FF cheerleaders say they were not ‘yelping for an election’
A FIANNA FÁIL TD has claimed his colleagues gave a modest “clap” instead of the much reported boisterous cheering in the Dáil bar on Thursday night.
All day yesterday, a host of Fine Gael TDs accused Fianna Fáil members of cheering loudly in the bar when their justice spokesperson Jim O’Callaghan announced on television they were placing a motion of no confidence in Frances Fitzgerald.
Not the case, says Fianna Fáil’s Longford-Westmeath deputy Robert Troy, who was in the bar with his party colleagues, pictured right.
“There was maybe 12 or more Fianna Fáil in one corner, and in the other corner there was a sizeable number of Fine Gael TDs.
“Nobody was drinking...no more than a cup of tea. We watched Jim’s interview. There might have been one or two ‘well dones’ and a clap.
“But the manner in which this is being portrayed, as [if] it was a big yahoo, yelping, boisterous sort of thing is totally inaccurate. We’re all acutely aware of the seriousness of the situation.”
His Mayo constituency colleague Dara Calleary told the Irish Independent he was also having a cup of tea in the Dáil bar at the time, and “absolutely did not” cheer at the news.
“I take grave exception at this. This matter is just too serious, deadly serious,” he said.
A neutral observer claimed last night: “When Jim O’Callaghan said the party no longer had confidence in the Tánaiste there was a yelp and clapping from the Fianna Fáil gang.”