A row broke out in the Dail between Sinn Fein and the Taoiseach as he mentioned the crowds that gathered at Bobby Storey's funeral, amid calls for an independent investigation into a Covid "breach" at the Department of Foreign Affairs..
Sparks flew between Micheal Martin and Sinn Fein’s deputy leader Pearse Doherty as Mr Martin confirmed he will not request an external, independent, investigation into the gathering at the Department of Foreign Affairs in June 2020.
It comes after a report into the gathering, which was published on Monday night, said there was a “serious” breach but no law was broken.
Senior officials present at the so-called champagne party in the Department in 2020 have agreed to pay between €1,000 and €2,000 to a Covid charity.
The current Secretary General Joe Hackett carried out the report but did not interview Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.
Speaking in the Dail, Pearse Doherty said “it didn’t even interview the man in charge” and this is “typical of a Minister out of touch.”
Mr Doherty asked the Taoiseach “to move swiftly and ask [Minister Coveney] to come before this House this week to make a statement and to answer questions on this affair.”
In response, the Taoiseach told the Dail he is “satisfied” with the investigation and he would not be doing so.
He said it was “wrong” and those involved have apologised.
But he then took aim at Sinn Fein and said: “Deputy Doherty, I’m genuinely taken back by your tone and your attitude on this one.
“You are the deputy leader of a party that invited almost 2,000 members and supporters onto the streets of Belfast and then onto a political rally essentially, and then into a cemetery at a time the ordinary men and women that you speak about were limited to 30 people...
“When the ordinary men and women you're talking about were distraught because they couldn't attend the funeral of their loved ones.
“To the best of my knowledge your organisation has never admitted you were wrong in what you did but you lecture everybody else.
“There’s one law for Sinn Fein, there’s a different law for everybody else when it comes to this.”
Shouting broke out in the Dail between Mr Martin and Deputy Doherty as the Sinn Fein TD said Mr Martin took “joy” in making his point.
Mr Doherty said: “You don’t care that there is a grieving family in the middle of this and you’re trying to portray a champagne party with a funeral of a friend is disgraceful.”
Sinn Fein TD Padraig Mcloughlin said it was a “provocative” statement from the Taoiseach.
The row resulted in the Ceann Comhairle interrupting and said if order was not restored, he would have to consider suspending the House.
Earlier on Tuesday, several Fine Gael TDs took to Twitter to share a picture of Sinn Fein TDs including Mary Lou McDonald attending the funeral of Bobby Storey in Belfast in June 2020.
The crowds prompted an investigation by the PSNI into whether or not public health restrictions were breached at the former IRA member's funeral in west Belfast.
But the PSNI made a decision not to prosecute anyone.
Posting the photo on Twitter, Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said: “Mass breach of restrictions at the height of Covid? Yep. Aware of it? Yep - you were all there. Did you investigate yourselves? Eh……Come on now.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Sinn Fein TD Mark Ward said it was “crass” for several Fine Gael members including Senator Regina Doherty to post the picture on Twitter.
