assertion. Mr Doherty refused.
Amid continuing exchanges, committee chair Mairéad Farrell warned both she would switch off their microphones if they did not stop talking over each other.
As the exchange ended, Fianna Fáil TD Erin McGreehan said: “I am competing with Mr Doherty’s clickbait.”
