Kenny: Calls for debate on Dail privilege were hysterical

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has come under fire for dismissing Opposition demands to debate the threat to Dáil privilege posed by an injunction brought by businessman Denis O’Brien as “hysteria”.

Breaking his week-long silence on the controversy that has convulsed Irish politics, Mr Kenny said the Dáil had no control over the issue.

“Well, I listened to a lot of hysteria about recalling the Dáil to talk about something over which the Dáil had no control,” he said.

“I’ve always been a very staunch defender of the right of elected representatives to the Dáil to be able to speak their minds and say their piece, with responsibility, and the judge in the court cleared and clarified that issue very quickly indeed.”

However Labour’s chief whip, Emmet Stagg, accused newspaper editors of “cowardice” for not initially running Independent TD Catherine Murphy’s statement in the Dáil regarding Denis O’Brien’s business affairs.

“I think the cowardice of the editors in the face of legal threats was extraordinary,” he told KFM radio.

The Taoiseach said he did not regret going for a full-scale investigation into IBRC in the first place and rejected claims that there was not enough regulation of banking.

“As the minister has pointed out in all of these matters, there are assertions and allegations but the judge in the court clarified himself that there wasn’t an identification of incompetence at governance level in IBRC and obviously the personnel who worked for that board have defended their decisions very robustly indeed,” said Mr Kenny.