Mick Clifford: If we can't treat politicians with respect, then we will lose all the decent ones

Today, the contempt towards politicians comes from the populist and far right, rather than the far left, and it’s not just confined to government parties

Taoiseach Micheal Martin at the National Ploughing Championships on Tuesday. A man was arrested that day after he allegedly attempted to assault Mr Martin there. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA

On March 31, 2010, Eamon Gilmore accused Brian Cowen of “economic treason”. The exchange happened in the Dáil and was in relation to the decision in the bank guarantee two years previously to include Anglo Irish Bank. 

The implication of what the Labour Party leader was saying was that Cowen was more concerned with elites — many of them from outside the country — than doing his best for the Irish people.