Dáil phone calls - Shameful buffoonery

THERE has always been a pathetic air of buffoonery about the Healy-Rae political dynasty. There is also the perception that it represents the very worst in parish pump politics.

The embarrassing furore surrounding Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae’s difficulties in connection with a €2,600 Leinster House premium-rate phone bill only deepens that perception.

That he has decided to pay the bill, though he insists that he had nothing to do with the 3,636 calls made on his behalf, only adds to the air of the surreal.