“Look at all the workplaces throughout the country… do they have a place to drink inside in the middle of their premises? They don’t.”
Michael Collins, an Independent TD from Cork, has called on the bar in the Dáil to be closed immediately.
Collins, who is opposed to Transport Minister Shane Ross’ Road Traffic Bill, which proposes that anyone caught driving with between 50 and 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100ml of blood would automatically be banned from driving, is of the belief that the presence of the bar sends out a very bad message to the public.
Speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103’s Cork Today Show, Collins hit out at some of the significant bar tabs run up by members of the Dáil and said that a lot of business is being carried out in the bar in “quite questionable forms”.
“Personally myself, I’m opposed to Shane Ross’ road traffic bill, which I think will do a lot of damage in rural Ireland,” Collins said.
“If you want to start showing any type of example in relation to drink, shut the Dáil bar.
“There’s two bars in the Dáil, there’s politicians running up tabs left, right and centre. I don’t take alcohol in my place of work – that’s my belief and look, everybody has to have their own mindset on this – but I think it’s totally and utterly wrong, it sends the wrong message out there.”
Collins went on to suggest that a number of TDs were heard “roaring and shouting” while Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan made a speech in Leinster House recently.
“I can’t believe Shane Ross wants to shut bars in rural Ireland with his bill but he wants to keep the two Dáil bars open,” Collins added.
“He never brought a bill in to shut the two Dáil bars because he knows where he’d get, he wouldn’t get very far with it, but here we have a situation where there’s a private bar for members and there’s a public bar.
“Now I know it’s a historical thing and people like to see it when they come in and I’ve taken people in for a walk around it, but a walk around it is one thing, to be in there continuously drinking… and a lot of business, unfortunately, is carried out inside there in quite questionable forms.
“We’ve heard a lot of reports about that in recent times, even last week, apparently, when Jim O’Callaghan was making a statement, there was TDs inside celebrating and roaring and shouting. That’s not a place to carry out your business and at the same time, we hear there’s thousands and thousands of euros being left there, bills being left unpaid by politicians.
“It sends a very, very bad message to the public out there… look at all the workplaces throughout the country, do they have a place to drink inside in the middle of their premises? They don’t.”
You can listen back to the interview on C103’s Cork Today here.
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