Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> and Sinn F\u00e9in finally hit some common ground after months of conflict \u2013 both their parties had awful elections. <\/p>\nBut she was really irking him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, Deputy, you have an awful habit of interrupting. I\u2019ve never interrupted you once in anything you do,\u201d complained Miche\u00e1l, head down, sheafing through his notes mid-answer.<\/p>\n
Then he heard Mary Lou sounding off about him from across the floor. Something about not being able to hear him. <\/p>\n
He looked up quizzically.<\/p>\n
Sorry?<\/p>\n
She filled him in. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou mumble. You don\u2019t enunciate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI beg your pardon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t enunciate clearly. I didn\u2019t hear what you said.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy was dumbstruck. She looked at the Taoiseach, who was saying no more either. Whatever about enunciation, there would be no further elaboration. <\/p>\n
The Government Chief Whip was scandalised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s shocking!\u201d exclaimed Mary Butler. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s grand,\u201d said Miche\u00e1l briskly. \u201cWe\u2019ll leave it. We\u2019ll leave it, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Verona turned to Mary Lou for her follow-up question.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have your opportunity now. Thank you,\u201d she said in a quietly disapproving tone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn appalling comment to make,\u201d harrumphed Minister of State Noel Grealish as the Chief Whip succumbed further to her fit of the vapours. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a new low. It\u2019s a new low!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ceann asked everyone to behave in a respectful manner. \u201cThere are a lot of people in the gallery.\u201d <\/p>\n
Delighted, no doubt, with the bit of drama.<\/p>\n
The Sinn F\u00e9in leader clarified her remarks before asking her second question.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are important issues and it is important when the head of Government addresses them that he is audible and clear and that I can hear him.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was all rather fraught. <\/p>\n
But in fairness to deputy McDonald, frazzled D\u00e1il reporters can attest that the Taoiseach can be a terrible mutterer when taking questions. There may even have been some quiet applause in certain quarters when she launched her assault on his enunciation, even if it was a little out of order.<\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l and Mary Lou could have done with a wee drink to calm themselves down \u2013 maybe a cup of soothing camomile tea or a nice cold glass of Albarino?<\/p>\n
Is there a drone service available in Leinster House?<\/p>\n
Of course there is. But the 2\u00bd hours of statements on ensuring our Skills, Training and Innovation Systems Keep Pace in a Changing World were not due to start until later in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Ruth Coppinger. She\u2019ll know, because a drone service delivering takeaway food and drink operates at full tilt in parts of her Dublin West constituency. <\/p>\n
\u201cShould hundreds of people lose their peace and quiet for a cup of coffee to be flown over them for one person?\u201d she asked the Taoiseach. <\/p>\n
The People Before Profit TD said commercial fast-food drone-delivery services in Dublin West and Cork City have seen \u201cmajor setbacks\u201d. A Dublin operator was refused planning retention for its operating base after numerous objections by residents, while an enforcement notice was issued to a drone-hub operator in Cork after it was established without permission. <\/p>\n
Deputy Coppinger added that a motion by PBP calling for a review of the environmental impact of drones was unanimously passed by Cork City Council. <\/p>\n
She asked the Taoiseach: \u201cIs it not time to outlaw the delivery of fast food by commercial drones in residential areas? The nuisance that they cause and the impact they have is way beyond the necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l gave a careful political answer \u2013 advocating for both sides. <\/p>\n
The \u201cbig issue\u201d with drones is that while residents are concerned about noise and potential infringements of privacy, drone technology is one of the fastest growing technologies and this can\u2019t be ignored. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see that developed but we do need to protect our neighbourhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our health-conscious Taoiseach wouldn\u2019t be one for fast food anyway. <\/p>\n
As for this \u201cnew phenomenon of drones\u201d delivering coffee or whatever else to people in residential areas, he can\u2019t fathom it at all. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand why people can\u2019t just go up to the caf\u00e9, socialise and so on, like that. Or why you need a drone to deliver a cup of coffee or whatever?\u201d he shrugged. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that I don\u2019t comprehend and I don\u2019t think needs to happen.\u201d <\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l didn\u2019t mention the droning nuisance in Kildare Street.<\/p>\n
He might need a drone to deliver a speech in Leinster House, but that\u2019s a different kettle of spice bag.<\/p>\n
Anyway, May 27th. <\/p>\n
Enunciation Day.<\/p>\n
We live in hope.<\/p>\n
Stick it in the diary for next year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remember the date. May the 27th. The Feast of the Enunciation. It marks the day when the messenger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,4767,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,55915,5,4766,7,8],"class_list":["post-506531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dail-eireann","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-miriam-lord","tag-news","tag-oireachtas","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116651002904758241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}