Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>\u2019s mind when he faced Mary Lou McAaw-Excuse-Me at midday. <\/p>\nThis was the day after he delivered a State apology on behalf of the nation to the men abused by paedophile Bill Kenneally.<\/p>\n
Rising to his feet, the Taoiseach said: \u201cJust, could I, at the outset, take a moment . . .\u201d <\/p>\n
Was another statement in the offing?<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this is my last Leaders\u2019 Questions this term, I just want to thank you, Ceann Comhairle, and all the deputies in the house for your cooperation throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps not all the deputies, if his continuing beef with Opposition leaders over what he sees as their constant negativity was anything to go by.<\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l was on firmer ground when he thanked all the people who work in Leinster House, from the ushers to the catering staff \u201cfor the manner in which they look after all of us on an ongoing basis. We deeply appreciate that.\u201d <\/p>\n
And no, fair is fair, his thanks went to the deputies too. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst we disagree on many issues, I think this is parliamentary democracy in action and long may it continue.\u201d <\/p>\n
Just as well, perhaps, that Mary Lou wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n
They probably would have had a row over this. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo. I just wanted to say that,\u201d he said, to general indifference. <\/p>\n
Nobody returned the sentiment. They had another day in paradise to complete before they could make a getaway. <\/p>\n
The visitors\u2019 bar \u2013 usually a rather sedate bolthole \u2013 did a roaring trade on Wednesday night. If the Oireachtas members were getting the last of their tours through the doors during the day, they were also fulfilling promises and hosting local groups and supporters in the bar and restaurants.<\/p>\n
As there were a number of Bills up for decision, the TDs had to abandon their guests at regular intervals and race into the chamber to vote before the doors were locked.<\/p>\n
With the World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina showing on the telly (without sound), a retirement do for a departing journalist going on in the back bar and the division bells constantly ringing, there was a giddy end-of-term atmosphere about the corridors.<\/p>\n
While there was nothing light about the topics discussed in the D\u00e1il, holding out the prospect of out-of-term political skirmishes over unfinished business, there was cross-party exhalation of breath as the exit slowly opened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The finish line is in sight. Second last sitting of the 2025-2026 political year. Everyone is tired. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3416,61,60,3658,1843,43],"class_list":["post-552339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-david-cullinane","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2MOICSIHAVMDCSPZY5JS652Q5Y.jpg\")
Former French prime minister Michel Barnier paid a courtesy visit to the Ceann Comhairle on Tuesday. Photograph: Michel Euler\/AP <\/p>\n