“You consistently make ridiculous assertions in this house that insult and are offensive to people.”
TD Mattie McGrath and Taoiseach Micheál Martin engaged in a heated row in the Dáil on Tuesday over McGrath’s controversial comments comparing Covid certificates to life in Nazi Germany.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McGrath refused to answer whether he had received a coronavirus vaccine, saying that nobody should have to discuss their private medical records.
The Tipperary TD followed up the remark by comparing the vaccine rollout to the beginning of Nazi Germany.
McGrath also referred to the new indoor dining legislation, which will see only those who have been vaccinated, accompanying under 18s and those who have recently recovered from Covid-19 dine indoors from late July, as “draconian”.
In response to the comments, the Taoiseach said in the Dáil: “I do think through the chair that you should refrain from your frequent use of language, and I’ve been at this stuff the last number of weeks asking you not to keep using the term ‘Nazis’ and ‘totalitarianism’.
“You did it before and you consistently make ridiculous assertions in this house that insult and are offensive to people.”
“That’s not my opinion,” the Taoiseach continued.
“They’re offensive. Do you understand what Nazism was about? Do you understand what the Holocaust was about?”
Addressing the Ceann Comhairle, McGrath said: “Words are being put into my mouth. I never uttered that word. Never.”
He then told the Taoiseach: “Spare me the history lecture, please,” before adding: “You should apologise to me. I didn’t use that word. Please correct the record.
“You said I shouldn’t use those words – starting with ‘H’. I never used it. Stop the lies, please.”
The Taoiseach then responded: “You’ve accused Government of being like Nazis and you have repeatedly accused Government of being like Nazis. Repeatedly, in this house you have”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Auschwitz Memorial – which preserves the site of the former German Nazi Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp – offered McGrath a course on the history of the Holocaust, saying that his continued “instrumentalisation” of the tragedy is unacceptable.
@mattiemcgrathtd ‘Holocaust–the destruction of European Jews’
A seven-chapter online course about the history od the #Holocaust.
All parts below.https://t.co/Law3fQRRMS— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) July 13, 2021
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